The Congress, part of the 24th European Media Art Festival, offers a critical and exciting exploration of current Media Art and Culture.

A series of lectures will be introduced by the artist Professor Candice Breitz. She will present her work ›The Character‹, showing at the EMAF exhibition, and explain how it came about. She will also explore the Indian and Nigerian film industries, which are increasingly challenging the dominance of American blockbusters. Next, Timothy Druckrey will give his presentation entitled ›Time Shift‹, which will delve into the aspect of time in film, using countless cinematic examples.

Professor Machiko Kusahara will also deliver a talk at this year’s festival as part of the Japan special. In her presentation, the curator from Tokyo will introduce the specific characteristics of the Media Art scene in Japan. Professor Yvonne Spielmann will give us a taste of her book ›Hybridkultur‹. Hybrid cultures are phenomena of the present that emerge from connections between influences of different media, and from various cultural contexts and discursive fields.

The V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media from Rotterdam will present the project ›Palm Top Theater Mobile 3D Wunderkammer‹. With this attachment for iPhones or iPods, visitors are able to view 3D applications and 3D videos without wearing special glasses – a completely new cinematic experience. Other lectures explore the influence of the media and the Internet: in his presentation ›Dramaturgy of violence? – Or: Why games are also art!‹, Professor Dr. Michael Bhatty highlights the synergies, convergences and divergences in media and technological contents.

Professor Ludger Brümmer from the ZKM, Centre for Art and Me- dia Karlsruhe, will present the project Mediaartbase.de; Martin Groh from the documenta Archiv, Sandra Mijatovis and Sarah Niedergesäß from Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, and Alfred Rotert and Ralf Sausmikat (EMAF) will screen a selection of works from their archives. Professor Rotraut Pape will present the history of Media Art and its many forms, as well as projects, from her personal perspective and experience. She will ask whether the increased level of digitalisation in the 21st century has indeed made everything easier, more ›user-friendly‹, or whether, on the contrary, it is now a matter of one software version chasing another from the desktop.

In his presentation entitled ›Abolition of the present and (an- archives) of the future‹, the media philosopher Professor Dr. Siegfried Zielinski from the Villem Flusser Archiv of Berlin University of the Arts will explore the technologies of forgetting, how the future is coupled to the past, and the extreme reduction of storage times.

Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico designed special software that copied images and data from around 250,000 Facebook users, which they then used for a supposed dating service ›lovelyfaces.com‹. The media response was huge, and facebook was not amused.

In addition to lectures and presentations, the Congress also offers visitors ample opportunity to engage in discussions, exchange information and establish contacts with others interested in media.