Playgrounds Festival 2010

Playgrounds describes itself as a festival for innovative and creative digital art. During the two-day festival in Tilburg, Playgrounds presents an impression of the latest developments in technology as well as creativity. The festival program offers an inspiring mix of inventive films, documentaries, animation, graphic design, artist talks, character design and performances.

Playgrounds was a joy and surely measures up to the big festivals in the world. Allthough the festival is held in a small town called Tilburg (South of The Netherlands) it’s speakers reflex bigness. From big directors like Pierre Coffin (Despicable Me) and Rex Crowle (Little Big Planet) to powerhouses like Mini Vegas and Zeitguised. Furthermore there were Nexus, The Blackheart Gang, Shy the Sun, David Wilson, our own Matt Lambert, Champagne Valentine, Radical Friend and BIF to complete it.
It was nice to see every speaker had their own style, their own story of success and their own piece of advice. The motto seemed to be, stay true to yourself, explore and make what YOU want!

I especially liked the Talkshow between Fons Schiedon and David O’Reilly, what was meant to be a talk about inspiration, became a showdown of truly bizarre and sick works from all over the world. Movie clips, snippets of porn and pieces of animation were all wrapped into a humorous, often awkward, dialogue between Fons and David. The Art of ‘Wrongness’!

This years’ titles came out of the sick mind of animator/director/designer Fons Schiedon. With Post Panic on the production it turned out to be on of the most creative festival titles ever made.  Wether you like it or not, they are a definitely a fresh, new approach. No slick 3D, no heavy sound design, skilled typography or layers and layers of post. It looks like a surreal movie, a part of a series you’ve missed. Fons cleverly hid the titles in the dialogue of the film.

enjoy