21. EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL
Festival 23.-27. April 2008
Ausstellung 23. April – 25. Mai 2008
THE EMAF PROGRAMME 2008 HAS ARRIVED! REGISTER NOW!
We warmly invite you to marvel at the productions of internationally renowned media artists and innovative works by young talented artists at the 21st European Media Art Festival. This year's Media Art Festival is in search of individual identities in a globalised world. Around 300 current installations, films and videos were selected for the festival from a total of around 2200 works submitted from 50 countries. These works give a comprehensive insight into the tendencies of modern Media Art. Detailed information can be found at our new website www.emaf.de. If you don't want to miss it, register now. Make use of the special conditions we have arranged with a number of hotels. We are, of course, also happy to help you plan your trip, and will guide you through all of the festival dates once you arrive. We look forward to hearing from you. Please note: final registrations will be accepted on 11 April 2008!!!!
// CONGRESS
The Congress takes up the subject of "Identity", and reflects this in its lectures. The well-known media scientist Professor Norbert Bolz will talk about identity management. Digital identity - forms and consequences of the increasing capture of private data and their commercial exploitation are the subjects covered by Ralf Bendrath. In his lecture, Padeluun will explore the subject of data retention and will inform visitors about their actions, such as the "Big Brother Award". The lectures given by Ricardo Mbarkho and Sophie Ernst will highlight situations in other parts of the world. The artist and lecturer at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts in Beirut, Ricardo Mbarkho, will present the Media Art scene in Lebanon, in which artists reflect the identity crisis in the context of their sociopolitical and geographic environment. The Dutch lecturer at the Academy of Art in Lahore/Pakistan, Sophie Ernst, will talk about the Pakistani art and academy scene. The Congress will be rounded off by a talk by Professor Birgit Richard. She will lecture on youth identities in web 2.0 and will show the creative works of adolescents - YouTube Favorites on the one hand, and game fan settings on the other. C. Cay Wesnigk of Online Film AG will not only explain how films are currently offered on the web, but will also show how the whole media landscape has changed because of it. In the Artist Talk, Martin Butler will report on the background to his performance "A Girlfriend Experience".
// "MEDIAARTBASE.DE"-WORKSHOP
The importance of the subject of archiving Media Art is continuing to grow among international experts. The European Media Art Festival (EMAF), the documenta Archiv Kassel with the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival and the Centre for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe have joined forces for the "Mediaartbase.de" project. The pilot project, funded by the "Kulturstiftung des Bundes", aims to electronically process selected works and to make them accessible to the public. The technology involved in "Mediaartbase.de" should be mainly based on open source software, in order to create an inexpensive decentralised database and to enable new contents to be coupled with existing data material. A variety of models and possibilities of collaboration will be discussed in a workshop with specialists from media archives, distribution and research.
// CINEMA
The festival shows film as a contemporary work of art in cinemas and exhibitions, both performed and multimedia. In the film programme, numerous media artists not only deal with their own but also with society's past - usually in search of their roots and the traditions and cultural routes of their home country. Excellent works by Fiona Tan, Hito Steyerl, Peggy Ahwesh and John Smith will be shown. This year they are critical, self-aware films on the environment, society, film and family history, located in the crossover between documentary and feature film. There is also a return to the different qualities of film material (super 8, 16mm, found footage, black/white), which is also expressed by the fact that there are numerous perfect cinematic montages and fewer computer-generated works. One of the absolute cinematic highlights is RR, the latest work by the doyen of composition, variation, structure and texture of (16mm!) film, James Benning, whose screenings were sold out at the Berlinale, Rotterdam and in Hof. Another highlight is Guy Maddin's homage to his place of birth and home town, which is also the title of the film: My Winnipeg. The Canadian experimental filmmaker calls his work Docu-Fantasia. Make sure you don't miss the other 52 programmes and the awards ceremony. The central point of this year's international selection for the EMAF film programm is again the Lagerhalle. This year at the Hasetorkino we will show programmes explicitly geared towards youths and others who are crazy about new, current and sometimes way-out cinema. In addition to the established EMAF programmes "Media Art for Beginners" and the MC programme "Clip-Klapp-BuMM", we have selected brand-new motion pictures and art-house films that explore the emotions of modern-day adolescents. For instance, a preview will be shown of the Indie icon and Golden Palm winner Gus Van Sant's new film "Paranoid Park". As in his previous films, van Sant shines the spot light on a world of adolescent outsiders, in this case a group of skaters, all of them young lay actors cast by van Sant via the internet platform myspace! This year we envisage the Zimmertheater as a cross between a lounge and a living-room: a place where you can watch films and videos in a relaxed atmosphere. This programme's motto is "Displaced identity". Here is just one example: Laurin Federlein sets out on an extremely obscure journey through the Scottish hill moor, to tender the idea of a mobile disco to the blokes enrooted there. Another example: In "I-BE-AREA" Ryan Trecartin, who also appears in multiple guises, has his whole circle of friends and acquaintances and his complete set of relations appear in a shrilly, colourful space soapera.
