Events Schedule

IGNITE 2024

The Broward County Cultural Division and Mad Arts are pleased to announce the return of IGNITE Broward, South Florida’s most exciting, family-friendly festival of interactive art and technology. The third annual IGNITE festival runs from January 24 through 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach, with an array of immersive and interactive light and sound-based experiences created by top national and international artists and designers using the most innovative digital technologies.

Admission is free and open to the public.
Dates

January 25-29, 2024

Times

Daily, 10am-8pm - With extended viewing until 11pm on Friday and Saturday.

Location

Mad Arts in Dania Beach (481 S. Federal Highway) with extended viewing until 10 PM on Friday and Saturday.

Times

Nightly, 6-10pm - With extended viewing until 11pm on Friday and Saturday.

Locations

Downtown Ft. Lauderdale at the Museum of Discovery & Science (401 SW 2 St.) and Esplanade Park (400 SW 2 St.).

Wednesday, January 25th

Kickoff Event at MODS

Join us on Wednesday, January 25th for the IGNITE kickoff event. The evening will begin at 7pm and feature an introduction and recognition of the sponsors/partners, along with remarks from elected officials. Shortly after, guests will enjoy a dynamic art experience by Seeper, whose projection mapping will spark an eye-catching countdown to the art activations.

Location:

Museum of Discovery & Science (401 SW 2nd Street)

Date:

January 25, 2024

Time: 7 - 10pm

  • 7pm - Introduction and recognition of sponsors/partners; remarks by elected officials
  • 7:15pm - “Countdown” by Seeper and Art Activation

To grab your free spot, RSVP here
Friday, January 27th, 2024

Kickoff Event at Mad Arts

Don’t miss an evening filled with art, sound, poetry, and dance on Friday, January 27th. Kick things off in style with an Artist Meet & Greet and an immersion of the senses with Sound Sculpture & BREAKINMIA throughout the evening. Check out a poetry reading in Spanish by theVERSEverse, immediately followed by a panel discussion on literature, music, and NFTs about breaking down the boundary between the physical and digital words.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Date:

January 27, 2024

Time: 5 - 11pm

  • 6pm - Artist Meet & Greet
  • 6-11pm - Sound Sculpture & Special Guest Appearances from BREAKINMIA
  • 7:30pm - theVERSEverse Poetry Reading in Spanish
  • 8pm - Literature & Music NFT Panel with theVERSEverse & MF Dynamics

Join us for free by clicking here

Friday & Saturday, January 27th and 28th, 2024

Sound Sculpture & Special Guest Appearances from BREAKINMIA

With Sound Sculpture, guests can build their own musical composition with intuitive sound blocks, shifting them to play new musical arrangements that change in color, rhythm, melody, and harmony. Within this immersive sound and light installation, it is as if visitors can walk onto a page of music, pick up a note, and move it around.

As part of an exclusive treat for IGNITE 2024, this inclusive and interactive artwork will involve a collaborative experience featuring special guests from BREAKINMIA. These talented dancers will pop in and out of the scene, shaking up the room’s energy and flipping the mood with dance.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 27-28, 2024

Time: 5 - 11pm

  • 6-11pm, January 27, 2024
  • 9-11pm, January 28, 2024

RSVP for Friday night by clicking here

RSVP for Saturday night by clicking here

Friday, January 27th, 2024

theVERSEverse Poetry Reading in Spanish

Visit Mad Arts experiential space to bear witness to a live reading of POESÍA DE PROTESTA, an exhibition featuring 10 poems in Spanish written by Hispanic women. The texts all express a form of protest – political, economic, sexual, or social. Each poem has been interpreted by a visual artist, with curation by Gladys Garrote, a noted Cuban historian and art professor. Along with Garrote, Legna Rodríguez Iglesias and Marlon Portales will be presenting their original works.

Visita Mad Arts, el espacio de arte experimental para ser testigo de la lectura viviente de POESÍA DE PROTESTA, una exposición de 10 poemas en español escritos por mujeres hispanas en los que expresan una forma de protesta, ya sea política, económica, sexual o social. Cada poema ha sido interpretado por un artista visual, con la curaduría de Gladys Garrote, una prominente historiadora y profesora de arte cubano. Junto con Garrote, Legna Rodríguez Iglesias y Marlon Portales presentarán sus obras originales.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 27, 2024

Time: 7:30pm
RSVP for this free event by clicking here

Friday, January 27th, 2024

NFT Panel with theVERSEverse & MF Dynamics

Interested in learning more about the latest in public art and the metaverse? Join us for IGNITE 2024’s panel on Merging Culture: Using NFTs as a Tool to Empower Interdisciplinary Artists.

What will it cover?

NFTs, still in their early days, have already brought blockchain technology to the mainstream audience through digital art and collectibles. Most of the NFT volume has been concentrated in digital assets such as PFPs (profile pictures), digital art, generative art, and memes. Other mediums such as music, poetry and performance are emerging and blended with visual art. From physical public art to the digital metaverse, NFTs create community and foster creative expression.

In this panel, moderated by author and curator Tam Gryn, pioneering leaders of various creative spaces will discuss breaking down the boundary between the physical and digital words with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary. The panel will be moderated by curator and author Tam Gryn; speakers will include musician Maria Finkelmeier, Founder of MF Dynamics, and poet Ana Maria Caballero, Cofounder of theVERSEverse.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 27, 2024

Time: 8pm
Reserve your free spot here

Saturday, January 28, 2024

IGNITE's Forest: Kids Activity with Akiko Yamashita at MODS Science Park

During the day on Saturday, January 28, bring your child to the Science Park at MODS for a fun activity where they can learn to plant trees! Renowned artist, Akiko Yamashita, will lead two one-hour planting sessions. Kids will have a blast as they learn to assemble and create a planter, fill it with soil, and bring home their own seedlings in Kaminekkon – biodegradable cardboard pots invented by Akiko’s grandfather. This becomes an easy and fun way to plant more trees.

