Published September 6 2022
Art and tech intersect in the 2022 edition of Bellwether, Bellevue’s annual arts festival. Through most of September, the festival will feature digital residencies and augmented reality, as well as in-person events.
All Bellwether events are free and open to the public. Bellwether is a multidisciplinary arts experience produced by the city in collaboration with Bellevue’s arts community and the city’s Arts Commission.
A bellwether is a sign of things to come, and is a symbol of the overarching mission of the event: to showcase Bellevue’s creative future and to turn that future into reality. Bellwether got its start as a biennial sculpture exhibition in 1992, and has evolved to encompass new forms of art and culture.
"Bellwether 2022: Art + Tech" includes digital residencies, an augmented reality art installation and in-person events. Details about all of the presentations and art are available at Bellwether 2022. Learn more about the city's arts program at Arts and Culture.
Digital Residencies
Showcasing local arts and experiences on digital platforms, Digital Residencies are a new way to exhibit art as part of Bellwether. Selected artists will present videos, 2D images, 3D works in progress, ephemeral experiences, AI Generated designs, and so much more throughout the month of September. Content will be featured on the social media channels of the artists, through the Bellevue Arts Program, and at the Bellwether Arts Festival.
For digital residencies at Bellwether, selected artists will share their work, including videos, images and three-dimensional works in progress social media, theirs and the city's, including Instagram at @bellwether_arts.
- Sept. 2-8: Dustin Curtis // Trivia Puppet Company, Instagram @triviapuppet
- Sept. 9-15: KT Hancock // Velvet Nugget Studios, Instagram @velvet_nugget_studios
- Sept. 16-22: Xin Xin , Instagram @artxinxin_
- Sept. 23-29: Warren Armando Pope, Instagram @floral.naps
Augmented Reality Installation
#GlitchGoddess, Sept. 6-20
Location: Bellevue Connection Plaza, 550 106th Ave. NE, presented by: Future Arts
Marjan Moghaddam is a pioneering, digital artist and animator. "#GlitchGoddess" Is acclaimed as the first feminist digital art piece to hit viral metrics, disrupting the legacy art world’s depiction of the female form in a singular manner while switching from slender, heavy, young, old, pregnant, glitched, stylized to artistically abstracted, set to a voiceover of women complaining about inequality in the art world.
#GlitchGoddess was originally presented in the Puget Sound area as part of AUGMENT Seattle 2022 after its commission at VMF Winter Arts. @marjan_moghaddam_artist, @futureartsco
Portable Collection Opening Reception
Sept. 14, 5-7 p.m. at City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE
Join us as we celebrate more than 40 artists whose work entered the city's portable collection during the pandemic. These artists’ works span styles, subject and media. Full lists of purchased work, along with artist bios and statements can be found at Public Art.
Techtober Mini-Teaser
Saturday, Sept. 17, 3-4:30 p.m. Bellevue Arts Museum Auditorium, 510 Bellevue Way NE
GgLocators’ Cami Smith moderates a conversation with Netflix Animation Studios recruiter Camille Leganza and Netflix Games Platform recruiter Miguel Calderon about the symbiotic relationship between tech and art. The Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE) presents this event ahead of its fall Techtober event series, hosted on the DigiPen campus, which aims to promote STEAM at the middle, high school and college level.