Conference in Berlin 2008: Media Art as Contemporaneity

Conference staged in Berlin by medienwerk.nrw
Date: Monday, 3 November 2008
Venues: Federal State Office of North Rhine-Westphalia in Berlin, and Collegium Hungaricum, Berlin

The one-day conference Media Art as Contemporaneity organized by medienwerk.nrw invites interested parties to exchange views on thematic and structural aspects of the current situation of media art. 

Panel 1 discusses the transformed notion of media art as well as the connection between art production and university education, presentation platforms, and the public perception of the latter.

Panel 2 focuses on the methods and possibilities of supporting media art at state level in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and other federal German states. It poses the question whether and how sustained, long-term support can be afforded to media art in the area of tension between low-key project activities and large-scale projects. Examining the current concepts being pursued in this regard in the various German states, the panel asks which media-art promotion models ought to be further developed in the future. 

All of the discussants have been asked to briefly present a work of media art exemplifying their statements. An evening screening has been scheduled for these work presentations, accompanied by an informal round of further discussion.

Entry to the conference and official reception is free of charge. 

Conference programme

15.30 h

Speech of welcome by Tim Arnold (Director, Federal State Office of North Rhine-Westphalia in Berlin)
Presentation of medienwerk.nrw by Susanne Ackers

15.45 - 17.30 h

The media arts in the age of their post-medium condition
Speakers: Prof. Dr. Marie-Luise Angerer (Rector, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne), Dr. Inke Arns (Artistic Director, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund)
Moderator: Ulrich Gutmair (arts journalist, taz, Berlin)

17.30 - 18.15 h

Interval

18.15 - 20 h

Funding structures for media art
Speakers: Dr. Ingrid Wagner (Senate Chancellery Berlin - Culture), Regina Wyrwoll (Secretary-General, Kunststiftung NRW)
Moderator: Dr. Ingrid Stoppa-Sehlbach (Department of Cultural Affairs, State of North-Rhine Westphalia)

Collegium Hungaricum:

20.30 - 23 Uhr

Reception including presentations of current media art (curated by the conference panellists)
Speech of welcome by János Can Togay (Director, Collegium Hungaricum)
Speech of welcome by Dr. Ingrid Stoppa-Sehlbach (Department of Cultural Affairs, State of North-Rhine Westphalia)