Day 1 - October 11

Les Baigneurs, initially conceived as a three projection video installation and here presented in sequence, depicts people swimming naked (including the artist herself) in the sea and lakes of Finland. The slow movement is cyclical, like waves: the swimmers go in and out of water, pause, dive, dry themselves and both contemplate and contribute to a palette of sunken blue, chapped pink and skeletal grey.

(Parkway/Turnpike/Tunnel) documents the repeat journey of the artist between New Jersey to New York. A slow-motion video across six hours, we share the physical, social and psychological terrain of the commuter. Able to look ahead or behind in the rear view mirror, the thinned-out spaces of the contemporary landscape adopt fresh significance as car-dependence eliminates the motivation to walk, comparing these with the urban intensity of a metropolis.

“Just a Spanish kitchen-curtain in the Barcelona morning-wind. My answer to computer generated images. I never understood why we should create virtual worlds when we are having problems dealing with reality, and when the real world can give us thousand times more visual input…” – Marcus Kreiss

Curator / Concept & Project Realisation: Myriam Thyes

CATHEDRAL GARDENS 08.00 - 09.00 / 14.30 - 15.30
EXCHANGE SQUARE 22.00 - 23.00

A participatory art project - a continuously growing series of animations with many authors: The flags of every nation in the world will transform into each other through flash animation. Between each two flags, scenes appear that show an aspect of the relations between the two countries. This series of animations is an exploration into the meaning of imagery on flags, aiming to create interrelated associations through questioning, reassessing, fluidising and re-mixing of diverse national iconography.

Flag Metamorphoses lays stress on the relations between nations and identities as changing ones: Only in the permanent re-creation of values, symbols and ways of life, in mixing with others and differing from others, cultures and societies stay alive. Each artist who creates a flag animation expresses such a relation in his/her own way.
www.flag-metamorphoses.net

Contributors:
Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Congo - Belgium, Duration: 1m 05s, Year: 2005

Artist: Norbert F. Attard, Work: MetaWarphoses (Malta - Turkey - Germany - UK), Duration: 2m 37s, Year: 2005

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Korea - Japan (religious symbols), Duration: 35s, Year: 2005

Artist: Babel, Work: United Kindom - Barbados, Duration: 40s, Year: 2006

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Brazil – China, Duration: 43s, Year: 2006

Artist: Peter Chanthanakone, Work: Laos - Canada, Duration: 45s, Year: 2005

Artist: Christoph Frei, Work: Bolivia – Japan, Duration: 50s, Year: 2006

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: EU 2020, Duration: 2m 30s, Year: 2005

Artist: Rona Innes, Work: India – Scotland, Duration: 1m 07s, Year: 2006

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Spain - Mexico, Duration: 40s, Year: 2005

Artist: Anke Landschreiber, Work: Congo - Uganda – a fantasy, Duration: 50s, Year: 2006

Artist: Jorge Lara / I. R. Tello, Work: Afghanistan and Mexico – a comparison, Duration: 57s, Year: 2005

Artist: Ajdin Pajevic, Work: Bosnia & Herzegovina (+ Serbia + Croatia), Duration: 2m, Year: 2006

Artist: Max Pohlenz, Work: Stars'n'Stripes Gun Crazy, Duration: 1m 12s, Year: 2005

Artist: Nicola Tauscher, Work: Korea – Japan (beauty and war), Duration: 1m 28s, Year: 2006

Artist: Irena Paskali, Work: Ex-Yugoslavia, Duration: 45s, Year: 2007

Artist: Joanna Priestley, Work: Harmonic Convergence (Bulgaria – Mongolia), Duration: 38s, Year: 2007

Artist: Barry L. Roshto, Work: Cuba – USA, Duration: 35s, Year: 2006

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Switzerland - Germany - Switzerland, Duration: 44s, Year: 2005

Artist: Slobodan Tomic, Work: Croatia – USA, Duration: 1m 23s, Year: 2007

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: India - Bangladesh, Duration: 50s, Year: 2005

