SIGGRAPH Asia 2019, Asia’s largest computer graphics and interactive techniques event, heads to Brisbane this November

5 September 2019 (Brisbane, Australia) – A regional showcase for computer graphics, creative arts, animation and visual effects, SIGGRAPH Asia will convene in Brisbane Queensland, Australia from 17 – 20 November 2019. The event presents the forefront of digital imaging, research, science, art, engineering, animation, interactivity, computer vision, creative AI, education and emerging technologies.

Creators gather from across the world at SIGGRAPH Asia to learn and to showcase their innovative work and connect to start new collaborative endeavors. Tomasz Bednarz, Conference Chair for SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 remarks that, “For artists and scientists, SIGGRAPH Asia is a very special and unique place. It is a second home where all passions driven by computer graphics and interactive techniques converge. This year’s edition is carefully designed to inspire everyone - an event you definitely cannot miss.”

Held in Australia for the first time, the theme for SIGGRAPH Asia 2019, ‘DREAM ZONE’, is inspired by Australian Indigenous belief in the power of dreaming and the beginning of knowledge and form. Bednarz elaborates, “It is a place where all our dreams converge; permits anyone to dream using computer graphics and interactive techniques. Technology enables art, science, design, engineering, to be without limits, connecting with our passions, and things we care about.”

Known for its rich interactivity, networking opportunities, and as a place to learn and collaborate, SIGGRAPH Asia attracts professionals, academics and creative minds who present ideas, solutions, theses, academic papers, or showcase their works of arts, including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. This year, for the very first time ever, there will be the Demoscene program at SIGGRAPH Asia (see the invitro: https://youtu.be/Q3cW3DsjRwM) for attendees to learn how to program graphics on Commodore C64.

Close to 10,000 industry attendees from over 60 countries and regions will attend SIGGRAPH Asia 2019. This year the speakers are: 

• Professor Donna J. Cox, a groundbreaker in data and scientific visualization, is internationally recognized for being a computer artist, designer and writer, will deliver a keynote on “The Revolution in Geospatial Mapping”. Professor Cox is the first Michael Aiken Chair, professor in the School of Art and Design, Director of the Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL), Associate Director for Research and Education at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also the Director of the Emerging Digital Research and Education in Arts Media (eDream) Institute at NCSA.
• Jeffrey Shaw, a leading figure in new media art since its emergence, has expanded cinema and installation paradigms of the 1960s to its present-day technology-informed and virtualized forms. Shaw will be speaking on the “Present, Past and Present Future – The Embodied Practice of Digital Media Art”.
• Inigo Quilez is an award-winning virtual reality and visual effects artist and an advocate of continuous education, computer graphics resources and the Demoscene community. He taught himself computer graphics (CG) through Demoscene and worked in industrial virtual reality (VR) in the mid-2000s. After which he joined Pixar as a Technical Artist of procedural vegetation and landscapes, winning a VES award for his production work in "Brave". He then joined the Oculus team as VFX Supervisor of VR short films and created the VR animation tool "Quill". Inigo has written more than on hundred free articles on computer graphics on his website; he is also the co-founder of the computer graphics social platform Shadertoy, to which he has contributed more than 400 shaders.

More information about SIGGRAPH Asia’s program and the exhibition is available at https://sa2019.siggraph.org.

Why Australia?

Australia has a thriving post, digital and VFX (PDV) industry, and many emerging startups are based in Queensland. Robust domestic growth is attracting international players such as the George Lucas founded ILM, and Mill Film. Major studios in Australia include Animal Logic Entertainment, Alt.vfx, Cutting Edge, Method Studios, and Luma Pictures, among others. Australia is also known for its academic leadership in immersive technologies, research done for instance at the laboratories at the University of South Australia, iCinema and the Expanded Perception and Interaction Centre (EPICentre) at the UNSW, QUT Cube in Brisbane, or CAVE2 at the Monash University. Along with that, Brisbane, the host city, is home to some of Australia’s foremost creative arts and design schools.

Appropriately held in South Bank, the cultural, social, educational and recreational precinct of Brisbane, in SIGGRAPH Asia 2019’s venue is the internally recognized Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center.

Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, is the third most populous city in Australia, marked by the Brisbane River, which winds gently through the city and serves as a delightful way to explore the area. To help visitors to SIGGRAPH Asia, Brisbane Marketing can arrange a personalized interactive Discover Brisbane Itinerary; and Tourism & Events Queensland helps visitors create customized travel packages throughout Queensland, which can be enjoyed before or after visiting SIGGRAPH Asia.

To register for SIGGRAPH Asia, visit https://sa2019.siggraph.org/registration. Early bird rates end 28 September 2019.

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Notes to Editors

• Keep tabs of updates, download images and more at the SIGGRAPH Asia virtual newsroom
• Media may apply for media accreditation to SIGGRAPH Asia at bit.ly/sa19accreditation