Unlike conventional planting, this doesn’t require digging a hole or watering after planting, making planting trees more approachable. Planting young seedlings is key as they can adapt and get used to the environment unlike mature trees. Kaminekkon works to protect the seedling’s roots, and then the structure degrades as its roots enter the ground. The honeycomb design allows for the clustering of fast-growing and slower-growing species as they protect each other from wind and harsh weather.

Location:

Science Park at Museum of Discovery & Science (401 SW 2 St.)

Date:

Science Park at Museum of Discovery & Saturday, January 28, 2024

Time:

  • 12pm - Session 1
  • 2pm - Session 2

Admission to IGNITE Broward: Kids Forest Activity is free with admission to (MODS); visit the museum on Saturday to attend one of these family-friendly sessions.

Saturday, January 28th, 2024

POEMS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN [PITPD]

Be part of the survival of poetry.

Join us on Saturday, January 28th at 4pm to witness an exclusive event. Ana María Caballero and Jason Sholl (hieroglyphica) will create a special edition from their sold-out generative FX HASH collection, POEMS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN [PITPD], inviting participants to submit comments which will then be incorporated into the project’s algorithm to live-generate a unique, hand-annotated poem.

Readers can comment on Wallace Stevens’ poem “Fabliau of Florida,” either in advance or during the live-generation session. The communally annotated poem will be minted as an NFT on CODAMADE and made available to collect as editions for IGNITE attendees.

PITPD explores authorship. When a poem enters the public domain, it no longer belongs to its author but to its readers. In the intimate moments we read a poem, we link it to our private, pulsating worlds & help ensure others will read it, too. If history’s palms hadn’t held Sappho’s words, our fingers wouldn’t be holding them now. The verses vanish – just like our memory of their exact words might fade – but distilled, standout moments of personal connection remain. In time, even these wane, providing a scarcely perceptible backdrop as the poem is discovered & interpreted anew.

PITPD represents a new form of poetic anthology – one that celebrates the role of the reader in shaping the life of a poem. Readers write poetry’s survival.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 28, 2024

Time: 4pm
Get your free ticket here

Saturday, January 28th, 2024

theVERSEverse Poetry Reading in English

Picture an NFT poetry gallery where every poem = a work of art.

Meet theVERSEverse. Launched in November 2021, this collective of critically acclaimed poets, writers, artists, and creative technologists is working to unlock the literary potential of Web3. Through hybrid events, collections, and programming, they’re pioneering the future of literature. This exhibition showcases a select number of works from their collection.

Experience their lyrical skills in person at IGNITE 2024, where a group of poets affiliated with theVERSEverse – Ana Maria Caballero, Nicole Tallman, Gregg Shapiro, Dustin Brookshire, and Caridad Moro-Gronlier – will recite their poems. These works will be exhibited as art throughout the presentation.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 28, 2024

Time: 5pm
Get your free spot by clicking here

Saturday, January 28th, 2024

Live Performance of New Poetic Series by Pierre Gervois

Painter and crypto artist, Gervois uses his work to pay witness to American society without judgment, emotion, or stated point of view. The elements of language that inhabit his works do not exist separately from the entire artwork; they are organically part of the subject and the singularity. His work describes the exercise of power in all aspects, from socially humiliating micro-moments of our daily lives to future political issues in the Mars colonies.

Gervois will be presenting his new work, VICE (2022), a series of six videos that exist as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. VICE explores authority and subordination in the context of space exploration and the violence it generates. Recurrent themes in Pierre Gervois’ work – Social domination, Accepted submission, and Public humiliation – orbit around the word “Vice” as the focal point of this series. VICE III will be minted in partnership with Mad.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 28, 2024

Time: 5pm
Click this link to reserve your free spot

Saturday, January 28th, 2024

MF Dynamics Token Gated Live Musical Performance

Be part of MF Dynamics’ First Token Gated Live Performance on Saturday, January 28, 2024. This multisensory experience features a live marimba and electronics performance by Maria Finkelmeier – percussionist, composer, improviser, and new media artist.

Described by the Boston Globe as “The dark side of Danny Elfman meets David Lynch with a hint of voodoo,” Maria's sound transcends both genre and medium. Her newest collection is rooted in avant-garde exploratory principles, yet influenced by minimalistic repetition and relentless electronic dance music hooks.

Her live performance will bring the audience into the music, inviting them to develop a relationship with each sound, rhythm, and gesture. Constantly curious and passionate, she builds bridges between what we hear and see. As it’s created, each visual web aims to memorialize a moment in time when the audience, performer, technology, and sound become one and exist together, forever.

Take part in this intimate performance exclusively reserved for MF Dynamics NFT collectors only.

How to get your NFT tickets:

  1. Head to (CODAMADE.com) to mint your NFT – only 60 are available.
  2. Make sure you have a MetaMask wallet on your phone to store your NFTs (Instructions HERE)
  3. Be ready to show the NFT on your phone to security in order to enter the exclusive performance.

Location:

Mad Arts (481 S. Federal Highway)

Dates:

January 28, 2024

Time: 7pm