SLC Digital Debris Fest 2: Digital Creativity in Its Finest Form
On April 30th, 2nd Year Students of Digital Media and Music Students at St. Lawrence College presented Digital Debris Fest 2, a digital showcase of their year’s work. It was perhaps unsurprising that for music and digital media, two mediums whose essence is fundamentally unaffected by the confinements of COVID-19, the showcase showed the interdisciplinary talents and creativity of the student’s work. The digital event featured 15 different artistic iterations that seamlessly incorporated music, digital media, videography, calligraphy, revealing the true interdisciplinary talents of the students.
Hosted by Lauren Williams and Kimaya Tegtmeyer, the event would typically show one of the pieces with the two emcees introducing it beforehand. The showcase did a superb job of shifting between pieces of contrasting tones. Beginning with Voyager by Byoungjun Lee, the audience was immersed with stunning instrumental music combined with digital visuals that evoked both psychedelic and vivid imagery.
Next up was Wildflowers from Ana Delgadillo and Kimaya Tegtmeyer, covering the iconic Tom Petty song. With some beautiful cinematography and gorgeous vocals, Wildflowers felt like a direct influence of HAIM or Taylor Swift. Delgadillo and Tegtmeyer later performed another stunning song together titled Bright, my favorite moment of the show, where Delgadillo shared her experience of discovering her sexuality alongside some impressive vocals.
Self-reflection and identity work seemed to be a recurring theme in the showcase with Yutong Li creating a piece reflecting on her experiences with Dissociative Identity Disorder. This idea of self-reflection was also evident in Behind The Bars, created by host Lauren Williams. Williams drew prison bars on her home window to reflect on the feeling of being a prisoner in her own home. The piece was skillfully accompanied by the audio of relevant news clips.
From here, the showcase shifted to a lighter tone with Junior B’s Auston Metthews. The music video was incredibly entertaining, with great editing, vocals, and cinematography, truly resembling the feel of skateboarder culture. Continuing with the energy of great music, the audience was treated to two different vocal performances from Natalia Uporova. One, a filmed performance from a bar in her native Russia, and the second a self-accompanied rendition of Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo, both showing an astounding range and vocal quality.
Audiences were then treated to the versatile talent of Patrick Iun. His filming abilities were on full-display shooting an instrumental cover of Over The Rainbow on marimba as well as Being Alive sung by Sam Zimmerman. Iun’s photography and calligraphy skills were also highly evident in Elemental Energy, a display of portrait photography coupled with animated calligraphy. Iun’s last piece in the showcase was The Adrenaline Ball, where he profiled and filmed different artist’s reflections on their definitions of adrenaline.
The tone was again lightened with the music video Fashion Show by Patrick Lewis. This song displayed amazing and creative editing and shooting abilities, and made for a stand-out performance within the showcase. The last two pieces of the showcase, Piece Tree and The Crucial Moment were more abstract, yet calming in nature, which made for an excellent ending to the night. Piece Tree was quite beautiful in its visuals and The Crucial Moment had a profoundly calming effect.
Digital Debris Fest 2 proved the boundary-less nature of creativity, and how artists’ desire and need for such creativity has never been greater. Through pieces of personal intimacy, pure entertainment, and just about everything in-between, the showcase was truly an impressive culmination of the student’s work.
Not only did this event provide for a memorable evening of engaging art, but the reality that these artists are being quite skilled at showcasing their work in digital environments will be a highly valuable skill moving forwards in our increasingly digital age.
For those wanting to view the showcase, the event can be viewed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqpYrfAyqgc&t=3253s