21st EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL
// IDENTITY
The motto of this year’s European Media Art Festival is IDENTITY. Besides focusing on the issue of one’s own identity in a globalised world, the general changes associated with the expansion of digital technologies into all areas of private and public life will also be under discussion.
// INTERNATIONAL MEETING PLACE
The festival shows film as a contemporary work of art in cinemas and exhibitions, both performed and multimedia. As an important forum for international Media Art, films, videos, performances, multimedia installations and digital media, such as DVD and internet, will be presented. The productions of internationally renowned artists will be represented at the 21st EMAF 2008 alongside innovative works of talented young people from higher education institutions and academies of art. For five whole days, Osnabrueck becomes a lively, prominent meeting place for curators, lenders, gallery owners and specialists from the field of art, culture and the media, as well as for an interested international audience.
// REGISTRATION
If you don’t want to miss it, register now. Detailed information can be found at www.emaf.de. 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!!!!!
// PROGRAMME PLANNING
Around 2200 contributions are currently being viewed by the EMAF team. These were sent from Germany, the USA, Brazil, South Korea, New Zealand, Lithuania, Romania and Iran – in other words, from all five continents. Submissions were received from a total of around 50 countries. The programme is currently being planned and selections are being made for all areas of the festival:
// CINEMA
// EXHIBITION
// EXPANDED MEDIA
// LIVE CINEMA
// INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FORUM
// CONGRESS
Members of the viewing commission are:
Katja Albers, free curator, Dresden
Stefanie Gaus, film-maker, Berlin
Hermann Nöring, EMAF, Osnabrück
Alfred Rotert, EMAF, Osnabrück
Christine Rüffert, University of Bremen
Ralf Sausmikat, EMAF, Osnabrück
It is anticipated that around 350 new installations, films and videos will be presented at the festival, giving viewers an extensive insight into the tendencies of current Media Art, which addresses both the experimental film market and the art market.
// INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FORUM
This year’s International Student Forum presents its own exhibition again and film/video programmes containing students’ works. 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. The Muthesius Kunsthochschule in Kiel, the Sint Lucas in Ghent and the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach have the opportunity to present themselves in detail at this year’s festival. The University Day also acts as a contact and exchange point for new projects and tendencies from media universities, academies of art and design colleges.
// EXHIBITION: YOUNG IDENTITIES – GLOBAL YOUTH
The exhibition addresses "Young Identities", demonstrating attitudes towards and images of adolescent realities from a variety of continents and cultures. International media artists deal with youth cultures and their communities, which are sometimes at home in very small structures but also in global networks. Regardless of whether they are online communities or ‘real’ social networks: the large number of youth scenes is virtually impossible to take in. They are defined by music, fashion, rituals, stars, symbols and markings that simultaneously serve self-identification and demarcation purposes. The search for security and orientation and for the community’s identity is often paramount in an environment of increasing economic, family-related and social insecurity. How do youths find and fill niches in public domains, under the pressure of commerce and consumption or in precarious living conditions? What hopes and visions do they develop? The exhibition pursues these issues with the artistic devices of Media Art.
// CONGRESS
The Congress takes up the topic of IDENTITY and reflects it in its series of talks. Ricardo Mbarkho, artist and teacher at the Académie Libanaise
des Beaux-Arts in Beirut, will talk about the Media Art scene in Lebanon, where artists reflect the identity crisis in the context of their socio-political and geographic environment. Another topic is explored by Prof. Birgit Richard. She will lecture on youth identities in web 2.0 and will show creative works by adolescents - YouTube Favorites on the one hand, and stage-settings by game fans on the other.
// RETROSPECTIVE
This year’s retrospective, introduced by the expert Brigitte Burger-Utzer, is of the Austrian avant-garde film-maker Kurt Kren, who experimented with 8mm und 16mm as early as in the 1950s.
// AWARDS
Three awards will be presented at this year’s festival: the “EMAF Award” for a trend-setting work in Media Art, the “Dialogpreis” of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the promotion of intercultural exchange and the "Preis der deutschen Filmkritik" for the best German experimental film.
// EMAF ON TOUR
In 2007, the EMAF tour programme was shown in numerous cities in Europe, such as Vienna and Athens, as well as in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
//CONCEPT AND FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT
Hermann Noering, Alfred Rotert, Ralf Sausmikat.
We hope we have aroused your curiosity, and would like to warmly invite you all to visit the festival.
The Festival Team
// The next EMAF Newsletter 02- 2008 will brief you on the Exhibition and other programme elements.
// 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 PARTNERS
arte
le monde diplomatique
// CULTURAL PARTNER
NDR-Kultur
For further information:
European Media Art Festival, Lohstraße 45 a, D-49074 Osnabrueck,
Telephone +49 (0) 5 41 - 2 16 58, Fax +49 (0) 5 41 - 2 83 27