DEAF Festival Returns with 'The Power of Things' in Rotterdam

After a hiatus, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF) returned to Rotterdam from May 16 to June 3, 2012, organized by V2. The theme 'The Power of Things' explored a renewed materialist and vitalist approach, questioning what matter does rather than what it is. The exhibition featured about twenty works, including Olafur Eliasson's 'Notion Motion' and Philip Beesley's 'Protocell Field,' which merged artificial and organic elements. Jae Rhim Lee's 'Mushroom Death Suit' used trained mushroom spores to decompose the artist's body, recycling toxic pollutants. Kianoosh Motallebi's 'Terrestrial Ball' comprised the 94 naturally occurring elements on Earth. The festival also included a performance by Symbiotica in the form of a cooking competition, and a colloquium titled 'Vital Beauty' with a session on textile and fashion. A book 'Vital Beauty: Reclaiming Aesthetics in the Tangle of Technology and Nature' was published by V2.