CDSA is an international multimedia art competition and festival that transforms urban spaces into digital canvases. By utilizing large-scale screens and media facades, the festival creatively visualizes environmental themes and highlights pressing sustainability issues. CDSA’s ambitious vision unites a global network of artists, institutions, and platforms to reimagine how digital art can address environmental challenges, engage audiences, and transform urban landscapes into immersive cultural experiences.

City Digital Skin Art Festival (CDSA): Transforming Urban Spaces

Throughout October, the festival hosted collaborative events across 5 countries, 9 cities, and 11 screens, showcasing over 200 collected works. More than 50 award-winning pieces captivated audiences, with a total reach of 50 million+ views.
The competition is organized by the China Academy of Art, including the Department of Public Space Art and Media Integration, alongside the E-ART French Art Academy Alliance and Pasha Future Design Academy. This year’s theme, “Beyond the Screens,” explores critical environmental challenges through captivating digital media artworks, offering diverse perspectives on non-human (“beyond-human”) living environments and giving a voice to ecosystems often unseen by human senses.

The festival involves extensive collaboration with international art academies, including Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany, and renowned French institutions such as the School of Fine Arts in Paris, Paris Haute Couture, Gobelins Institute of Image, Le Fresnoy, and La Cambre in Brussels.
Within China, the festival partners with prestigious academies such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, Jiangnan University, and the Macau University of Science and Technology, further broadening its reach.
The festival also collaborates with prominent art collection platforms like Art-Ba-Ba Chinese Contemporary Art Community, Artforum, Arthub Asia, and Pépinières Européennes de Création, as well as respected Chinese art media such as MANA New Media Art Station, Digital Art Network, Artalpha, and Phoenix Art.

—The Hangzhou Federation of Trade Unions City Center West Lake Screen, located in the prime Lakeside Business District, is just 100 meters from the West Lake Scenic Area and directly faces the Hubin Intime Shopping Mall, making it a must-pass spot for tourists. With a canopy size of 170m x 18m (3060m²), it is the largest high-definition outdoor screen in Asia, offering a powerful visual impact. Daily foot traffic reaches 1 million visitors, climbing to 1.5 million during holidays, making it an unparalleled platform to showcase brand information and enhance brand awareness and reputation.

The Digital City Skin Art (CDSA) Competition and Festival is initiated by  阮悦来 Yuelai Ruan (Deputy Director of the Public Art Department, Cultural Media, China Art Academy), from the School of Sculpture and Public Art of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou – and is realized in Europe in cooperation with the Connecting Cities Network Berlin. The festival curatorial program has been developed by Prof. Yuelai Ruan, School of Sculpture and Public Art of the China Academy of Art, Susa Pop, Artistic Director of Public Art Lab and the Connecting Cities Network Berlin Germany, lecturer at the Bauhaus University Weimar, Department of Media Architecture and Assoc Prof. Ina Conradi-Chavez, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

Event Programme 
A diverse program will critically and poetically examine the relationship between humans and nature, traversing society, art, and science. The program explores themes such as new forms of cohabitation, biodiversity preservation, and the Earth as a technosphere. Important technological advancements—such as overcoming gravity through aviation, space travel, the invention of timekeeping devices, and the future of genetic engineering—are reflected in these one-minute videos. The works also raise urgent questions: What happens when the planet’s resources are exhausted? Could decolonization or emigration to the universe become a viable vision for the future?

^{CDSA Premier in Milano on 14 October}

^{CDSA Premier in Hamburg 15 October}

^{CDSA Premier in Singapore, Media Art Nexus and Ten Square Landmark for Good}

^{CDSA at the West Lake Canopy 170 m by 18 m LED, Gonglian City Center, Hangzhou}

^{CDSA at the West Lake Canopy, 170 m by 18 m, LED, Gonglian City Center, and Wulin Sqaure, Hangzhou}

^{CDSA Premier in Suzhou苏州}

^{CDSA Premier in Shanghai}

^{CDSA Premier in Beijing}

Jury Process Overview for International Competition
The competition received nearly 200 video submissions from students worldwide, with participants choosing their preferred screening locations in China, Europe, and Singapore. Selected works will be showcased across 11 venues, 9 cities and 5 countries, ensuring equal exposure for the artists. The jury shortlisted 120 projects for the international meeting, ultimately selecting and ranking 40 outstanding works, which artists then prepared for their chosen screens.

Jury
The 14-member international jury was chaired by Yuelai Ruan, Deputy Director of the Department of Public Space Art, School of Sculpture and Public Art, China Academy of Art, and included distinguished members from various fields of public art, digital curation, and media arts. Among them were: Susa Pop, Curator and Artistic Director of Public Art Lab Berlin; Ina Conradi, Associate Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Dominique Moulon, French Art Critic & Digital Curator based in Paris; Maria Gracia Mattei, Founder and President of MEET, the Italian Center for Digital Culture, Milan; Zheng Jing, Secretary and Vice President of the School of Sculpture and Public Art, China Academy of Art; Li Zhen, Artist and Associate Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Bas van den Hurk, Artist and Professor at St. Joost College of Art and Design in the Netherlands; Clare Calveley, Digital and Virtual Textile Artist and Lecturer at Manchester School of Art, UK; Kate Egan, Artist and Professor at Manchester School of Art, UK; Vichaya Mukdamanee, Artist and Director of Silpakorn Art Academy in Bangkok, Thailand; Huang Guang Hui, Designer, Professor, and Course Director of the School of Humanities and Arts, Macau University of Science and Technology; and Assadour Markarov, an established artist and jury member.

In addition, three special advisors contributed to the process: Yang Qirui, Professor at China Academy of Art; Ma Qinzhong, Public Art Theorist and Researcher at the Modern and Contemporary Art Research Center of East China Normal University, and Vice President of Shanghai Institute of Contemporary Art; Maik Mager, Professor at Willem de Kooning Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam; and Zhang Zhongtao, Researcher at China Academy of Art.

Premier in Singapore showcased over 30 works on location on Ten Square Landmark for Good and Media Art Nexus. Please see the plates with work description.

Event Website: http://www.cdsaawards.com/
Award Winners: http://surl.li/dprifx
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