transmediale 2014 is themed “Afterglow” – denoting a proverbial twilight from which to catalogue the disillusionment and disappointment of the digital revolution. The concept of “Afterglow” is the summation of what we now face: the post-digital age. How are we to respond to the influx of digital trash, mass surveillance of data, technology dependencies, and the seemingly insurmountable amount of e-waste?
Transmediale is publically making an effort to clarify that “Afterglow” isn’t centered on negative perspectives about digital culture, but rather seeks to diagnose the current ambivalence in an optimistic way. The remaining question hangs ominously in front of us: what to do with all of this excess?
From 29 January to 2 February, transmediale featival will present a variety of conferences, screenings, exhibitions, performances, and workshops at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, all dedicated to exploring, dialogically, how to interact with the post-digital question. Their partner programme, Vorspiel, will begin on the 22nd, and will include events at over 30 venues across Berlin.
The conference will host several streams including An Afterglow of the Mediatic, Ryan Bishop and Jussi Parikka; Hashes to Ashes, Tatiana Bazzichelli; Will You Be My Trashure? , Francesco Warbear Macarone Palmieri and Katrien Jacobs. These will provide a close examination of the geopolitical, identity, sexuality, and infrastructural consequences of technology excess, which has been developing over the last three decades.
Exhibitions presented by transmediale will include Critical Infrastructure and Art Hack Day (27-29 January). Jamie Allen and David Gauthier, the artists of Critical Infrastructure, will showcase a geological/architectural survey of the materials used to create the digital revolution. Art Hack Day, organized by LEAP, (a collaboration between transmediale, Art Hack Day/ Olof Mathé and LEAP) will host over 70 tech artists and hackers whose medium is art. These participants will work together to unearth artifacts, themes, questions, and pieces that form the “material” component of Transmediale’s art exhibition. Moreover the festival will present a Marshall McLuhan Lecture by Douglas Coupland at the Embassy of Canada on 28 January, as well as additional partner exhibitions at .CHB, SUPERMARKT and the Schering Stiftung.
transmediale 2014 will also be showing 53 screenings that uphold the “Afterglow” discourse on the post-digital. If that wasn’t enough to fill your schedule, transmediale is collaborating with the experimental music festival CTM: DIS / CONTINUITY , which has as its theme the history of experimental music (from Audrey Smirnov on) and will showcase the latest experimental musicians (Veronika Vasicka, Porter Ricks, Mark Ernestus, Mest, Lotic, Oake, etc.) at different venues across the city.
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Additional Information
The Exhibitions and Conferences are held at the main venue, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
transmediale
“Afterglow”
Festival: Jan. 29 – Feb. 02, 2014
Opening Reception: Wednesday, Jan. 29; 7pm
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 (click here for map)
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Blog entry by Graham Haught in Berlin; Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014.
