Version 13: An Urban Operating System
June 14 through June 22, 2013
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: May 10, 2013.
For the past twelve years, Version Festival has introduced innovative projects that tackle local, social, and urban issues. Every year, the festival highlights socially engaged projects and people, and promotes the cultural use of public space.
This year, Version will focus on beta testing a collectively-produced open source operating system for our urban environment. We call it Urban OS. It’s not just technology based, It’s a human network. We will present works and projects that serve the common good, and connect us to services that everyone can use in our neighborhoods and cities. This collection of real world software can help us manage the hardware of our urban environment, and create even more opportunities for renewing our public space.
Version Festival 13 will present projects by cultural workers, community developers, social entrepreneurs, artists, designers, boutique manufacturers, food interventionists, public space hackers, service mediaticians, urban planners, cultural geographers, and adventure capitalists, all sharing ideas towards a collective hack of the current urban operating system.
This June 14 through June 22, 2013, we’re inviting you to demonstrate your skills, share your ideas, and build your visions of a better city. Best, we will be utilizing public spaces in Bridgeport to demo a version of an Urban Operating System. Highlights include Above The Pavement: A City Fair, a new outdoor festival/ block party, and other events that promote social engagement in our communities. The Urban OS will continue throughout the year, with a series of projects and platforms.
To Participate:
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Deadline for Submissions: May 10, 2013
Please look at the platforms for Version below. Send a one-paragraph description, along with any relevant urls and contact addresses and phone numbers, in an email addressed to Versionfest13 (at) Gmail.com. Attach one 500 wide X 375 pixel high JPEG image along with your proposal. We will respond to your submission a few days after receiving it.
PLATFORMS
1. Urban OS Group Show We are planning an exhibition that will showcase Chicago-based projects representing the best practices of our urban operating system. You make beautiful things happen? Tell us what you or your organization does. The show will be informational in nature, and not necessarily object based.
2. Above the Pavement: A City Fair Our day-long City Fair is a new outdoor festival which will invigorate and celebrate positive living in the neighborhood of Bridgeport. It takes place June 15, 2013 between noon and 8pm. We are curating some of the best food, drink and boutique manufacturers in the city to join us for the City Fair. Be one of them.
The fair will feature: Food: Chefs, restaurants, and food vendors of all stripes will be able to sell their food to the public. There will be very limited food vending opportunities.
The Flea Market: This artist-run flea market brings together artists, groups, and organizations to exchange art, information, and ideas. Artists, designers and Boutique Manufacturers are invited to apply for pavement space or tables, to present and sell or share their products to the public.
Farmers Market: Urban farmers, country farmers and food co-ops will be able to sample and sell their produce and products to the public.
3. The Art Bowl Take part in the Art Bowl. Artist Dan Pugh asks Chicago-based ceramic artists to donate hand-crafted soup bowls for The Art Bowl, benefiting the Benton House Food Pantry.
4. Performance/ Interventions/ Mobile Projects Live art in site-specific locations, picnics, tours, public interventions, asphalt canoeing, anarchist marching bands, and creative disturbances in public space are all important components of the festival. Initiatives by public space hackers and performance artists of all stripes welcome.
5. APPs Location-aware apps emphasize different dimensions of the city and enhance the urban experience through psychogeography and augmented realities. Send us yer APP, we will share it!
6. The Other We are an open-minded festival, so if you feel your project does not fit within one of the platforms we currently offer, then please: explain what you have in mind.
