| Tagline: | international media art festival berlin |
|---|---|
| Venues: | Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) |
| Date: | 31.01 – 04.2.2004 |
| Organisation: | Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-GmbH |
| Website: | https://pastwebsites.transmediale.de/04/page/home.0.1.html |
FLY UTOPIA! dealt with the hope that lies beneath the infinite potential of possibilities in the era of media technology, but was also concerned with the hopelessness of a completely technologised and dis-cultured society, which is dominated by the unlimited claim and use of power. Reality and artistic visions cannot be distinguished in utopian and dystopian pictures anymore: FLY UTOPIA! demanded to overcome pessimism and rediscover today's utopian potential.
festival theme
transmediale.04 invites you for an excursion into the utopias of an age determined by media and technologies.
THERE IS HOPE. The ideologies of the 20th century and their illusions about a perfect world are obsolete. Modern technology has lost the air of a universal remedy, instead its potential for the development of creative action and human community is being explored. Artists are turning to the design and reflection of the information society, i.e. to the factual and to the many hypothetical societies of the digital age. The uniformity of a standardised global media zone is countered by a heterogeneous multiplicity of competent users and producers who are appropriating digital technologies according to their own cultural needs.
THERE IS NO HOPE. At the beginning of the 21st century, the modern ideals are transformed into the ugly caricature of a world torn apart by global conflict and claims to unlimited power. Calls for technological progress hide the emergence of ever more perfected, irrational societies of control which are busy destroying their cultural and natural resources. This unavoidable reality can only be escaped by means of the projection of imaginary places. These may be mythical pasts, unreal parallel worlds, or a fantastic Science Fiction future. They are the escape vehicles of an imagination which attempts to surpass the boundaries of reality.
FLY UTOPIA!
festival catalogue preface
We are pleased to present the 17th transmediale festival in 2004. Founded in 1988 as VideoFest, the festival continues to offer a comprehensive overview of current developments in international media art. Previous themes have ranged from digital "Do It Yourself!" culture (2001) and new public spheres (2002) to artistic strategies for the global game (2003).
Now, we turn to the utopias of a time desperately lacking in optimism. The festival presents both positive and negative visions designed by artists from all over the world. Today, even the capacity to project oneself beyond what appears to be inevitable holds utopian potential.
Looking ahead to 2005, the festival will undergo important changes. transmediale has been included in a mid-term funding programme of the Federal Culture Foundation, providing financial support until 2009 for the festival and a bi-annual media art exhibition consisting of interactive installations.
This good news, however, is countered by a painful loss: Micky Kwella, long-time director and co-founder of the festival, passed away suddenly in February 2003. A special evening programme and a book publication are dedicated to him.
transmediale.04 is grateful for the generous support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Fonds Soziokultur. Returning main programme partners are the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Forum Goethe-Institut. Special thanks go to Wilhelm Großmann, former director of the managing organisation Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-GmbH, for his continued support of transmediale over the years.
For the third time in a row, we are working closely with our most important partner, the House of World Cultures, whose director, Hans-Georg Knopp, is an avid supporter of transmediale.
We are particularly grateful to our sponsors, especially AVM Computersysteme, Avid Technologies, Art+Com e.V., das werk novalisstrasse/luxoom, Fork Unstable Media, Heimat, and IN-Berlin, as well as the embassies and cultural institutes without whose help the realisation of the festival would not be possible.
They foster our optimism: FLY UTOPIA!
Andreas Broeckmann
Susanne Jaschko
The conference investigated the failed and remaining utopias of the past simultaneously exploring the potential of today's utopias in artistic, political and scientific contexts. In the exhibition works, created through various artistic practices, presented visions of a better future as well as portrayed the loss or failure of social dystopias from the past. According to the visionary character of the exhibition, the jury statement treated extensively the notion of the term image: Understanding the image as a transitory event, even though it generally embodies the static per se, suggests an imaginative, probably even a visionary but in any case a timeless motion within and beyond itself. Dressed as an image, utopia flies away from the future towards timelessness.
