Archaic game and home computer hardware is recast into the unlikely role of musical instrument and motion graphics workstation in the BLIP FESTIVAL 2008, a four-day event showcasing nearly 40 musicians and visual artists occupying the international low-res cutting edge. The Blip Festival takes place DECEMBER 4—7, 2008 at Studio B, and is presented by Manhattan art organization THE TANK and NYC artist collective 8BITPEOPLES.
Highlighting the chipmusic phenomenon and its related disciplines, the festival aims to showcase emerging creative niches involving the use of legacy video game & home computer hardware as modern artistic instrumentation. Devices such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Nintendo Game Boy and others are repurposed into the service of original, low-res, high-impact electronic music and visuals — sidestepping game culture and instead exploring the technology's untapped potential and distinctive intrinsic character.
The Blip Festival assembles nearly 40 practitioners selected from the chipmusic movement's expansive global underground, taking care to represent as many as possible of the genre's surprisingly diverse styles, geographical and technical scenes, communities, and traditions. The festival's concert program will be supplemented by daytime events to be announced, including workshops, presentations, and screenings. The Blip Festival's intended result is to provide a cross-section of a movement currently in explosive flux, teeming with artistic exploration, and poised at the cusp of global awareness.
Featured artists in previous editions of the Blip Festival have included Bodenständig 2000 [Rephlex], YMCK [Avex Trax], Herbert Weixelbaum [Morr Music], Jeroen Tel, Neil Voss, new media artist Cory Arcangel, and dozens of others.
Selected artists confirmed for the Blip Festival 2008 include:
| AUDIO | VIDEO | |
» Animal Style  | » noteNdo | » C-Men |
| » Bit Shifter | » Nullsleep | » Entter |
| » Ikuma | » Sidabitball | » NO CARRIER |
| » Jellica | » Starscream | » noteNdo |
| » Lissajou | » Syphus | » VBLANK |
| » M-.-n | » Tonylight | » Voltage Controlled |
| » Meneo | » Trash80 | |
| » minusbaby | » zabutom | |
| » Mr. Spastic | ||
| …with more artists and participants to be announced. | ||
Now entering its third year, the Blip Festival remains the largest and most comprehensive event of its kind in the world. The event's inaugural 2006 edition was highlighted as the subject of acclaimed documentary feature Reformat The Planet, which premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival, and can be seen until August 28 courtesy of Pitchfork.TV. Blip Festival 2008 promises to build even further upon the breakaway momentum of its predecessors, bringing together the movement's most visible and talented international names for an explosive event taking place in the epicenter of the creative world.