Cannes Launches CIMA, a New Festival for Digital Artists and Projection Mapping

The first edition of CIMA (Cannes International Mapping Awards) will take place in 2022, running concurrently with the Cannes Film Festival. Founded by Bernard Coets, a young entrepreneur with 20 years of art experience and director of a gallery since 2017, the festival blends projections, digital art, contemporary art, and music. It aims to be a hybrid between a film festival and an art fair, hosted in a hotel reminiscent of The Armory Show's early days. The event focuses on networking, sales, and sharing knowledge about new technologies and equipment. Digital artists worldwide can apply from September 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022. A jury will select 20 artists across 10 categories in February 2022, with winners notified in March. Cannes was chosen for its connections to contemporary art and cinema, its international museums and private foundations, and recent gallery and auction house expansions. The city is renovating the Cannes Art Center at La Malmaison on the Croisette, which recently hosted a solo show by Kehinde Wiley, into an exceptional art center.