Digital Arts Expo this week

Over 4,000 people, including numerous participants from overseas, have registered for free entry to the first ever Malta International Digital Arts Expo (MIDA) which opens at the Hilton Conference Centre on Thursday.

The four-day event, billed as 'where technology, creativity and business meet' incorporates a Business-to Business Exhibition, creative, technology and business seminars, Mac Lab workshops, a Gallery Zone, and the Kinemastik Short Film Cinema room. It will be officially opened by Communications Minister Austin Gatt.

A wide range of digital art forms from newspaper design to 3D animation, and from photography to marketing will be under the spotlight.

Graphic design solutions and products take up a significant part of the workshop and seminar line-up, to which over 700 people, among whom numerous students, have registered to attend.

Occupying over 1,000 square metres of exhibition space, MIDA is four years in the making. Event director Jon Mallia, a partner at ICA Ltd, the media agency organising the event in collaboration with the Communications Ministry, says the original concept was broached by partners in 2004.

They were looking at organising an event modelled on trade events like the IPEX held in Birmingham and Amsterdam's IBC which would bring players from every field of the creative industry together in the same space. It would serve as an opportunity for the latest technologies and tools to be brought to the fore, and for ideas on their use to be explored.

"The MIDA is more than just a meeting place for learning about latest technologies," Mr Mallia says. "It is about networking, meeting clients, and friends.

"The revolution has been driven by a combination of factors: increased processing power, better storage, vastly improved connectivity and networking, new, efficient and cost-effective means of communication - all have combined to free people from the constraints of traditional media.

"This is what MIDA is celebrating, along with some of the companies producing the tools that are driving the trends."

Allied Newspapers has supported MIDA from the outset. Marketing manager Edward Muscat Azzopardi, who will lead two seminars on newspaper design, says as a leader in the sector, the organisation was keen to illustrate the technology and process involved in producing newspapers and the thinking behind the finished edition on the newsstand.

"Newspaper design is an industrial art form, one that balances tradition and function," he says. "There is a conscious discussion about every change or improvement that is made to design. Through our participation in MIDA we will highlight what led us to the final decisions."

The 22 exhibitors include publishers, IT solutions distributors, media agencies, lighting specialists and a British university. Local experts will share the floor with foreign speakers to illustrate the new features incorporated in updated software and hardware and their potential application. Fifteen artists will exhibit over 50 panels in the Gallery Zone.

Mr Mallia says MIDA is intended to become an annual event, with the first expo serving as a "taster" of how it could be expanded.

"We hope the local industry understands the aims behind MIDA and more key players will embark on this experience too next year," he pointed out.

Entrance to MIDA is free to registered members only.

For free registration and the full programme, visit www.digitalartsexpo.com to receive a free entry ticket by e-mail.

MIDA will be open daily until Sunday from 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.