SPRING 2008
NWFF and AIGA-Seattle present
BYDESIGN 08
March 6-13
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
This special annual series explores the intersection of graphic design and moving image, and celebrates multidisciplinary artists who push at the boundaries to create new techniques, styles and forms. The eighth annual BYDESIGN program features short films, installations and performances by digital artists including Light Surgeons, Graham Wood, Semiconductor and Impactist; classic films by such pioneer designer/directors as Saul Bass, Charles and Ray Eames, Norman McLaren and Frank Mouris: a panel discussion with motion graphics designers from Digital Kitchen, SuperFad, and World Famous Inc.; a history of the evolution of computer animation with computer graphics pioneer and Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith; and a feature documentary celebrating the ubiquitous Swiss typeface Helvetica and exploring the effects of type on our visual culture and daily lives. ByDesign explores the fertile hub between artistic, experimental, and commercial media and champions innovations that integrate design, art and cinema. Series curated by Peter Lucas.
MARCH 6, Thursday at 8pm
FREE
OPENING NIGHT EVENT
Featuring performances from Kamran Sadeghi and Randy Jones
ByDesign 08 kicks off with a blast! Join us for this free opening reception and audiovisual event featuring the latest video work by UK group Semiconductor and live video and sound performances of new work by digital artists Kamran Sadeghi (Son Of Rose) and Randy Jones (Caro) exploring the synchronization of colors, shapes and type with sound.
MARCH 7, Friday at 8pm
THE DOT AND THE LINE
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
Creative Shorts of the 60s & 70s
(Various directors, US/Canada, 1965-77, 16mm, 75 min)
This selection of rarely seen short films made in the 1960s and 70s presents a variety of unique perspectives and inventive techniques. Bound by a common curiosity and creativity, these experiments in animation, motion graphics, and live action filmmaking bring design concepts to the screen. The program includes short films by Saul Bass, Charles and Ray Eames, Norman McLaren, Frank Mouris, Charles Braverman, Chuck Jones and Jim Henson- four of them Oscar-winners.
MARCH 7-13, Friday-Thursday at 7:15, 9pm
HELVETICA
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
(Gary Hustwit, UK, 2007, BETA-SP, 80 min)
Chances are, you’ve seen the Helvetica typeface several times today. It’s all around us. This engaging new documentary looks at how the 50-year-old Swiss font became one of the most pervasive and well known, and initiates a larger conversation about graphic design and global visual culture. Director Gary Hustwit explores type in urban spaces around the globe and talks with a who’s who of renowned designers about the aesthetics of typography. HELVETICA invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.
"A thoroughly engaging and gleefully funny investigation into the world’s most ubiquitous typeface." -TIME OUT LONDON
"The real achievement of the picture is the way it sharpens your eye in general and makes connections between form and content, and between art and life." -CHICAGO TRIBUNE
MARCH 8, Saturday at 1pm
FREE FOR NWFF AND AIGA MEMBERS
SEATTLE MOVES:
Screening and Discussion
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
Join us for this special forum in which Seattle motion graphics designers from Digital Kitchen, SuperFad, and World Famous Inc. will screen recent projects and discuss their inspirations, creative processes, technical challenges and their quickly evolving field.
MARCH 8 – 9, Saturday at 7:30, 9pm and Sunday at 9pm
ENTROPY
New Shorts And Music Videos
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
Each year, we showcase new work by innovative designers, directors and VJs from around the globe. This year's survey presents short films and music videos from the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, Sweden and Lithuania. The program includes work by Graham Wood, Light Surgeons, Semiconductor, Max Hattler, Impactist, Stewart Smith and Guilherme Marcondes, as well as the latest installment of collaborative project PSST! PASS IT ON featuring contributions from nearly 50 directors. Ranging from lo-fi to high tech, from the ethereal to the downright silly, this sampling of inventive new work gives us a glimpse at the rapidly dissolving lines between design, art, film and music.
MARCH 9, Sunday at 7pm
A HISTORY OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS IN FILM
with Alvy Ray Smith
Sponsored by AIGA-Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts and Digital Kitchen
Legendary computer graphics innovator Alvy Ray Smith will discuss the evolution of computer animation and show clips ranging from John Whitney's early experiments in the 1960s to landmark visual effects and animation in popular cinema of the '70s and '80s. Smith headed the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology in the '70s, was founding Director of the Computer Division at Lucasfilm, and co-founded Pixar. He'll give us a brief history of the innovations that made modern computer animation possible, and discuss the challenges that he and his colleagues faced when the field was in its infancy.
Visit ByDesign’s gallery showcase of innovative video works, open and free to the public Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9!
Semiconductor
TIME OUT OF PLACE
UK digital artists Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) blend multiple patterns of movement in the day-to-day happenings in the Kings Cross area of London. TIME OUT OF PLACE will be on view during the opening night event on Thursday, March 6, as well as Saturday, March 8, from 3-7:15pm. (Semiconductor's short film MAGNETIC MOVIE shows in the Entropy program.)
Graham Wood
SLEEPWALKER / ELECTRICIAN / JESSE / BOY CHILD
Designer/director Graham Wood, co-founder of acclaimed UK creative group Tomato, has created a series of haunting, kaleidoscopic animated sequences for songs by vocalist Scott Walker. These four pieces will be on view Sunday, March 9, from 3-7pm. (Work also shown in Entropy program.)