The first independent Electrofringe Festival spun off of Australia's Newcastle Fringe Festival, in 1999. Now part of the This Is Not Art Festival (29 September - 3 October), this year's Electrofringe spins around the theme 'Engage, Exchange, and Evolve.' Incorporating contemporary trends in digital, hybrid, electronic, and new media arts, the annual event is a barometer for the evolution of a discipline--though the word 'discipline' might be a reach. The festival's current mutation includes the decidedly un-disciplined ProjectSpace open workshop, of which the organizers say, 'We expect spontaneous media events, mongrel monster machines, and extreme toy sports to emerge..." Electrofringe 05 will also include cross-media jam sessions at Collabrador, a multicultural media mosh with Australia…Where?, a three-night Electroprojections screen orgy, and more manic machinations than organizers Wade Marynowsky and Smugan Sivanesan could ever predict or imagine. So sign up and engage--anything could happen! - Peggy MacKinnon