Our experiential world is widely determined by technologies: Internet and mobile phones transform social relations; robotics revolutionises industrial production, while biotechnology affords a new relationship towards nature and body. Although technical products promise enhanced agency and security, we experience an increased disorientation: the ethical question of what one should do and take responsibility for, is eclipsed by an immense number of options. The rules that govern political and personal agreements are undermined by new paradoxes. While a return to 'old values' is demanded in order to counter a general demoralisation, at the same time societal and technological basic conditions are changing so radically that such a return is rendered impossible.

Technologies open up fields of agency and provide interfaces for designing these personal and communal realities, – always also implying mechanisms of exclusion. However, in order to appropriate the creative potentials, it is necessary to know about the ethical and aesthetical effects of the technologies applied, as well as their limitations.

transmediale.05 explores the BASICS of artistic practice with digital technologies. The festival investigates the aesthetical and ethical foundations of a frantic and hyper-potential culture, and presents models of an artistic practice whose ethics derive not from past value systems, but from an appropriation of an extreme and contradictory contemporary culture.

transmediale.05 BASICS focuses its attention on the ethical and aesthetical foundations of a time so rich in technologies, and yet so poor in clearly defined values. The goal, however, is not a simple ‘Back to Basics,’ or a call to return to established value systems, but is an exploration of appropriate and possible means of agency in today’s society. Throughout its varied programme, the festival raises the question of the 'Next Level Basics' and presents artistic projects which, ranging from high-tech to no-tech, propose creative as well as critical approaches to the world in its current condition. In its 18th year, the international media art festival continues the presentation of contemporary art with digital media and the reflexion on media culture.

It is unlikely that, at the end of the BASICS festival, we will have come up with a set of ethical rules for the new century. Perhaps, however, we can spread the idea that questioning the foundations of our actions is of particular value in times of moral confusion, especially in ascertaining our identities and ambitions. Art can play a vital role in this search.

This year, the transmediale becomes part of a funding programme offered by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, designed to support exemplary cultural ‘beacons’. This funding provides a welcome financial security until 2009 and is both a distinction for past achievements, and a stimulus for the future. The long-standing organisational structure of the Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-GmbH and the continued cooperation with the House of World Cultures have again made it possible to realise a professional festival in an inspiring atmosphere. The funders, sponsors and partners of transmediale help to make the festival one of the most important forums for media art in Europe, which attracts a large international audience to Berlin. – It is a pity, as well as more than understandable, that the former curator of transmediale, Dr. Susanne Jaschko, has turned her attention to other projects and challenges after working with the festival for seven years, for which she deserves special acknowledgement.

Our gratitude goes to the patron of this edition of transmediale, Dr. Christina Weiss, State Secretary for Media and Culture and Chairwoman of the Board of the Federal Cultural Foundation.

Andreas Broeckmann

Dr Andreas Broeckmann Artistic Director, Thomas Munz Editor & Program Curator, Vera Tollmann Festival Program, Coordination Conference, Carsten Stabenow Festival Program, Coordination Workspace & Workshops, Stefan Riekeles Festival Program, Coordination Workspace & Workshops, Brigitte Zehethofer Festival Management, Magdalena Rothweiler Festival Management Assistant, Achim Müller Development & Sponsoring, Annette Schafer Press & PR, Laleh Torabi Cl, Print Design, Coordination PR, Print & Website, Christiane Grün Assistant Editor, Print, Hannes Ratsch-Heitmann Assistant Editor, Web, Marvin Ortiz Assistant Screening Program, Goran Rakic, Ingrid Spörl Program Assistants, Anja Mayr Press Assistant, Vicky Clare, Christine Korte, Zeljko Blace Program Support, Shaheen Merali, HKW Visual Arts Dept. Curatorial Advice, Doris Hegner Coordination tm-HKW, serve-u Technical Director, Phillip Sünderhauf Technical Director, Andreas Buchholz Technical Director, Ludmila Demke Assistant to the Technical Directors, Maaskant/Ruth M. Lorenz Interior Festival Design, scrollan/Anne-Lene Proff Program Booklet Design, Sarah Schmidt Assistant, Fork Unstable Media, David Linderman, Nancy Bachmann Web Design, Sven Gareis, Britt Dunse Video Trailer, Oliver Gillian, Mark Engelhardt Sound Video Trailer, Alex Adriaansens, Wulf Herzogenrath, Joachim Sauter, Yukiko Shikata, Siegfried Zielinski Advisory Board.

A project by: Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-Gesellschaft mbH

In cooperation with: Haus der Kulturen der Welt

Main funders Kulturstiftung des Bundes

Sponsors Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, SAP, Fritz! by AVM, BTL Die Technie für Veranstaltung, Mondriaan Stichting, Asia-Europe Foundation

Media partners radioeins rbb, arte, zitty, die tageszeitung, DE:BUG, Digital.World

Partners: Fork Unstable Media, Avid Technologies, Gahrens + Battermann, Art + Com, IN-Berlin, vierC digitalprint, fubac media solutions, Auswärtiges Amt, Botschaft des Königreichs der Niederlande, Gaudeamus Foundation, Botschaft der USA, Ambassade de France, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung, British Council, Vertretung der Regierung von Québec, Botschaft von Kanada, Werkleitz Gesellschaft

Supporters Galerie Rachel Haferkamp, Schwedische Botschaft, Saher Holzwerkstätten, Australische Botschaft