The Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition (CODE) was a digital art showcase at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The festival, which lasted from February 4 to 21, was the first of its kind at a major sporting event, showcasing the new digital media styles in art, music, and film.

First conceived in 2007, the growth of social networking sites contributed to the eventual popularity of the event.^[1] One of the installations, Vectorial Elevation (a spotlight-based light installation over Vancouver's English bay), had over 20,000 individual design submissions.

CODE Live was curated by digital artist Malcolm Levy.^[2]

Vancouver public spaces

Throughout the time of the CODE festival, not only a number of small areas turned into exhibition areas, but the city itself was transformed by digital art displays. Some of these pieces were:

• Vectorial Elevation: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Canada)
• Fearless Mobile, OMG IM ON DOT TV, Untold Histories: W2 Community Media Arts Society (Canada)
• Glocal Urban Screen Project: Surrey Art Gallery (Canada)
• Intersection 2010: Bright Light: Presented by the City of Vancouver (Canada)
• NeoGrafik: NomIg (Ed Jordan, Stephanie MacKay), Alexis Laurence
• PaCuBoxes: Tom Kuo, co-presentation with the Canadian Film Centre (Canada)

All these installations are attempting to connect to the largest audiences possible, unlike the smaller exhibits.

CODE Collections

One internet Installation, CODE collections, showcased various aspects of landscape, culture, and people of Canada. Each collection was prefaced by a short introduction in both English and French, followed by pages of submitted photographs.

CODE screen

Accessible wherever one could find a computer screen, this section of CODE showcased creations of Canada's visual artists. Nearly 20 recipients of the Governor General's Awards for Visual and Media Arts had work on display. Using an application, users were able to use an interactive catalog to easily find something they could enjoy.

Some pieces are:

• Colour Shift^[3]
• Let the Light Be^[4]
• Consumerism - I Shop Therefore, I am?^[5]
• Naturally^[6]
• When the Night Comes^[7]
• Books, Records^[8]
• Contains Animal Byproducts! — Pet Food for the Brain^[9]
• Corporatization – A Persistent L'il System^[10]
• Test Pattern ^[11]
• The Stuff of Us — Our Objects Ourselves^[12]
• If These Walls Could Talk — Room for reflection^[13]
• Competition — Winning isn't Everything^[14]
• The Art of Knowledge — When seeing is believing.^[15]
• Group Show — Groups bring us together. Groups place us apart.^[16]

CODE Live

CODE live, blended interactive art with digital music. Placing the events at three well-known sites, events ranged from artists such as Chromeo performing to an installation of the Reactable on display.

CODE Motion Pictures

This exhibit showcased over 50 Canadian filmmakers. A common theme among their films, because they were for the Olympics, was the movement of the human body. Films were shown both online or on larger projection screens at "celebration sites"

Some of the films are:

• 365 Directed by: Matt Embry ^[19]
• Aerial Artistry Directed by: Talia Pura ^[20]
• Momentum Directed by: Sheona Mcdonald ^[21]
• Patin futé Directed by: Jonathan Beaudry Lontinville, Mélanie Breton, Diana M. Cortijo, Emmanuel Lagacé, Priscillia Rousseau, Christine Thériault ^[22]
• Duet Directed by: Raul Sanchez Inglis ^[23]
• RGB Move Directed by: Ryan Enn Hughes ^[24]
• Geared-up Directed by: Kenneth Sherman.^[25]
• Sheng Qi (Souffle de vie) Directed by:Maxime-Claude L'Écuyer ^[26]
• Climb Directed by: Brett Bell ^[27]
• Play Directed by: Lisa Porter ^[28]

See also

• Cultural Olympiad

References