transmediale.02 [go public!]
International Media Art Festival ~ Berlin, 5 - 10 February 2002
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demo-song from Roland PMA-5

CALL FOR ENTRIES The transmediale is a platform for artistic presentation and critical reflection on the role of digital technologies in present-day society. The festival provides a forum for communication between artists, those working in the media and a wide range of experts and offers a stimulating environment for the presentation of major new projects from digital culture.

transmediale.02: [go public!] How do you "go public" today? 15 minutes of fame through an appearance on TV? The IPO of a self-founded company? The publication of a press release? A post-modern shopping-spree? The participation in a street demonstration? Or rather a permanent online-presence through home-installed Web cameras? Dreams of the public sphere as a space free of power relations where citizens communicate to formulate their joint political will, are long gone. The total public sphere of mass media is breaking up into a multiplicity of partial publics where individuals and groups perform and act. Politics is happening somewhere in between.

The English term "to go public" originally means "to publicise information", but today it is used primarily in the context of founding a joint-stock company or its IPO (initial public offering). The stock market crash of spring 2000 meant a huge disenchantment for this precarious concept, which had fascinated the IT sector for years. Digital media still carry the hope for new forms of democratic participation. But how far do they really open up cultural and political spaces where a public sphere can take shape and where you can "go public"? Does today's cultural and political effectiveness evolve first and foremost in non-public spaces? The shopping mall as a democratic forum, the post-industrial product or service as an ultimate "res publica"?
The transmediale.02 encourages artists and media producers to "go public!" and, at the same time, asks how and where efficient models of public spheres are being developed. Artists and media producers experience and explore the frictions and borders between private and public and research the possibilities for constructing new spaces for public action. It remains to be seen whether these are to be found on the trading floor or in your home kitchen, on a free server or on a private TV channel.

Submissions
The transmediale.01 invites the submission of artistic projects developed since1999 in the fields of Interactive, Image and Software Art.

INTERACTIVE - Interactive Systems This category covers artistic productions focusing on human interaction with and through digital media. Interactive systems consist of several components, which combine to create an artwork that can be experienced individually or collectively and whose outcome is relatively open and dependent on the recipient's participation. These can be locally based systems like installations or performances, as well as open, networked or activist processes. The evaluation of these works hinges on their reflection of current social and cultural conditions and on the choice of adequate media and components which articulate the intention of the project.

IMAGE - linear and non-linear moving images This new competition category replaces the old video category which was part of the competition for over 10 years. The new category focuses on innovative approaches to the development of moving images in the age of digital, interactive and net-based media. Of particular interest are the transformation of visual languages, new non-linear narrative structures and innovative forms of presentation and reception. The reformulation of this competition category brings into view formats like video performance, Internet movie or interactive story telling, which go beyond the classic video image without developing entirely open and interactive structures.

SOFTWARE ART - For the first time, transmediale.01 called for submissions in this category which, as a genre, is still being debated. For transmediale.02, we again invite projects in which the artistic process is largely dependent on the execution of code. Software not as a functional tool on which the "real" artwork is based, but software code as the material of artistic creation. Software Art can be the result of an autonomous creative practice, but can also refer critically to the general technological and social meaning of software.

The evaluation by the jury requires good documentation of submitted works (especially in the fields of Software Art and Interactive). Where appropriate, an explanation should be given as to which aspects of the works the jury should consider in particular. For understanding jury requirements, please consult last year's jury statements which are online.

The selected works will be invited to transmediale.02 and will be presented, circumstances permitting, in the exhibition, screenings, the media lounge or on stage. In addition, we are considering continuous availability of the video works in the media lounge through a local server.

transmediale award
Prizes worth EU 5,000 will be awarded in each of the three categories Interactive, Image and Software Art. The award winners will be selected by three separate international juries.

Submissions Deadline: 31 August 2001