Weekly arts agenda: Videoholica, American Craft Council Show

During the week of August 9, Videoholica will take viewers on an intricate journey of video art projections and exhibitions in the Bulgarian city of Varna. In San Francisco, California, more than 250 artists will present their handcrafted wares and artworks at the American Craft Council Show.

VIDEOHOLICA festival
August 10-17
Varna, Bulgaria

VIDEOHOLICA is an international festival of video art projections and exhibitions. The third edition of the festival celebrates the theme of "keep the illusion alive" and features works by international video artists such as Hamburg-based audiovisual electronics duo incite, Switzerland-based conceptual video artist Anthony Bannwart, 12-artist collective Projection, and guest artists Dinu Li (Manchester, UK/Hong Kong, China) and Victor Mutelekesha (Oslo, Norway/Chililabombwe, Zambia).
http://www.videoholica.org/en_2010.htm

The American Craft Council Show
August 13-15
Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, California, USA

More than 250 artists will show off handcrafted jewelry, clothing, furniture, home décor, and fine arts during this year's American Craft Council Show in San Francisco. Highlights at the event include affordable crafts at under $100, green crafts made using recycled or eco-friendly materials, and a children's craft workshop. In excess of 10,000 visitors are expected to attend The American Craft Council Show.
http://public.craftcouncil.org/sf

Interactive Screen 1.0 Beautiful Lives
August 16-20
The Banff Centre
Banff, Alberta, Canada

The 15th edition of Banff New Media Institute's flagship new media event, Interactive Screen, brings together media makers, thinkers and movers to investigate the ways in which new media intersects with people's aspirations and ambitions for the betterment of life. The five-day conference is built around interactive and participatory lectures, presentations, discussions, workshops, performances and exhibitions.
http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=1028

Art Taipei
August 20-24
Taipei, Taiwan

The longest-standing art fair in Asia, Art Taipei touts itself as the most professional Art Fair dealing in Chinese art and a hotspot for international collectors looking to invest in young Asian artists. Approximately 72,000 people attend Art Taipei every year.
http://www.art-taipei.com

Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair
August 27-29
The Shilla Hotel
Seoul, South Korea

The Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair (AHAF) is an innovative art fair that will transform Seoul's Shilla Hotel into a gallery for the weekend. Installations will take over beds and sculptures will erupt out of bathtubs, providing a fun and original way for viewers to experience contemporary Asian artworks.
http://www.hotelartfair.kr/

Museum Embankment Festival Frankfurt
August 27-29
Eiserner Steg footbridge
Frankfurt, Germany

For the three days of the Museum Embankment Festival, German galleries collaborate to display stunning pieces of artwork, borrowed from their gallery collections, along an 8 km stretch of riverbank in Frankfurt, Germany. Visitors can view the hundreds of masterpieces that line the riverbank while also enjoying the additional outdoors attractions such as music and drama performances that take place during the festival. Approximately 3 million people attend the free event each year.
http://www.museumsuferfest-frankfurt.de

OSTRALE`010
August 27-September 9
Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst
Dresden, Germany

OSTRALE`010 is an international exhibition of contemporary art where artists interpret and utilize their surroundings to create their artwork. More than 150 young and established international artists will take part in the event showing works in the fields of painting, sculpture, sound, light, video, concept art, installation, and performance art. The annual event has only been running since 2007 but already managed to attract 11,000 visitors in 2009.
http://www.ostrale.de/

Gwangju Biennale: 10,000 lives
September 3 - November 7
Gwangju Biennale Hall, Gwangiu Museum of Art, Gwangiu Folk Museum
Gwangju, Korea

Founded in 1995, the Gwangju Biennale has quickly established itself as the largest contemporary art Biennale in Asia with over half a million viewers each year. The 8th edition of the Gwangju Biennale will be directed by Italian-born Massimiliano Gioni - the youngest artistic director in the Biennale's history. The Biennale runs concurrently to Art Gwangju.
http://gb.or.kr/?mid=main_eng

Biennial of Graphic Arts
September 4-October 25
Various venues
Ljubljana, Slovenia

The 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts is a multi-exhibition of contemporary graphic art. Works in the Biennial take inspiration from this year's central exhibition, The Matrix: An Unstable Reality - an exhibition that investigates the discourse between graphics, technology and the morals of artwork reproduction. Highlights of the Biennial also include the Artist's Book Salon and an exhibition by former Biennial of Graphic Arts Grand Prize winner Jeon Joonho.
http://www.mglc-lj.si/eng/index-bienale.htm

Shanghai Art Fair
September 8-12
ShanghaiMART
Shanghai, China

The Shanghai Art Fair was established in 1997 and has since grown to become one of China's most important art fairs welcoming more than 1000 galleries from more than 50 countries. 2010 marks the 14th edition of the fair. This year's slogan, "Make Collecting Artworks Fashionable," seeks to encourage the purchase of artworks as a fashionable and engaging social activity. The large selection of global and domestic artwork has included original masterpieces from the likes of Picasso, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Monet, Zhu Dequn, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, and Zhang Daqian.
http://www.sartfair.com/2010/eweb/index.asp

ShContemporary
September 9-12
Shanghai Exhibition Center
Shanghai, China

In 2009 the ShContemporary fair attracted more than 30,000 visitors. For its fourth edition, the fair seeks to explore "new ideas that confront pressing issues in the Chinese and Asian art markets." Large scale and experimental works by some of the most significant international artists of the last two decades will be on display in the Discoveries section while a selection of invited Asian and international galleries will display contemporary artworks from artists hailing from across the globe in the Best of Galleries area.
http://www.shcontemporary.info/English/event/welcome/