transmediale discusses and presents advanced artistic positions on the cultural, political and economic effects of new technologies. It focuses on artistic practices that do not merely respond to scientific or technical developments, but seek to influence the way we experience these technologies. In this sense, transmediale understands media technologies as cultural techniques that must be appropriated so that we can use them to understand, criticize and shape contemporary society.
club transmediale (CTM) is one of the most important international festivals for contemporary electronic, digital and experimental music and for the diverse artistic activities surrounding sound and club culture. CTM presents projects that experiment with new aesthetic experiences and forms of collaboration, develop possibilities for informational and economic self-determination, and reflect on the role of contemporary music against the background of technological and social transformations.
Specific thematic focuses have been established for the 2009 editions of both festivals.
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With DEEP NORTH, transmediale.09 looks beyond the shrill climate-catastrophe scenarios accompanying debates about global warming and shifts the focus to possible wider cultural, social and philosophical consequences arising from the collapse of the polar ice barriers. Are we at a new and historically significant turning point, an unavoidable and irreversible transformation implying uncontrollable global changes? Does climate change foreshadow cultural change, or does it point toward the collapse of established systemic norms? DEEP NORTH does not denote a fixed location, but describes a paradigm expressing current uncertainties and necessities.
In the convergence zone between popular culture, science, art and media technologies, new hybrid projects and initiatives have emerged in recent years, merging sound and media cultures. Committed individuals and self-organized groups and networks in particular provide a platform for these new artistic expressions and experiments, often under precarious conditions.
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Under the title STRUCTURES – Backing Up Independent Audiovisual Cultures, club transmediale.09 examines the state and development prospects of these independent infrastructures and presents projects pursuing critical, interdisciplinary and experimental practices at the intersections of sound and other artistic forms.
Together, transmediale and club transmediale invite submissions of work and projects that address these challenges and establish and question a contemporary artistic relationship between art and digital culture. Entries for both festivals will participate in the transmediale Award 2009, while texts and abstracts are invited for the Vilém Flusser Theory Award, with total prizes worth approximately EUR 10,000.
transmediale is a Kulturprojekte Berlin project in cooperation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt; club transmediale (CTM) is a DISK project.
- Sound & Image Initiative e.V.; transmediale is supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation; CTM is supported by the Capital Cultural Fund.
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