Artist: Barry L. Roshto, Work: Red and Yellow - a Historical Review of the Vietnamese Flag, Duration: 3m 31s, Year: 2005

Artist: Rona Innes, Work: Malawi and Mozambique, Duration: 1m 24s, Year: 2005

Artist: Myriam Thyes, Work: Caribbean Carnivals, Duration: 4m 45s, Year: 2006

Artist: Monika Oechsler, Work: World Cup Fever, Duration: 6m 40s, Year: 2006

Curator: Rebecca Lennon (UK)

ALL SAINTS GARDENS 11.00 - 12.00
CATHEDRAL GARDENS 16.30 - 17.30
EXCHANGE SQUARE 08.00 - 09.00

In January 06, the BBC joined forces with a freelance digital curator, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), the Liverpool Biennial and an ever expanding network of local creative organisations to produce a programme of innovative and original, local national and international artworks for the BBC Big Screen Liverpool. This programme was called 37Seconds, based on the assumption that as you approach Clayton Square, it takes approximately 37 seconds to pass the Big Screen and capture the interest of the casual observer into pausing to watch.

Contributors:
Artist: Christian Jankowski Work: 16mm Mystery

Artist: Paul Rooney Work: On This Pitch: The song of the Street Vendor

Artist: Rose Butler Work: Platform

Artist: Eva Teppe Work: The world Is All That Is The Case

Artist: Saki Satom Work: From B to H

Artist: Mark Lewis Work: The Pitch

Artist: Semiconductor Work: All The Time in the World

Artist: Imogen Stidworthy Work: 7am

Artist: Trine Lise Nedreaas Work: Forget Me Not

Artist: Richard T Walker Work: Successive Inconceivable Events

Artist: Run Wrake Work: Rabbit

Artist: Qui Anxiong Work: In The Sky

Curator: Michelle Cotton (UK), Sylvia Kouvali (GR)

ALL SAINTS GARDENS 08.00 - 08.30
CATHEDRAL GARDENS 10.00 - 10.30
EXCHANGE SQUARE 17.00 - 17.30 / 23.00 - 23.30

Titled after a chapter in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1937 dystopian novel, We Frozen Waves, five artists employing visual and textual codes familiar from the language of commerce and the information economy were invited to develop projects for Yama, a public art programme hosted via a 6m x 9m diode screen on the roof of the Marmara Pera Hotel in the centre of Istanbul. Their short works have been informed by the architecture of the screen, the Lumacom technology and the local context. The format of Frozen Waves is concerned with the role that technology plays in structuring communication, occupying what the architect Robert Venturi refers to as an ‘iconographic surface’, a façade that functions as a source of digital information that is by nature subject to renewal and change.

Frozen Waves will broadcast new work by Babak Ghazi (UK), Mustafa Hulusi (UK / Cyprus), Paul Snowden (Germany), Mark Titchner (UK) and Eva Weinmayr (UK) via publicly-sited screens in Istanbul and the UK.

Contributors:
Artist: Babak Ghazi, Work: choose1.jpg, Duration: 31s, Year: 2007

Artist: Mustafa Hulusi, Work: Expander, Duration: 1m, Year: 2007

Artist: Paul Snowden, Work: IN THE FUTURE, Duration: English version 3m 48s, Turkish version 3m 29s, Year: 2007

Artist: Mark Titchner, Work: Nope, Duration: 2m 37s, Year: 2007

Artist: Eva Weinmayr, Camera: Sylke Rene Meyer, Work: We Are Racing to God Aligning With the Shipwrecks by the Blue Galaxies. (Well, Well Do Not Exaggerate!), Duration: 4m 13s, Year: 2007

Curator: Johannes Gees (CH)

