On Feb. 16-19, the very first Victoria’s Winter Arts Festival rolled into town, and I didn’t know what to expect other than lights, music and the promise of interactive art mixed with technology.
I’d been to an outdoor arts festival before with a similar idea – where you walk around a city’s downtown and stumble upon art – called Nuit Blanche in Winnipeg. But the Winter Arts Fest in Victoria ended up being surprisingly different in some ways and beyond what I was expecting.
The festival originated in Vancouver in 2021 and is produced by VMF, the team behind Vancouver Mural Festival. It places a heavy emphasis on technology used artfully; things like projection mapping (turning objects into display surfaces for video projection), augmented reality (combining the real world with computer-generated content, often through using your phone), laser art, and virtual reality.
“One of the things that first inspired the festival is the technology arts sector was underrepresented and it’s been evolving so much,” Miriam Esquitin, VMF’s executive director told me on the phone.
And the work that (mostly local) artists brought to the festival was impressive. At Magnificent Musical Mutant Machines by Monkey C Interactive, people could create music with strangers in a neon-lit room using machines, such as old jukeboxes, that were augmented to produce different sounds depending on what button you pressed. It prompted laughter, natural engagement and conversation between strangers, as me and my friends soon found ourselves acting like we were DJs with people we had never met before.
Haus of Owl had the installation The Dreaming by MOVE37XR where a VR set transported you to experience the galaxy up close along with other rooms filled with live music and dream-like video installations.
Afroquatics featured screens projecting a beautiful oceanscape, while your phone allowed you to explore glowing orbs underwater that represented imagined identities of enslaved Africans who died during the Middle Passage.
These are just a few of the thirty-three installations sprinkled downtown Victoria. There was also live music, food and an artisan market at the Hub.
What was nice about the festival was you could explore at your own leisure using one of three maps – south, central and north – handily available on Google Maps, or you could opt for a free guided art walk.
There were quieter experiences, like meditating in a room full of plants alongside live music and electronic impulse sensors hooked up to a peace lily that would influence the projections on the walls. Or there was After Dark, a ridiculously packed party at Hermann’s Upstairs Lounge that featured party-goers painting canvases on the walls or dancing to DJs.
The city came alive during the festival, with over 30 businesses in Victoria’s downtown hosting events and installations. City counsellor Matt Dell said it’s why the City wanted to partner with VMF to bring the festival to Victoria.
“One of the goals was to do an event where people engage with their city in a way they might not have done before. They learn about their city and appreciate it in a new way. And I think they really achieved that,” Dell said.
Dell said that the festival budget came out of the Downtown Revitalization Program, which was started last year from the extended hours paid parking revenue. One of the purposes of the festival was to fulfil the needs that downtown businesses had to get more people out during the off-season.
Both Esquitin and Dell said the festival’s first run surpassed expectations. The targeted audience was 12,000 and there ended up being an estimated 15,027 visits to installations throughout the four-day total.
Both Dell and the staff at VMF are hopeful about seeing the festival return next year, and I hope it returns, too. It was a positive way to interact with the City, see new spaces, experience up-and-coming technology and connect with other people in a whole new way.