[spectre] The quiet revolution of the 'local' festival

[Drew Hemment]

Just touched down aboard a budget airplane from Transmediale,  
Berlin's local festival of media arts... sorry, art and digital culture.

Did I say 'local'?!?

Well, the 'international media art festival' has become the 'festival  
for art and digital culture.'

Strange that the shift in the strapline from 'media art' to 'art and  
digital culture' earned a high powered conference panel but the end  
of the 'international' in the international media art festival did  
not deserve a mention.

Time was, international was the measure of all things. World premier.  
Internationally significant. Put this place on the map.

Oh how times change - Transmediale has gone local.

And they are not alone: Futuresonic dropped the 'international'  
handle last year as well, and has a project with the strap line 'The  
Manchester Local Festival' lined up after this year's festival.

(We dropped 'media art' too ...)

So anyway, there I was on my budget airplane, and I got to thinking,  
this dont add up.

We need to be MORE local.

Futuresonic is 3 months away, and those savvy souls with an eye for a  
bargain bucket flight will have itchy internet shopping fingers already.

Has the international festival had its day? Probably not. But lets  
start by finding out how far the problem goes.

So, if any of you are thinking of making the trip to Manchester this  
May for Futuresonic 2007, by train, plane or internal combustion  
engine, I am going to ask you to let us know how you getting there  
and where you leaving from.

I will make sure there is a way to let us know via  
www.futuresonic.com soon, and if you cant hold on till then please  
just email me.

Thanks

Drew