With the onslaught of new technology, we are becoming increasingly visual in the way we view the world. This perception has given rise to a new aspect of visual art, time-based art. This is defined by the Youth Arts Festival 2003 as art works that are sequenced through time, that change as we view them and that may be ephemeral or passing.

It is with this in mind that one should view the Ministry of Education sponsored Time-based Art Exhibition taking place at the Michael Fowler Centre and Courtenay Central this week. Ann Brodie, the Ministry of Education's National Coordinator for Visual Arts, says that the exhibition, especially the secondary school works exhibited at Courtenay Central, is the result of the introduction of time-based art into the new national curriculum.

Although just one aspect of visual arts, time-based art encompasses a broad range of media, techniques and ideas and this is reflected in the variety of exhibits on display. From artist Julia Oram's mesmerising painterly images, on four television monitors, to the bizarre results of Whitireia Polytechnic's DIY claymation, there is plenty of scope for visual and mental stimulation. We live in a visual culture now – we are so engrossed with the moving image, says Oram, who completed her Master of Fine Arts at Elam. She believes the movement springs from the ubiquity of television, film and visual media in our life and says that time-based art almost reflects what is [now] conventional art.

Less serious, but equally engrossing is Whitireia students Albert Gaynor's and Ben Chapman's claymation exhibit in which viewers are encouraged to participate by shaping plasticine into ridiculous poses and storylines. The whole process is recorded frame-by-frame and replayed in a short "claymated" sequence. Both the process and the finished result can be regarded as art, but it is the evolution of the plasticine figures that adds the time component.

This particular form of time-based art requires a lot of patience. I am invited to shoot my own sequence and spend nearly 15 minutes creating a morbid sequence in which one small character eats another. The sequence is uploaded to a computer screen and when played back, lasts a grand total of four seconds. It is subsequently easy to believe Gaynor when he comments that the well known claymation films starring Wallace and Gromit take an average of five years to create!

Oram believes the aim of the exhibition is to make people aware of how time and the moving image are "inextricably connected". "Not everyone takes the time to watch the everyday movement – it is precisely this moment that compels me," she says.

Perhaps through the showcasing of time-based art at the festival, young artists will be compelled to reflect on these moments themselves.

Thirty-four films in one day – the Clemenger Short Film Festival at Youth Arts 2003 was an epic event! Interested film-goers were in for a shock with some hard-hitting messages that showed the young film-makers of today are not afraid to confront tough issues, or for that matter, tough characters. Violence in the twentieth century, teen suicide, drug rape, and incest all featured and were dealt with thoughtfully. Those in the audience that came along expecting a laid-back day of viewing will have been surprised, but hopefully impressed, with the maturity and standard of the films screened. Film-maker Emily Pearce commented, "Our generation is quite morbid! But it was good."

The film festival was included in the Youth Arts Festival as a vehicle for young film- makers to showcase their efforts. Most film-makers were secondary and tertiary students studying at various institutes around the country, and ranging in age from 13 to 25 years. Judge Tommy Honey noted, "There was a great range of films submitted with nearly all of them selected to screen – secondary students tended to make films about issues important to them: alcohol, drugs, suicide; older contributors made films that focused more on story."

Even within categories there was a great variety, with some plots and themes more serious than others. The darker films were interspersed with those on a lighter note, including the horror spoof Attack of the Killer Sunflowers and the short animations, Born to Shame, which starred stick figures in a matrix-style setting.

As well as contemporary issues, several films focused on interesting characters such as painter and tattoo artist Rikki-Jean in the film of the same title, and gang members in the documentary Gang Life. This gave audience members some intriguing insights into other's lives. There were also some complex fictional characters portrayed in the drama and experimental categories – the obsessive-compulsive man in Parabiosis, and the title characters in the dramas Joe and Nonno.

The festival had 3 one-and-a-half hour sessions. Each session had one category of film. Honey commented, "The documentaries were particularly strong – the subjects investigated were meaningful and carefully considered."

And the winners? The satirical and slightly black drama Mermaids came away overall winner, as well as taking first prize in the drama category. Winner of the animation/experimental section was the music video, Sink, and Gang Life won the documentary category. "All the film makers are to be commended for their efforts," said Honey. The general reaction of audiences has definitely reinforced this.