Toronto's Vector Festival 2022 Welcomes Hybrid Audiences

The festival showcasing digital games and creative media processes will be held in-person and online from July 14 to 24

BY Kayla HigginsPublished Jun 30, 2022

With last year's Network Dependencies theme examining the imminent return to in-person activities that was then on the horizon, Toronto's 10th annual Vector Festival is returning this year in hybrid form — physically at the InterAccess gallery and online — to showcase digital games and creative media processes under the guiding concept of Glitch.

Taking place from July 14 to 24, the 11-day festival seeks to celebrate failure and all of its potential, with organized programs that bring forward new perspectives on digital and game art, centring "around the enticing, joyous, infinite possibilities offered by glitch," which is defined in a press release as a "mistake, an error, a failure, a malfunction."

Programmed by guest curators Roya DelSol, Karina Iskandarsjah, Amanda Low, Megan MacLaurin, Sofie (Sonja) Mikhaylova and Sanjeet Takhar, the festival considers the concept of glitching as a "necessary, protective force for interrupting the machinic workings of patriarchy, capitalism, and racism."

The festival will be holding its first-ever hybrid game and hardware jam where contributors will work in teams to participate in a 48-hour collaborative event, developing video games and the controllers used to play them. The event will be held for free in collaboration with Hand Eye Society.

Program highlights draw attention to racial bias in surveillance and censorship, self-discovery and creative collaboration through AI image making, sound installations and animated visualizations, as well as musical performances featuring the likes of Erin Corbett, Myriam Bleu, Hex-A-Decimal and Joy.

Audiences are encouraged to participate in-person and online with the full Vector Festival 2022 program, with registration details found on the festival's website.

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