first view (& more) – transmediale 06 (UPDATED)

mo

The discussions on defining new media still seem to be endless (just to recall the recent exchange on mailinglists after Olia Lialina had announced an update on the Wikipedia entry) – transmediale found another way to deal with it and states:

… digital media like video and electronic networks are now so wide-spread that a strict definition of what constitutes ‘media art’ seems no longer possible. We have therefore decided to alter the subtitle of the festival: transmediale is no longer called ‘international media art festival’, but ‘festival for art and digital culture’. This name is supposed to demonstrate the step away from the niche of ‘media art’, yet still points to the field of tension between culture and digital technologies, which continues to form the main driving force of the festival. (link)

A search on wikipedia for Digital Culture gets directly forwarded to Information Age. Ok, there we are trying a second time to broaden the thematic field – after last year’s embracing of the term of an art exhibition. (via)

Consequently this years exhibition is larger (better budget) and focusing on Smile Machines within the events entire frame of reality addicts. The first impression leaves me a bit helpless where all these titles and headings vanished into. The smile machine exhibition assembles some elder works of art (Paik, Macunias, Snow, Levines, Birnbaum, ..), together with some newer works of contemporary reknown producers (jodi, yesmen, Bajevic) obviously intending to display
Acceptable Risk, Yesmen
‘mechanisms’ (including robots) which celebrate the transgressive power of humor but the concept seemed just be blurred into greeting any tiny smile.
About reality addiction I yet cannot report too much – on first view it seems to be submerged into the humor-transgression-paradigma – lets see what the panels etc … might offer …
(german review of the first day panel)

LATER 05.02.2006: transmediale, 2nd: transgressional power of humor

.. is definitly needed from my side to cope with some aspects of the organisation this year. I am not quite sure if it is the other location – eventhough Akademie der Künste is in general a charming 60s building with a nice structure -, the amount of people or just a general problem. Meanwhile I learned I am not the only one to line up in disordered groups at the ticket counter which hardly move forward. Eventhough people surrounding me seemed to be extremely patient – it can’t help the frustration that when one finally reaches the counter tickets for single events are sold out, because they go with day passes – wether people visit the event or not.

UPDATE 2 / 05.02.2006: .. again just short comment from de:bug about the 2nd day (sorry only german)…
also: meanwhile more at we make money …
and: view ‘transmediale‘ via flickr (slideshow)

>> on CTM (club transmediale) via mediamatic
via flickr
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