I’m now headed to Newark Airport to fly to Portugal for the amazing OFFF conference. Don’t be jealous, though, if you can’t make it – expect plenty of coverage for both CDMs. (My talk Saturday will actually be more music-focused than visual, though as you know, the lines are always deliciously blurry between the two.)

http://offf.ws/

If you are making it and showing work, do be sure to find me during the week! I’ll be doing impromptu interviews in video/sound through the week in hallways and the hotel (most of us are staying in the same place).

I’ve just arrived in Chicago for MGFest, the motion graphics festival, kicking off its five-city tour of America. (Side note. The good news for the rest of you not in Chicago: this means over the next few days (and early into next week) I’m finally getting some additional resources on learning Processing for the sold-out workshop I teach Saturday. I’m looking forward to having all of that posted!)

Above: Michael Una playing 2008’s MGFest Bent Festival, but let’s make him the unofficial Digital Druid mascot of Sunday night, anyway.

If you’re not in Chicago and you see work on the schedule you’d like me to cover for the rest of the planet, just let me know. Check out the Chicago calendar.

For some background on the event and an interesting take from its founder Mason Dixon, see Time Out Chicago:

Deeply moving images

He’s got something to say about the scene and Chicago in particular. Substitute your city in this description, and I think you’ll see the potential. (Hey, we could do better even in New York.) And keep in mind, Mason doesn’t just mean motion reels for broadcast ads – he’s talking live visuals, VJs, and interactive art, too – just the stuff we love.

The designer hopes his event demonstrates that New York and L.A. aren’t the only industry hubs. Once you consider motion graphics in media other than film, Dixon says, “Chicago is much more of a center. We have three out of the ten largest advertising firms in the world; I would suggest that there’s going to be a huge influx of business for them. But they’re going to have to look a little outside of their traditional boundaries, at emerging mediums.”

I also enjoy the opening line, “How can Mason Dixon believe the online-media industry is “going to do great” in 2009?” Of course, a changing world can be ideal for new opportunities in making media, even in a stormy climate.

Here’s what’s in the event itself:

Saturday night is a big showcase of installation work and screened motion from Negativland and Addictive TV and many others – Michael Una will even have his Beep-It Theremin. Check out the full description.

Sunday, there’s a big audiovisual showcase at the Chicago Cultural Center. CDM contributor Michael Una and I are playing live A/V sets as part of a terrific lineup the MGFest crew have assembled:

• Vir Unis, electroacoustic composer, AtmoWorks co-founder, ambient radio star (Hearts of Space, Echoes, and Star’s End), and sound designer (Sony Creative Loop Libraries)
• Stoptime 341 doing “the itch inside all of us who live in a city that holds temptations more potent than dreams, guilty pleasure in the darkened corners of night.” Ah, so you go on late night doughnut runs, too? (Stoptime do some fantastic live video and club work, including an acclaimed Tiesto collaboration)
• Merkaba, live video work for theater and many other good things
• Ontologist, terrific music on self-programmed software
• Glen Stephani, a member of the Psymbolic crew and a great representation of what Chicago has to offer (caught Glen’s work the last time I was here)

What’s great about this, too, is the strong local connections; it’s about time more hotspots in the visualist scene evolve.

Video Band: The 2009 Visual Performance Showcase [mgfest event page]

There’s a ever-expanding scene that appreciates digital motion graphic design and art worldwide, but while the US has the awesome research shindig SIGGRAPH, it’s been tougher for the community around digital motion to come together. MGFest has been working to change that. Its first five years have done a lot to promote the best in motion – see the lovely imagery above — but 2009 is the year it explodes, with a year of events focused regionally. By going from city to city, it’s amplifying the best of the art happening in the corners of our geographically-huge nation. And it’s found an ideal place to start: Chicago.

If you’re nearby, you can get into all the MGFest events (minus the Imagination College workshops) for a ridiculously-tiny $7. That’s seven bucks total – I didn’t leave off the zeroes usually associated with events. (Ahem. TED recession special, anyone?)

mgfest.com [All the latest event details]

There’s quite a lot to cover, but to get things kicked off, here’s a look at what’s coming to Chicago. And, oh yeah, I’ll be part of the festivities, giving a short panel talk Friday, a big set of workshops for Saturday, and performing Sunday evening (Michael Una of CDM will be there, too). More on that soon.

I’m really pleased Create Digital Motion gets the chance to sponsor and cover this series. Stay tuned, as we’ll try to bring as much of this to the rest of the world as we can.

Happy 2009! from postspectacular on Vimeo.

I can’t say it any better than this. A big Happy New Year to the planet. 2009 looks to be a breakout year for Create Digital Motion, with all we’ve got planned – starting with helping you get on top of your New Years’ Resolutions tomorrow as we start our new tutorial series.

For more great work from Karsten, see:

http://toxi.co.uk/

http://postspectacular.com/

And I’ll see you in 2009. For all the gloom on the Earth, I couldn’t be more bullish for what’s happening with expression and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Peter KIRN, editor-in-chief, createdigitalmusic | createdigitalmotion

All is quiet as this week folks celebrate Christmas and Hanukah. But this is a quick note to say that we won’t be waiting until the ball drops to jump start one New Year’s Resolution a lot of readers have: learning Processing, the artist-friendly, multimedia-savvy, open-source coding platform. We’ll be kicking off a series of tutorials on Processing (and Java and related technologies) starting all next week. And for those of you who already know Processing, just substitute “get  even better at Processing” in the previous paragraph.

If you have other tutorial requests for ‘09 (vvvv, perhaps) or tutorials you’ve put together you’d like us to link to, do give us a shout. I’ll be editing through the weekend, so see you Monday!