Digital Graffiti Festival at Alys Beach 2019 Winners & Photos

The 12th Annual Digital Graffiti Festival lit up in Alys Beach on May 17-18, 2019! 

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Digital Graffiti at Alys Beach is an innovative and dynamic event that celebrates the intersection of projection art and architecture. During the three-day event, international artists display their original digital art upon the white walls of Alys Beach, transforming the SoWal town into a vibrant canvas of motion, color, light, and fun! The creative festival draws digital artists from across the globe to explore how their fluid forms connect with people and architecture to create spontaneous and wondrous experiences.

When the sun goes down, the lights come up for the 12th annual festival at Alys Beach on Friday evening. Featuring the 2019 projection art installations, food trucks, and vendors along the festival footprint, the opening night street party winds through Alys Beach all the way to Caliza Restaurant where attendees were greeted with music, à la carte food and beverages, and fun for the whole family.

Saturday evening of Digital Graffiti is an all-inclusive food and drink experience, with stops along the festival's path featuring samples by local and regional chefs, winemakers, distillers, and breweries. The evening culminates with desserts, spirits, more art projections, and a live DJ around the pool at Caliza.

Digital Graffiti is part of Art Month South Walton, an initiative of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County with the purpose to bring communities, organizations and businesses together to present quality arts and entertainment to the community. Spanning the month of May, Art Month features visual, performing and literary arts programming in diverse formats and in various venues throughout South Walton. 

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Post-Festival News from Alys Beach, posted 6/5/19:
After wrapping up the 12th annual international projection festival, held May 17-18, at Alys Beach, FL, Digital Graffiti has announced its winners-including "Best of Show", "Curators Choice", and three commendatory "Special Recognition" awards.
 
The festival, sponsored by Christie, the global visual and audio solutions company, welcomed 30 local, national, and international artists to the Scenic Highway 30A in South Walton County to showcase original digital artwork on the iconic white walls of the Alys Beach community.
 
Winning the highest honor was, "Best of Show," with his piece "Wanton Boys," was Ian Gouldstone of London, UK.
 
"'Wanton Boys' is quintessential Digital Graffiti" says Digital Graffiti curator Brett Phares. "As the piece guides you, walking towards the bridge and then over Lake Marilyn, the simple but generative Xs easily capture each viewer's imagination. It's colorful, vibrant and playful-even self-wise about boundaries and how to work with them-the work represents the best that the festival has always gravitated towards and wants in its future."

The complete list of winners includes:

    Best of Show ($5,000 prize): Ian Gouldstone, London, United Kingdom "Wanton Boys"
    Curator's Choice ($2,000 prize): Kazuki Ozone, Daichi Saito, Chihiro Noguchi, Kai Naito, Tokyo, Japan, "emoji and pixel"
    Special Recognition ($1,000 prizes):
        Jonah Allen, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, "Coastal Dune Lake Outfalls"
        Ehsan Atiq, Savannah, Georgia, "The Sublime within Islam"
        Fair Brane, Los Angeles, California, "Centered"

"I love the challenge that exists at the heart of Digital Graffiti," says Gouldstone. "Alys Beach has such a strong presence, both architecturally and culturally, and any art situated there must match or somehow navigate that strength in order to live. I was proud to be one of many artists who rose to that challenge and thrilled to win Best of Show."
 
With the judges' pick for Curator's Choice, Phares says, ""emoji + pixel" is another example of an approachable work that transgresses our expectations, bringing us a world that begins in a blocky two-bit flat environment and delivers us to a full-color expression of the everyday (from full bodied lips, dancers, and fields of grain, to a brief reference to the popular book and TV series Game of Thrones. All interest is compelled further by a captivating music score and an outdoor couch to take it all in."

 
The juried festival, led by curator Brett Phares, included a panel of art and industry experts to select the final winners. The judge panel consisted of Florida State University College of Communication research associate and adjunct instructor Lucia Fishburne, journalist Evan Narcisse, executive director at New Orleans Film Society Fallon Young, RealMotion director Geoffrey Platt, and architect Marieanne Khoury-Vogt of Khoury & Vogt Architects.
 
In addition to the juried competition, a group of artists were selected to participate in this year's Visiting Artist Residency to create large-scale pieces at Digital Graffiti: 2018 Best of Show winner, Jessica Van Zee with AOA Builds out of Winter Park, Florida; Tamiko Thiel & Peter Graf of Munich, Germany; and Kaiman Walker from Los Angeles.

The festival was powered by industry leading Christie technology - including festival projectors, content management, switching and distribution and technical support, as well as the sponsorship of each of the 2019 Artists in Residence. This year's festival marked Christie's third year as the technology sponsor.

"Christie's sponsorship of Digital Graffiti is marked by an inspired use of our technology, which pushes the boundaries of what's possible for projected artwork," says Arlonna Seymour, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing, Christie. "This year's use of interactive elements coupled with projection mapping made for a very exciting competition."
 
For more information about the festival, please visit digitalgraffiti.com.

Be sure to follow Digital Graffiti on Facebook for up to date information. Call 866-732-9276 or visit alysbeach.com to book your stay.

ALYS BEACH
Nestled on 158 pristine acres along the Gulf of Mexico, Alys Beach is a unique urban project that blends new city planning with old-world charm. Its striking architecture, elegant settings and natural landscapes make it tempting to stop and explore on your way down the east end of Scenic 30A. Founded in 2004, Alys Beach is one of SoWal’s newest towns. Its streets, courtyards, promenades and market places were all designed to be both innovative and timeless. Read more: Alys Beach | SoWal.com Vacation Guide. Follow Alys Beach on Facebook for town events and updates!

This year in Alys Beach features seasonal concerts in the amphitheater, weekly outdoor movies at sunset, and festivals and special events throughout the year such as 30A Wine Festival (March), Sinfonia Goes Pops concert on Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July concert and fireworks, Alys Beach 5K and Fun Run (Sep), Wine & Song at NEAT, and the annual Halloween party Noche de Los Muertos. The big Alys Beach festival is Digital Graffiti held in May. 

SoWal Towns: Alys Beach