OTS - CONNECTED FUTURE - The Media Art Festival Seasons of Media Arts is back again in the city!/17 September to 17 October, 2021 (part 1)
2021. September 20. 10:10
Karlsruhe, 20 September, 2021 (APA/OTS) - The urban Festival of
Media Art Seasons of Media Arts is presenting a new edition for the
Karlsruhe Summer of Culture 2021. Video, sound, and light
installations, projections on facades and on streets, art
interventions, and interactive projects with a special focus on
local media artists will be on view from 17 September to 17 October
2021 in Karlsruhe's public spaces.
How do we want to live in the future? Under the title Connected
Future, this year's festival explores the limits and possibilities
between virtual and analogue space, between the apparent remoteness
of digital technologies and the human need for physical proximity
and social interaction. The artists who work where art and
technology intersect demonstrate with their often software-based
works great awareness of the complex social and psychological
dynamics that accompany digitization. They investigate how the
future can be shaped today through interconnectedness, networking,
and exchanges.
This collaboration between the Karlsruhe Department of Cultural
Affairs and the ZKM gives media artists the opportunity to present
their works in a variety of urban locations.
"In Karlsruhe, the city and the media arts have a strong bond
that impacts urban society and sends out its rays into the world.
With Connected Future, the festival addresses social issues of
global dimensions that are preying on the minds of all of us. It
brings together art, science, and technology. And with the Seasons
of Media Arts I am very pleased indeed that for the third year now
Karlsruhe is presenting itself in the best possible light as a
UNESCO City of Media Arts," says the Mayor of Karlsruhe, Dr. Frank
Mentrup, about the start of the festival.
In addition to the works ACCESS by Marie Sester, Saving Water
by PONG.Li Studios, and The Silent Chaos of Colors by Eva Judkins
and Holger Förterer, which could not be shown last year due to the
pandemic, this year's exhibition also includes a number of works
supported by the City of Karlsruhe's UNESCO Media Arts Project
Support Program. Also on display are two works from the
international City to City initiative, launched by the Media Arts
Cluster of the UNESCO Creative Cities network, the work Klangkanal
by Peter Weibel, a literary dialogue with the artworks produced by
the Badisches Staatstheater, and new works by Karlsruhe artists
Sarah Degenhardt, Sarai Rose Duke, Rainer Kehres, Jia Liu, Didi
Müller, Andreas Siefert, Gerardo Nolasco-Rózsás, and Dan Wilcox.
"Through its networked character, media art allows
decentralized localities. As such, it is able to leave the museum
and enter the urban space. The networked nature of media art is a
glimpse of the networked future, " explains Prof. Peter Weibel,
Chairman of the ZKM.
The Seasons of Media Arts will be staged at numerous locations
in the city's public spaces. These include Werderplatz, Südliche
Waldstraße, Stephanplatz, and the Nymphengarten. In addition,
visitors will discover media artworks in shop windows and foyers,
at the Badisches Staatstheater, in the Kinemathek Karlsruhe, in the
Tollhaus, in the ZKM, and at the Regierungspräsidium on
Rondellplatz.
"The festival is unique because it brings media art into the
public realm where people live and work, meet or stroll. A
must-attend event for all media art enthusiasts!" says Deputy Mayor
Dr. Albert Käuflein.
The opening of the festival is also the moment when Dr. Susanne
Asche retires and hands over the reins to her successor Dominika
Szope, who will head the Karlsruhe Department of Cultural Affairs,
and thus also direct the major undertaking of the UNESCO City of
Media Arts, from October 1.
"The Seasons of Media Arts are the result of new thinking,
promotion of culture, and good cooperation. In this way a space for
creativity and reflection on the issues of our times can be created
that inspires, crosslinks, and connects," says Dominika Szope, ZKM.
All works featured in the Seasons of Media Arts can be accessed
with the browser-based app UrbanExplorAR via two different use
modes: via location sharing and augmented reality, the works can be
explored in their real environment, and in addition the app offers
biographical and content-related information on the respective
works and artists.
Twice a week, the ZKM organizes free bicycle tours to the
artworks in the city. More information at
zkm.de/en/guided-tours-workshops
(continues)