Image Award
The Image jury, formed by Nancy Adajania, Timothy Druckrey, and Shaheen Merali, was faced with a wide array of works that shattered the singularity of the momentary in forms that defied simple categorisation. Indeed there was not a single image to be seen. Rather, the jury process persuasively revealed that the porous borders in the categorisations of 'media art' are as much an acknowledgement of convenience as they are an admission of the slippery hangover from another time. In viewing and working with hundreds of works, it was plain that we are both riveted by the concept of the 'image' and humbled by its transformations.
Interaction Award
With Tapio Mäkelä, Fiona Raby, and Yvonne Wilhelm as jury; they state that Interactive art has expanded beyond early recurrences and a hasty search for interfaces, and has gained in concept, succumbing less to the temptations of technology.In this year’s competition over 200 works were submitted to the Interaction category, but only two-thirds were interactive pieces in its original sense. This year’s jury nominated three pieces for the Interaction award and bestowed honourable mentions to another three.
Software Art Award
The works highlighted by the jury (Geoff Cox, Casey Reas, and Kate Rich) reflected the interests in operating socially, through active participation and representing an expanded view of what constitutes 'software', 'art' and 'software art'. Somewhat exemplifying the festival slogan 'fly utopia', the short-listed works were not just critical, social and speculative but, in their view, productive in offering a program/programme of action.
Werkleitz Award
transmediale was also pleased to present this award for an outstanding media artwork critically exploring social processes. All productions submitted to transmediale.04 in the areas of Interaction, Image and Software were taken into account.
The festival catalogue includes information of all events and artworks of transmediale.04 FLY UTOPIA!. With Bandbreite, the authors open up the multifaceted history of political and artistic works with media from the 1960s until today. The displayed mediale strategies highlight the utopia of the democratisation of modern societies.
team
Andreas Broeckmann Artistic Director, Susanne Jaschko Curator & Deputy Director, Thomas Munz Editor & Video Curator, Silvia Keller Festival Coordination, Annette Schäfer Press & PR, Achim Müller Funding & Sponsoring, Anne Greuling Coordination PR & Print, Stefan Riekeles Festival Program, Coordination Workspace, Jessica Fung, Katarina Zivanovic Program Support, Shaheen Merali & HKW Visual Arts Dept. Curatorial Advice, Emilie Bujès Screening Program Assistant, Sebastian Bodirsky Exhibition Assistant, Ingo Hager Festival Program Assistant, Matei Bellu Assistant Editor Assistant, Gudrun Herz Press Assistant Assistant, Magdalena Rothweiler Festival Coordination Assistant, Doris Hegner Coordination TM-HKW, serve-u, Phillip Sünderhauf, Andreas Buchholz Technical Directors, Katrin Gausepohl Assistant to the Technical Director, Maaskant/Ruth M. Lorenz Interior Festival Design, Heimat/Andreas Mengele, Proff Design/Anne-Lene Proff Cl and Print Design, Anne-Lene Proff, Britta Petermeyer Program Booklet Design, Fork Unstable Media, David Linderman, Nancy Bachmann Web Design, das werk novalisstrasse/luxoom, Marcel Pelzer Video Trailer
Advisory Board Alex Adriaansens, Anne-Marie Duguet, John Hanhardt, Wulf Herzogenrath, Joachim Sauter, Yukiko Shikata
supporters
Main funders: Hauptstadt Kulturfonds, HKW, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Fonds Soziokultur
Sponsors: Das Werk Novalistr, Luxoom, Fritz, 4RK
Media partners: arte tv, radioeins, die tageszeitung, Zitty Berlin
Partners: Avid Technologies, BTL, Holsten Brauerei, IN -Berlin, ART+COM, Vitrapoint Arte Interior Objekteinrichtung GmbH, vier C, NIKON, Auswärtiges Amt, Werkleitz Gesellschaft e. V., Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung, Kulturbüro Québec, Botschaft von Kanada, Botschaft der USA, Kgl. Norwegische Botschaft, The British Council, Österreichisches Kulturforum, Botschaft von Spanien, & España: Acción Cultural en el exterior, Botschaft des Königreichs der Niederlande, Botschaft von Finnland
Supporters: fubac, Italienische Botschaft Kulturabteilung, Botschaft des Staates Israel, Slowakisches Institut, Schwedische Botschaft, Botschaft von Frankreich, The Danish Arts Agency The Visual Art Centre, Gustav Mesmer Stiftung