ALL SAINTS GARDENS 08.30 - 09.00
CATHEDRAL GARDENS 10.30 - 11.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 23.30 - 00.00

agent-provocateur.ch is an independent non-profit project for the production and distribution of video-spots of cultural activists that deal with contemporary social and political issues. agent-provocateur.ch is based in Switzerland. The spots are between 30 and 90 seconds in length and are shown on television, public screens, cinemas and websites. agent-provocateur.ch has produced more than 150 video-spots since 2005. The third annual competition for short movie clips will be launched in October 2007. ap = reference selection for viewing online at www.agent-provocateur.ch

Contributors:
Gian Rupf / ap190; Balint Kostyal / ap192; Simone Zuberbühler / ap188; Laura Baettig / ap187; Andrea Ehrat / ap185; Brünggle, Jaberg / ap183; Peter Aerschmann / ap174; Oliver Müller / ap175; Fabian Gasser / ap172; Patrick Meury / ap168; Florine Ott, Lea Meyer / ap170; Benny Jaberg / ap167; Andrea Staka / ap164; Kerim Seiler / ap161; Leo Maillard / ap159; Rolf Lyssy, Anne Rüffer / ap156; Roberto de Luca / ap151; Anna Luif / ap150; Keller, Locher, Pearson / ap148; Tobias Noelle / ap149; Breitenmoser et al. / ap145; Jaskiewicz, Morgen / ap144; Selz, Bruinink, Eugster / ap140; Milena Milivojevic / ap85; Rafael Sommerhalder / ap77; Erik Dettwiler / ap73; Lutz, Guggisberg / ap66; Gianni Motti / ap64; Koerner Union / ap160

Times 09.00 - 10.00 & 14.00 - 15.00

2008: Man with a Movie Camera is an experiment in database cinema. Based on Dziga Vertov’s 1929 masterpiece, this version takes his concept of "decoding life as it is" into the twenty first century. Individuals are invited to upload shots and scenes based on scenes from the original film, creating a database which then streams as a film. As a collection of personal visions this montage is in Vertov's terms "a continuous exchange of visible fact". Uploads to the site will take place continuously: the nature of the database is infinite. Visit dziga.perrybard.net to take part!

Times 09.00 - 10.00 & 12.00 - 14.00

The installation is a form of a surveillance device that allows the passer-by to generate images and sounds. The movements of people, captured by a camera, are converted into graphic patterns and sound modulations. If nobody is there to trigger this, there is no sound or image. Every visitor can do as one pleases: roam, dance, stamp, run or simply wave a hand and explore means of activating images and sounds.

Times 09.00 - 10.00, 15.00 - 17.00 & 20.00 - 21.00

In 1968 Andy Warhol stated that; ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’. 15x15 advances this statement into the 21st century; with new media technology anyone and everyone can be world famous....for 15 seconds. Participants contribute to the piece using a standard mobile camera phone that can capture video, sending chosen clips using MMS (Multimedia Message Service), or upload from a personal computer to the online database at www.15x15.org or via email to me@15x15.org

Curator: Susanne Jaschko

ALL SAINTS GARDENS 10.00 - 11.00
CATHEDRAL GARDENS 22.00 - 23.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 19.00 - 20.00

Supernature is a video and animation programme that brings nature back into the urban environment, thus fulfilling the modern urbanist’s desire to partly re-naturalise functional city centres. Through its artificiality today’s subsequently implanted pseudo-nature recalls classic examples of urban decor such as the ornamental facades of the Art Nouveau and Japanese miniature gardens.

The programme Supernature picks up on this contemporary trend to reintroduce nature into our stone-heavy urban surroundings. It also responds to the amazing popularity of TV series’ featuring wildlife, zoos and pets. Instead of presenting an ideal nature, the video works show unsettling sceneries – boring nature, an impossible nature, fully designed nature, nature between beauty and ugliness, an unravelling nature.

Supernature has been specially assembled for Urban Screens Manchester 07 by its curator Susanne Jaschko.

