civa 2021
social distancing – virtual bonding
graphic design
with Marlene Kager
CIVA Festival 2021
Social Distancing – Virtual Bonding
19 02 21 – 20 02 21
The form is round, yet spiky – organic, yet artificial – existing in 3D space, the logo becomes an object itself, yet actively changing and in movement.
Materials and shape are reacting to different themes of the festival – e.g. exhibition, discourse or DJ lines, but also to the day–night cycle. While the exhibition, different art interventions and the stream archive of the festival stayed accessible during the night, the CIVA needed it’s resting hours – and so the logo transformed into a darker and more reflecting version, turning the spiky displaced materials into a bubbly surface through the night.
Typography, Handlettering & Layout
by Marlene Kager
Rendering & 3D created in Blender
by Maximilian Prag
CIVA, Vienna’s new media art festival, aims to show the potential of artistic approaches in interaction with science, technology, the global society. At the core of the festival is the desire to build a strong network, to be a well-functioning platform for a growing international community, and to create joyful, low-threshold access for visitors of all backgrounds.
Depending on the format and mode of the individual program points, visitors had been engaged to participate in the nine-day festival free of charge via services such as Discord – the communication center of the festival – Mozilla Hubs, Twitch, Instagram, or Zoom.
Under the title “Social Distancing – Virtual Bonding,” CIVA in 2021 explored the question of whether and how current technologies enable us to remain connected to each other on a virtual level in times of physical distancing or even to build new international networks and communities. For this purpose, CIVA – in view of the current a worldwide pandemic – claimed space in the virtual in 2021.
The first edition’s program included a virtual exhibition open around the clock; a three-day discourse program with international talks, workshops and performances; four live concert evenings; two film screenings; a digital wellness day; as well as a comprehensive mediation offer including theme-oriented CIVA Ambassador Groups, numerous tours, and special youth workshops.
“CIVA was born of a strong desire to show what current media art is and always has been: Media artists deal with issues that come from the heart of society. They critically question how we deal with the media that we ourselves have created. Media that shapes people and social contexts. Media that sometimes throws us off balance. CIVA is in equal parts a festival for these artists and a festival for a society that is interested in thinking and shaping. Because in the last year especially, the digital and the virtual have helped us to stay connected on many levels. Around CIVA, for example, a wonderful collective has formed that has managed to realize a festival in just four months, even though some people on the team have never seen each other in the physical.”
– Eva Fischer, festival director