The Alys Foundation is set to present the 16th Annual Digital Graffiti Festival—an open-air, organic gallery for the projections—at Alys Beach, FL, May 19-20, 2023.

The festival’s juried show features the works of artists from the worldwide arena, unique in its display by digital projection onto the white walls of the architecture of Alys Beach, and into the broader exterior landscape.

Digital Graffiti provides a special and specific context for artists to explore the visual intersection of art and architecture as the nighttime festival illuminates the town with the latest in design, animation, and projection technologies. It will feature two evenings of innovation and inspiration, with artists exhibiting works of projection mapping, generative art, experimental short films, and animation—as well as sound, motion, and light-responsive installations.

With curator John Colette at the helm, Digital Graffiti enjoys the perspective of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) motion media design professor and eight-year veteran participant. Colette views the festival as an opportunity for the audience to engage with art outside of the traditional gallery space in a presentation that “makes the art much more of a living experience,” allowing the audience to “get deeper into the work” outside of the confines structured by “what we think we should do in that (gallery) environment.”

His hope is that the festival offers the audience a “cue for the imagination;” an opportunity to step into a living, breathing town, and allow the interaction between the art and the environment; and the impact of the audience’s own input and physical influence on the art projections, to change their overall perspective and the way they see the world.

The 2023 awards include Best of Show ($5,000 prize), Curator’s Choice ($2,000 prize) and three Special Recognition honors ($1,000 prize each), selected by Colette and an esteemed panel of judges.

2023 Residency Artists —Austin Shaw, designer, animator, illustrator, and motionographer; Katina Bitsicas, video artist and photographer; and XUAN, filmmaker, pianist, and new media artist—will spend 10 days in Alys Beach ahead of the festival to create, fine-tune, and/or projection map the pieces they will showcase throughout the festival footprint. Additionally, a selection of 30-40 artists from worldwide submissions will display their works for the juried show, alongside special projects from students of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s motion media design program, using the white masonry architecture as a large-scale blank canvas.

The Alys Foundation has donated more than $200,000 in awards and artist stipends over the past 15 years, all to further facilitate and encourage digital display of art in the public realm.

The engagement between the art, architecture, and audience is transformative, creating an immersive and interactive art projection experience that is entirely unique to the Digital Graffiti festival, named as one of the top “24 Unconventional Art Destinations Around the World” by National Geographic. The audience moves throughout the festival footprint, through the streets and pedestrian paths, pocket parks, and amenity spaces, engaging with the art within the context of the town’s urbanism, within the shared community experience, and within a festival environment of food, drink, and music.

For more information about the festival, click here.