The second Romaeuropa Webfactory virtual lab, created in partnership by the Fondazione Romaeuropa and Telecom Italia, is now underway. After the success of the first year’s edition and prize-giving ceremony, the Italian web’s most active community of artists is back in action with four new competitions open to all creative types up and down the country.
Between 30 September and 2 March, contestants are invited to submit a work on the topic of their choice in one of the four competition sections: Video Art (artistic expression through video); Music@ (electronic music and digital sound); 100words (new writing); and Spot (advertising creativity).
Each area is being overseen by an artist, critic or expert who will act as a tutor throughout the competition. Video Art draws on the experienced Giuseppe La Spada, a digital artist and prestigious Webby Award winner. Music@ is supervised by Fennesz, an electronica virtuoso famous for his work with Ryuichi Sakamoto. 100 words has been taken under the wing of the Scuola Holden, the writing and storytelling school founded by Alessandro Baricco, while Spot is being looked after by TheBlogTV, a facility specialized in the production of user-generated TV shows and advertising.
Two star guides are joining the competition this year: for the Video Art section, Anna Mattirolo, Director of Maxxi Arte; and for Music@, Carlo Antonelli - the editor of Rolling Stone Italia - who will be recruiting top names from the music industry to act as surprise “day tutors”.
The second stage of the competition, in which 30 finalists in each section compete, runs from 12 March to 15 April. Creators selected for Video Art, Music@ and 100 words will get to grips with a “mash up” and create original work, respectively, from a video art clip, a tune or a “set” of words supplied by their tutors. Artists in the Spot section will be asked to produce a new trailer for REWF.
The grand prize consists of €5,000 in gold tokens and an invitation to take part in next year’s Romaeuropa Festival, scheduled for the autumn of 2010. Finalists will be selected in an online vote open to all members of the online community. A panel of expert tutors in each section are responsible for picking the winners of the final phase of the competition.
This year’s competition features two exciting new developments. The adoption of Creative Commons licenses will allow all creators to decide exactly how they want to distribute and share their submission, while the competition’s partnership with BeatPick will make a large number of tracks available free of charge to competitors for use in their projects.
The design and functionality of the Romaeuropa Webfactory platform has been totally revamped for this year’s competition to enhance interaction between users and supervisors, and among community members. The new “Open Space” section, for example, hosts contributions not just from artists and creative types, but from all community members, who are invited to upload articles and comments.
Romaeuropa Webfactory is raising its profile at events and festivals across Italy, following recent appearances at the Venice Festival’s Circuito Off, Perse visioni at Polignano a mare, and Dance City in Foligno. In the coming weeks, the event has been booked in to appear at the Move Festival (Florence) and Free Shout (Prato).
Romaeuropa Webfactory is a joint venture between the Fondazione Romaeuropa (the cultural and artistic trust that organizes the annual Romaeuropa Festival in the Italian capital) and Telecom Italia, a company committed to developing technology and bringing Italy into the digital age.