| Venues: | Akademie der Künste |
|---|---|
| Date: | 13.02 – 24.02.1992 |
| Organisation: | MedienOperative |
1991 – the character of the programme had become more angular than before; there were more works that irritate in form and content, more documentaries that try to find an innovative formal language for exciting topics, and surprisingly more works that use artistic means to reflect upon social or political topics in an unusual way.
festival preface
1991 – a new location: the Academy of Arts in Berlin (East).
1991 – an additional block of programmes: Akzente feature the discourse on video
culture; special highlight in 91: the symposium TVideo that questions the relationship of
television and video.
1991 – an innovative offer: the "market", a trade show only for professionals. But the
VideoFest is not a festival for insiders. We are extremely proud to have had 200 accredited guests besides thousands of "normal" visitors in 1990.
1991 – the character of the programme is more angular than last year's edition; there
are more works that irritate in form and content, more documentaries that try to find an
innovative formal language for exciting topics, surprisingly more works that use artistic means to reflect upon social or political topics in an unusual way. The number of non feature-length fiction films has risen. A clear tendency emerges: while keeping its originality, video is replacing the short film in its previous function.
Interest in the VideoFest has continuously grown, even in the media. One of the reasons
is certainly the unique character of the programme and the structuring o f the screenings, following formal or topical criteria; another is the desire to track down new developments which then also have an impact on the character of the VideoFest.
Despite the positive results in all respects, this year's VideoFest might be the last. Since
1988 the team of the MedienOperative has invested a lot of money and an incredible amount of energy and idealism in order to create an international event – to invest in the future of the
media in which we strongly believe.
Festivals are a focus on developments which need to be supported. We thank the Senate of Berlin for granting basic funding for the first time. Yet we can't go on realizing a twelve-day festival on the budget of a two day festival. We won't exploit ourselves any more.
Three weeks before the start of the VideoFest we had to face a concrete threat
to our already very limited funding. We overcame that critical moment – but it was close and, because of additional budget cuts from Bonn, we have had to cancel an exhibition of video sculptures by Fabrizio Plessi from Italy.
The future is uncertain. But for the time being, enjoy the programme that hopefully raises productive criticism.
Micky Kwella
The Videofest was organised following television guides structures: starting at noon with an Akzente of special programmes focused on discourse, it was followed with a repetition of the Main Programme; the afternoon Information Programme introduced video-institutions, the Main Programme at the evening presented the international videos, and the late Nightflight focused on special topics & videos. Also packed the special symposium TVIDEO, the programme aimed to hopefully raise productive criticism. As artist in residence, Jon Alpert was been invited to present his documentary films.
team
Micky Kwella Artistic Direction, Micky Kwella, Knut Gerwers Program, Rudolf Frieling Installations, Silke Lütke Organization, Pim Richter Business Management, Hartmut Horst Business Management MOB, Rudolf Frieling Communications, Margarete Kreuzer, Vera Ritter Office, Matthias Behrens Technical Support, Clemens Koch Screening
supporters
Amerika Hausm, Art Com, San Francisco - Carl Loeffler Auswärtiges Amt, British Council, Channel 4, Oowntown CommunityTelevision Center, Electronic Media Arts, Ex Nihilo, Film Institut der HdK Berlin-Jutta Brückner, Französische Botschaft, European Media Art Festival-Heiko Oaxl, Heure Exquise, internationales forum des jungenfilms, INA Institut National de L'Audiovisuel, ITT Nokia, Japan Foundation Köln, Keiko Sei z.Zt. Prag, London Video Access-Michael Maziere, Philip Morris, Senatorfürkulturelle Angelegenheiten Berlin, Shu Lea Cheang NYC, Video Gallery SCAN Tokio, Video (Zeitschrift), VideoVox, West London Media, Zitty (Stadtillustrierte)