Contributors:
Artist: Gudrun Kemsa, Work: Riverside, Duration: 12m 50s, Year: 2002

Artist: Niklas Goldbach, Work: Rise, Duration: 2m 22s, Year: 2007

Artist: Günther + Loredana Selichar, Work: Granturismo, Duration: 5m 10s, Year: 2001

Artist: Simone Häckel, Work: Sleeping, Duration: 3m

Artist: Trevor Morgan, Work: RT S NJ 07733, Duration: 8m, Year: 2003

Artist: Lynne Marsh, Work: Volcano, Duration: 5m 30s, Year: 2006

Artist: Sean Capone, Work: The Sculpture Garden, Duration: 2m, Year: 2004

Artist: Peter Aerschmann, Work: Union Square, Duration: 10m

Artist: Timm Ringewaldt, Work: Rund, Duration: 5m, Year: 2007 

Curator: Lets Go Global

Global Cream is a medley of delicious digital content created by Lets Go Global. This cultural cornucopia will feature music, art, comedy and children from Chorlton Park Primary School as part of a Creative Partnerships Manchester Salford project presenting some unforgettable animations. Join us at the screens for these urban treats.

Curator: Michelle Kasprzak (CA/UK)

CATHEDRAL GARDENS 23.00 - 00.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 11.00 - 12.00

This programme presents the highlights of Transmedia, a series of projects by the art collective, Year Zero One, who have been using urban screens in Toronto, Canada to display work by artists since 2000. The group has produced three Transmedia screening programmes, on three different urban screens in downtown Toronto, where video art is presented at regular intervals between advertisements. The Transmedia project provides artists with the creative challenge of producing moving-image work that is very short (often a minute or less), and that will be sandwiched between advertisements. But as with most limitations, the conditions of using urban screens as a platform fosters innovative work.

Contributors:
Artist: Colin Zipp (CA), Work: Niverville MB - 08.04, Duration: 1m, Year: 2006

Artist: Maris Mezulis (CA), Work: Fast Sale, Duration: 1m, Year: 2006

Artist: Shaan Syed (CA), Work: Girl Smoking, Duration: 1m, Year: 2006

Artist: Gwen McGregor (CA), Work: 3 months - New York, Toronto, Duration: 1m, Year: 2005

Artist: Cheryl Sourkes (CA), Work: Live From the Wedding Cam in Las Vegas, Duration: 1m, Year: 2005

Artist: Risa Horowitz (CA), Work: Studiopace, Duration: 1m, Year: 2005

Artist: Pascual Sisto (ES/USA), Work: 28 Years in the Implicate Order, Duration: 1m, Year: 2004

Artist: David Jhave Johnston (CA), Work: Lipservice, Duration: 15s, Year: 2002

Artist: Marina Zurkow (USA), Work: Parthenogenesis, Duration: 1m 30s, Year: 2002

Artist: Michael Alstad (CA), Work: 15 second blowjob, Duration: 15s, Year: 2002

Artist: Louise McKissick (CA/USA), Work: iloveyou, Duration: 15s, Year: 2000

Artist: Willy Le Maitre & Eric Rosensweig (CA/USA), Work: Methane, Duration: 15s, Year: 2000

Artist: Tanya Read (CA), Work: Mr Nobody in High Off the Hog, Duration: 15s, Year: 2000

Artist: Lucinda Schreiber (AU), Work: Water, Duration: 15s, Year: 2000

Curator: Michelle Kasprzak (CA/UK)

CATHEDRAL GARDENS 23.00 - 00.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 11.00 - 12.00

Otherworldly takes viewers on a journey through spaces that are at once familiar and alien. Nelly-Ève Rajotte's piece, Valo, explores a mysterious interior which is reminiscent of a sterile control room. In Comrade Valentina, Nina Levitt considers not only the bravery but also the charisma of the first woman in space. Kelly Richardson's Exiles of the Shattered Star is a contemplative piece in which we witness the beauty that results from destruction. This programme premiered on the screen at Federation Square, Melbourne, which is situated in a cluster of futuristic buildings clad in a fractal façade of zinc, glass and sandstone, rising above street level to also offer views of the Yarra River and the city.

