Han Jing/Shanghai Daily news

The recently opened 2007 Shanghai eArt Festival is bringing new concepts to thousands of viewers everyday through a combination of art and technology.

The theme for the festival is“Wisdom of Crowds.”

“The mass participation is integral to the whole work, which distinguishes it from our previous ideas that wisdom about art only involves a minority of people such as artists, critics or curators,”said Zhou Yingzi, chief planner of the festival.

A five-meter-high mock flame ejected from 12 outlets will be seen when many people light the sensors at the same time, which is a good example of mass participation. It is one of the festival’s outdoor interactive installations called fireball on Century Avenue in Pudong New Area.

Interaction and experience play a key role in electronic art.“Electronic art is an open form of art. The involvement of the audience places a benign circle among artists, works and audience themselves,”Zhou said,“They will gain an amazing sense of achievement by influencing and changing the work as a part of it.”

The city’s first eArt festival opened on October 19. More than 20 exhibitions included in the festival will run for a month or so. The festival is expected to be held in October annually from this year. Pudong will be the central pool for various activities.

Electronic art is an integration of art and high technology. It covers a wide range of art forms including digital images, computer animation, holograms and installations.

“Viewers can experience the arts without obstacles with the help of technology while science and technology reaches viewers by means of art,”said Lu Rongzhi, director of the festival.