// RETROSPECTIVE
Kurt Kren, born in Vienna in 1929, worked as a civil servant at the Austrian National Bank for 18 years. During this time, he edited the best films of his first phase using a magnifying glass and the most primitive tools. Kren started experimenting with serial editing techniques on 16mm in 1957. These films are among his major works. Together with Peter Kubelka, Kren is regarded as one of the fathers of Structural Film. In the 60s, he filmed the material actions of Otto Mühl and Günter Brus, which earned him a scandalous reputation. This made Kren a central figure of underground film, alongside icons such as Jack Smith and, in both senses of the word, a free film-maker. Kren lived in America from 1978 to 1989, sometimes without fixed abode, without money, sometimes living out of his car. Despite this, he is well-known and has become a cult figure - the Californian punk band "Really Red" gave a tribute concert for him, and Kren was able to continue living with 1000 dollars. After having worked as a museum attendant at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston for six years, he returned to Austria, where he went on to produce several more important films up to his death in 1996.
// PERFORMANCES
"@c+Lia", one of the internationally most renowned AV groups of artists whose performances are characterised by the aesthetics of art work and in composition by their balance between minimalism and complexity, will be presented at the EMAF. Images and sound blend into an audiovisual flow of remarkable coherence and musicality. The performance entitled "duocentric" by incite/ is a grating, pulsating stage-setting of synchronous sound/image art. Fragmented electrical junk and fragile bursts of static hissing blend with fat bass sounds to groovy IDM beats. The performances of the audiovisual electronic duo from Hamburg were awarded two international prizes last year. In "The Girlfriend Experience" by Martin Butler, second life is explored at close range. Actors are standing at the ready in the glass cage when avatars receive instructions from visitors, their 'controllers'. 'Sozialpalast mobil': A caravan as a peculiar, open, medial stage. The performance takes place inside the caravan, while the exterior acts as a projection screen. At times we see spontaneous street theatre, at other times we hear rock music, then hip-hop or guitar pop.
// EXHIBITION
This year's exhibition is completely devoted to youth. It demonstrates attitudes towards and images of adolescent realities from a variety of continents and cultures. In their contemplations and subjective interventions, international media artists grapple with the world of youth in very different ways. They seek out small and global communities - whether online or on their doorstep. The communities of web 2.0, with its participatory offers, whisper corners for chatting, online games and reciprocal assessments in social rankings, often function in a similar fashion to the clique at break time in the school yard. What are western youth's attitudes towards music and fashion, rituals and rebellion, consumption and clichés, which simultaneously provide self-identification and boundaries? Completely different realities determine the everyday lives of youths in the Ukraine or Mexico, some of whom have to eke out a living as thieves. The subject of everyday violence and racism in South Africa is also broached in the exhibition.
// INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FORUM
This year's International Student Forum presents its own exhibition again and film/video programmes containing students' works. Works can be discovered in the Bürgergehorsam, an old defence tower, in artspace, the Stadtgalerie Café, Intervision Studio and in the entrance to the Zimmertheater. The University Day also gives students the opportunity to obtain a wide range of information, with film productions from higher education institutions, and on degree programmes from home and abroad. This year, the Muthesius Kunsthochschule from Kiel, Sint Lucas from Ghent and the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach have the opportunity to present themselves in detail.The University Day acts as a contact and exchange point for new projects and tendencies from media universities, academies of art and design colleges.
// SAG MAL Art_Clips narrativ
The new DVD by EMAF and GHK "Sag mal - Art_ Clips narrativ" will be released in time for this year's festival. Clips are one of the most recent forms of expression in our media-dominated age. In good clips, the image, text and sound are mixed so skilfully that the resulting overall impression is a sound image that can easily be mistaken for reality. A narrative clip aptly sums up a story in a compact manner. Excerpt from the foreword: "Narrative Art_Clips are gems in the current shaping of the presentation of interhuman relationships, intersubjectivity, the relationship between humans." (Gerhard Johann Lischka)
// CONCEPT AND FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT
Hermann Noering, Alfred Rotert, Ralf Sausmikat.
We would like to warmly invite you all to visit the festival.
The Festivalteam
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// The next EMAF Newsletter 04-2008 will be published by April 8th 2008
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// SPONSORS
nordmedia - Die Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH
City of Osnabrueck
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
German Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Culture 2000
EU Commission - MEDIA Programme, as well as funding from other sponsors.
// MEDIA PARTNER
arte
le monde diplomatique
// CULTURAL PARTNER
NDR-Kultur
// FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.emaf.de
info(at)emaf.de
European Media Art Festival
Lohstr. 45 a
49074 Osnabrueck
Tel. 0541/ 216 58
Fax. 0541/ 28327