Contributors:
Artist: Nelly-Ève Rajotte (CA), Work: Valo, Duration: 7m, Year: 2005

Artist: Nina Levitt (CA), Work: Comrade Valentina, Duration: 2m, Year: 2006

Artist: Kelly Richardson (CA/UK), Work: Exiles of the Shattered Star, Duration: 30m, Year: 2006

MegaPhone is a means of using your mobile phone to participate in a live, multi-player collaborative gaming platform for big screens in public spaces. Users see a phone number displayed on the screen, call it, and use their button presses and voice to control an interactive experience on the screen. Applications on the screen currently include action oriented games, trivia contests and realtime voting systems. MegaPhone arrives in Manchester hot from frequent play on the MTV Screen in Times Square New York, where it's been going down a storm. Be among the first in the UK to take part! www.playmegaphone.com

Curator: Marcus Kreiss (DE/FR)

CATHEDRAL GARDENS 20.00 - 21.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 14.00 - 15.00

Souvenirs from the Earth started the first 24/7 TV channel for video art on a German cable network in September 2006. The programme has been developed to transform big flat screens into futuristic paintings, addressing a universal need for decent, advanced visual entertainment with every screen that is installed. A project right out of the imagination of artists like ambient guru Brian Eno or video art pioneers Nam June Paik and Bill Viola into the reality of international audiovisual business.

Redeeming the promise made in 60s sci-fi films where walls were moving images, Souvenirs from the Earth gives TV-tired members of the post MTV generation the possibility to avoid the black hole of an inactive screen in an elegant way; by having an ever changing art work delivered right into their homes.

The programme is a lineup of 10 to 60 minutes long video-paintings; often very slow, colourful films specially produced by different artists, exploring for the first time the physical dimension of moving images the new big screens can offer. Each film is a visual invention, there is no classical storytelling, and there is no sound as there is no sound with traditional paintings.

The project was presented for the first time at the ICA in London and at the 1999 Venice Biennale. London's Sketch gallery, which hosted a 12 screen installation based on the programme in 2005. Negotiations are under way to make the channel available on British cable networks. www.souvenirsfromtheearth.com

Artworks:
Camions - 12m 10s; Nightshooting - 15m 04s; Feger - 6m 18s; Beach - 9m 22s; Link - 3m 02s; Passerbys - 14m 56s 

Based on the original photographic work of Edward Muybridge's study of pigeons in flight this work utilises Bluetooth technology to build an interactive environment in which pedestrians control the number of birds based on the number of enabled mobile devices present within a 10m/33ft range. The pigeons appear to fly over a virtual Manchester skyline while commuting pedestrians travel beneath.

Lets Go Global will leave the comfort of their community based TV studio in the heart of Old Trafford to bring you three very different live outside broadcasts over three days, especially created for Urban Screens Manchester 07.

Thursday 11th October - 'No Budget Show' Lets Go Global's weekly magazine style show will wow you with a medley of short films, live music & interviews. Plus passers by, friends and family will be able to get involved and star in our new Cheap as Chips Quiz.

Friday 12th October - Paul Sermon of the School of Art & Design will map All Saints' Gardens within Second Life online, allowing both virtual and real-life visitors the opportunity to interact. The history of the site will also come under investigation - look closely and you may even see Emmeline Pankhurst, local icon of womens' rights, chained to the surrounding railings!

Saturday 13th October - Global Youth & Ideal (Segun) introduce an eclectic mix of Greater Manchester young talent! Be prepared to be amazed by new up and coming singers, dancers, bands MC's and maybe a bit of Magic. All for you!

