The Fair Grounds
DROPSTUFF MEDIA presents The Fair Grounds: folk culture meets high tech and high art!
The Fair Grounds is an artistic project by the Dutch new media art collective DROPSTUFF MEDIA. The Fair Grounds consists of multiple independent installations where traditional amusement rides have been updated with new artistic or social narratives. The result is a truly new fairground where every ride has been modified or enhanced and tells a surprising story in the public space: folk culture meets high tech and high art!
For instance, take a ride on The Fair Grounds 1.0, a virtual reality rollercoaster ride using 6 converted kiddy rides. Take a spin in the augmented reality carousel of Carnaval des Moutons, a merry-go-round ode to the zoetrope. Or hop into the self driving bumper cars of Bumper Ballet and experience the difference and similarities between bumping & dancing.
A new media fairground for everyone
The Fair Grounds aims to combine the rich history of traditional fairgrounds with modern day technology and innovation to create a place where once again new insights and stories are being presented to a broad audience. Historically, fairgrounds and travelling fairs have always been the ‘unwritten portion of the story of the people’. Fairgrounds and the arts are both ways of storytelling that evoke wonderment in traditionally different target groups. By combining these worlds, The Fair Grounds creates a broader, more inclusive place where rapid technological, social and creative changes become accessible to an audience that does not necessarily have access to it.
The Fair Grounds creates a new creative common ground where one’s own experience is key: to see, touch, hear, taste and experience it for yourself. Finding a common ground where ‘inclusive‘ replaces ‘exclusive‘ inside the cultural sector.
To reach this goal, we team up with existing fairgrounds but also artists, designers, museums and cultural institutions. We use a combination of new and social media, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, 360° and 3D video, drones, robots, projection, cameras, sensors, self-driving cars and other applications, but also more traditional media such as theatre, photography and physical (art)objects.
Coming soon to a festival near you
Come all and enjoy The Fair Grounds!
Tourlist ‘The Fair Grounds’ 2020:
• SXSW Art Program – Austin, Texas (USA) – 15 – 21 March
• SintLucas StartUp Festival – Boxtel (NL) – 2 April
• La Bonne Aventure Festival – Dunkirk, France (FR) – 26 – 28 June
• Olala Festival – Lienz, Austria (AT) – 20 – 27 July
Tourlist ‘The Fair Grounds’ 2019:
• Kermis Amsterdam Westerpark (NL) – 8 – 17 March
• Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany (DE) – 5 – 7 April
• Kingsday Amersfoort (NL) – 27 April
• Preview: ‘Bumper Ballet’ – La Biennale di Venezia, boatstop ‘Arsenale’ (IT) – 8 – 10 May
• Premiere ‘Bumper Ballet’ – Dutch Technology Week Eindhoven – presented by Eindhoven Museum (NL) – 20 – 26 May
• La Bonne Aventure Festival, Dunkirk, France (FR) – 21 – 23 June
• Sunny Side of the Doc / Pixii, la Rochelle, France (FR) – 24 – 27 June
• Festival de Onderstroom, Vlissingen (NL) – 5 – 7 July
• Olala – Internationales Straßentheaterfestival, Lienz Austria (AT) – 26 – 27 July
• Park Hilaria Kermis Eindhoven (NL) – 2 – 11 August
• BigArt Hembrug Zaandam (NL) – 11 – 15 September
• INNOVATE Arnhem (NL) – 3 – 5 October
• Dutch Media Week Hilversum (NL) – 12 – 13 October
• THE ARTS + / Frankfurter Buchmesse – Germany (DE) – 16 – 2o October
• De Betovering The Hague (NL) – 19 – 25 October
• Beyond Human Festival Leiden (NL) – 4 – 10 November
Tourlist ‘The Fair Grounds’ 2018:
• Preview: Kermis Amsterdam Westerpark (NL) – 9 – 18 March
• Preview: MESH Festival for Creativity and Design (NL) – 23 March
• Kingsday Hilversum (NL) – 28 April
• Preview: ‘Carnaval des Moutons’ Mediabites VondelCS (NL) – 6 – 8 June
• Batjes Roeselare, Belgium (BE) – 22 – 24 June
• Milkshake Festival Amsterdam (NL) – 28 – 29 July
• Lowlands Festival (NL) – 17 – 19 August
• Dutch Media Week Hilversum (NL) – 1 – 9 September
• Hogeschool van Amsterdam (NL) – 7 September
• LekArt Culemborg (NL) – 28 – 30 September
• THE ARTS + / Frankfurter Buchmesse – Germany (DE) – 16 – 2o October
• Cinekid Festival, Amsterdam (NL) – 20 – 26 October
• De Betovering, The Hague (NL) – 20 – 27 October
• Let’s Gro, Groningen (NL) – 20– 27 October
The Fair Grounds is supported by: VSBfonds, BankGiro Lottery Fund, Prins Bernhard Culture Fund, CLICKNL Fieldlab Virtual Worlds
In collaboration with: Het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid in Hilversum, EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam and Eindhoven Museum.
Download The Fair Ground Catalogue 2020 here
Interactive mixed media art fair
Folk culture meets high tech and high art
2018 – present
Concept & design
DROPSTUFF MEDIA
The Fair Grounds is an artistic project by new media art collective DROPSTUFF MEDIA. The project builds a collection of artworks where amusement rides are presented as art installations. New narratives have been added to fairground attractions as well as to old forms of folk culture. Each ride has been updated with rich stories of cultural heritage, the imagination of the arts and the wonderment of new technologies. The result is a truly new fairground where every ride has been modified, enhanced and now tells a surprising story to a mix of generations: folk culture meets high tech and high art!
Winner of the NICE Award 2019 – european centre for creative economy
Finalist of the SXSW 2020 Art Program
More info and bookings:
Phone: +31 (0) 35 677 18 79
Mail: info@dropstuff.nl
Download The Fair Ground Catalogue 2020 here