Hear more from Zach Lieberman, Isamaya Ffrench and Anna Ginsburg at free online festival Playgrounds Blend

It can be said that one of the silver linings of the pandemic was how accessible online events became. Wherever you were in the world, as long as you had access to an internet connection and a screen, you could tune into world class events usually hosted on the other side of the world. As many cities reopened, in turn, many events returned to their former physical glories. But what about all the creatives who want to tune in from another corner of the globe? Well, there are still some festivals operating in the online space, and Playgrounds Blend is one of them.

Taking place on the 24 and 25 November 2021 from 8pm–12:15 am CET, the creative festival is free to attend. All you need to do is register free of charge here. Reaching out to visual arts enthusiasts wherever you may be geographically, the Dutch festival is known for platforming innovative and cutting edge creativity at the fore of the sector. From artists, animators, game developers, sound and graphic designers and many, many more, this year’s festival features a powerhouse of talent including some very familiar names you’ll be gutted to miss.

Playgrounds has made a name for itself in the industry as an innovator and connector between makers, education, audience and industry. It prides itself on boosting new and relevant developments in the creative industry, focusing primarily on animation, visual effects, digital arts, film and games. As well as the online festival, the Eindhoven-based company hosts other means of bringing the global creative community together. It has a talent programme titled Next as well as its very own TV channel for broadcasting its content, not to mention a festival on the art department where Playgrounds shines a light on the design process of films, animations and games.

There are a multitude of highlights taking place across the two days, from artist’s talks to interviews. In an exclusive interview, renowned artist Isamaya Ffrench, best known for her boundary-pushing makeup designs, will discuss how she’s been changing the face of femininity with her evolving looks which never fail to challenge the norm of beauty ideals. Sometimes terrifying and other times ethereal, Isamaya is famous for crafting original new looks which intersect different genres. Elsewhere on the line up, animator Anna Ginsburg will take to the stage in a fascinating talk on spinning aubergines, genitals and interestingly, the oldest women in the world. No stranger to It’s Nice That, the award-winning animation director and animator is known for her captivating talks which magnetise viewers for its duration. Take it from us, you’ll leave her talk inspired.

Other must-see talks include Zach Lieberman’s interactive environments which invite participants to become performers. In this original display by the New York-based designer, he creates performance installations which use human gestures as input and then amplify them in different ways. The renowned designer will bring drawings to life in his anticipated talk, asking the audience to imagine what the voice could look like physically and to top it all off, transform people’s silhouettes into music. Over the two-day online festival, you can also catch top notch creatives including Rizon Parein, Levi Jacobs, Mike Pelletier, Erik Ferguson, The Fabricant, Adriaan de Jongh and Buck’s Simon Buijs, just to name a few. And in another special talk, you can hear from artist and illusionist Rogier van der Zwaag who has created this year’s Playgrounds Blend titles. In his talk, Rogier will take us on a tour of his working processes and how a post-Coronavirus state of mind has impacted his work.

The festival hopes to bring inspiration to the masses in a tumult of progressive and innovative content. Currently in its 15th year, Playgrounds Blend continues to pay tribute to an exceptional host of artists and designers, bringing creatives from around the world to unite with online communities. And if you happen to miss the talks during the livestream, you can catch the talks again (for free) until midnight CET on Saturday 27 November.