Come down and join us for a hour or view on-line. All broadcasts live @ www.letsgoglobal.tv

Curator: Kristin Gray (USA)

CATHEDRAL GARDENS 19.30 - 20.00
EXCHANGE SQUARE 17.30 - 18.00

Victory Media Network®, a multi-sensory and multi-dimensional epicenter for Dallas, Texas, celebrating art and community on a global scale, brings to Manchester a dynamic and engaging mix of content such as digital art, animation and film shorts, as well as work from one of Victory’s sponsors. www.victorymedianetwork.com

Contributors:
Artist: Tal Rosner (UK), Work: Stravinsky Concerto, Duration: 6m, Year: 2006

Artist: twenty2product (USA), Work: Densha, Duration: 1m 30s, Year: 1999

Artist: Target, Work: Butterfly, Duration: 45s, Year: 2007

Artist: Aaron Koblin (USA), Work: Flight Patterns, Duration: 3m, Year: 2005

Artist: Dennis Miller (USA), Work: Release, Duration: 3m 15s, Year: 2004

Artist: Target, Work: Revolutions, Duration: 2m 15s, Year: 2006

Artist: Victor Ingrassia (USA), Work: Shore Morning, Duration: 1m 30s, Year: 2006

Artist: Scott Hall (USA), Work: Journey 1, Duration: 3m, Year: 2006

Artist: Target (USA), Work: Target Art Connects, Duration: 45s, Year: 2007

Artist: Till Nowak (DE), Work: Delivery, Duration: 8m, Year: 2005

A live link across 3 nights to the renowned ‘phantom area’ located near Calais, France, where illegal immigrants gather to await an opportunity to cross the Channel. Buffer Zone is a project about invisible, ephemeral paths, of the temporary traces of human occupation within a zone that does not officially exist. Challenging the notion of frontiers and freedom of movement, if the physical person is prevented from travel, their image at least can continue the journey. 

A cross-disciplinary project that fuses documentary filmmaking, live and electronic music, animation and motion graphics with memorable digital video performance. Commissioned by The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in upstate New York, The Light Surgeons set out to investigate the stories and myths surrounding Uncle Sam Wilson; bearded idol of a contemporary pantheon and personification of the United States.

European premiere. Limited public tickets available, cost for non delegates £5 (£4 concs.) from the Cornerhouse Box Office on 0161 200 1500 (included as part of Manchester Urban Screens 07 delegate package). This performance will take place in the spectacular surroundings of The Great Hall, a lofty Victorian-Gothic salon within Manchester Town Hall, completed in 1877 to a design by architect Alfred Waterhouse whose legacy includes the Natural History Museum, London. 

Curator: Marcus Kreiss (DE/FR)

Souvenirs from the Earth started the first 24/7 TV channel for video art on a German cable network in September 2006. The programme has been developed to transform big flat screens into futuristic paintings, addressing a universal need for decent, advanced visual entertainment with every screen that is installed. A project right out of the imagination of artists like ambient guru Brian Eno or video art pioneers Nam June Paik and Bill Viola into the reality of international audiovisual business.

Redeeming the promise made in 60s sci-fi films where walls were moving images, Souvenirs from the Earth gives TV-tired members of the post MTV generation the possibility to avoid the black hole of an inactive screen in an elegant way; by having an ever changing art work delivered right into their homes.

The programme is a lineup of 10 to 60 minutes long video-paintings; often very slow, colourful films specially produced by different artists, exploring for the first time the physical dimension of moving images the new big screens can offer. Each film is a visual invention, there is no classical storytelling, and there is no sound as there is no sound with traditional paintings.

The project was presented for the first time at the ICA in London and at the 1999 Venice Biennale. London's Sketch gallery, which hosted a 12 screen installation based on the programme in 2005. Negotiations are under way to make the channel available on British cable networks. www.souvenirsfromtheearth.com

Artworks:
Escalade - 10m 10s; Bamakofoot - 10m 27s; Metro - 10m 23s; Cantine - 6m 03s; Fassad - 4m 57s; Paspas - 6m 05s; Plasticbarock - 10m 59s; Station Etoile - 4m 53s