by Mia Butter // Jan. 21, 2025
The 38th edition of transmediale will take place from January 29th to February 2nd under the title of ‘(near) near but – far.’ Algorithms reform our human need for connection by advancing new forms of intimacy as a replacement for the closeness we yearn for in this day and age.
Forming an understanding of the way in which algorithms situate us in new and weird proximities, the festival’s program will further investigate the qualities of closeness lost by the nature of machine-driven actions. This year’s renewed curatorial approach shapes both the theme and the programming methodology. Curators Ben Evans James and Elise Misao Hunchuck collaborate with three invited programmers, Nina Davies, Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung and Ren Loren Britton. In the spirit of collaboration, sister festivals transmediale and CTM come together for two shared performances at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), one of the host venues alongside the silent green Kulturquartier.
PortraitXO: ‘selfportrait’ // Image courtesy of the artist
The prelude to the festival begins on January 29th with workshops at silent green, as well as the annual Marshall McLuhan Lecture held at the Embassy of Canada. This years lecture, ‘A Queer History of Blackouts,’ will be given by Cait McKinney, followed by a conversation with Lindsey A. Freeman on online “blackout” protests, tracing the history of these protests to HIV/AIDS activism in the mid-1990s. Together, they will explore how protest tactics have been translated to the digital realm, marginalized communities leverage media technologies to share knowledge and inspire collective action, as well as concepts of relationality formulated in a digital context. Part of the recent group show ‘UnNatural Encounters’ at silent green, Ali Akbar Mehta’s installation ‘Purgatory EDIT’ is on show at transmediale studio throughout the duration of the festival. transmediale is then officially inaugurated with a public opening, featuring live performances by DeForrest Brown Jr. and Tati au Miel.
Ari Benjamin Meyers: ‘Marshall Allen, 99, Astronaut’, 2024 // Image courtesy of the artist
The core weekend program at HKW kicks off on the morning January 31st, with the action ‘transmediale running club,’ guided by Lindsey A. Freeman. The following workshops, films and discussions explore techno-vernacular expressionism, esoteric programming languages and disability-justice-focused tech, featuring contributions by Nina Davies, Olga Goriunova, Ari Benjamin Meyers and Hana Yoo, among others. The first of two collaborative performances between transmediale and CTM takes place in the evening, ‘The Cost of Connection,’ by musical artist Portrait XO, alongside Rick Farin & Actual Objects.
Day two of the festival continues with a mixed program—lectures, screenings, conversations and performances—touching on themes of choreographed closeness, affective proximities and, among the highlights, a collaborative performance by Nina Davies and 2girls1comp, entitled ‘The Inexorable Non-Player Character.’ Drawing from NPC dance trends on TikTok, those trends are inserted out of their original context into the gaming environment of GTA V.
2girls1comp: ‘dancing plague’, 2025 // Image courtesy of the artist
On the closing Sunday, day three, artist and writer Samra Mayanja’s solo performance ‘Dead Dad Death Cult’ will take place at the Safi Faye Saal at HKW. Touching on her experience as a call center operator, ‘Dead Dad Death Cult’ speaks to the continuous labour of empathy of being in a (dis)located position of proximity at the end of a helpline. Before the final screening and performance, there will be a closing conversation for ‘(near) near – but far’ with Asia Bazdyrieva, சிந்துஜன் வரதராஜா (Sinthujan Varatharajah), Chris Lee, Luiza Prado, Jas Rault and Ali El-Darsa.
Samra Mayanja: ‘Dead Dad Death Cult’, 2024 // Image courtesy of the artist
Algorithms reform our human need for connection, with our relationships to one another now defined by our devices. This edition of transmediale invites a conversation on the ways in which digital systems address us to engender a “performance of proximity,” alongside activations, lectures, performances and screenings that foster the attempt at understanding our future inter-human (and non-human) relationships. It begs the question: how can the capacities of technologies foster relations better adapted to responding to the complexities of our individual and collective discontents?
Festival Info
transmediale
Group Show: ‘(near) near but – far’
Festival: Jan. 29-Feb. 2, 2025
transmediale.de
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, click here for map
silent green Kulturquartier, Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, click here for map
Embassy of Canada
Marshall McLuhan Lecture 2025: ‘A Queer History of Blackouts’
Cait McKinney in conversation wtih Lindsey A. Freeman
Talk: Wednesday, Jan. 29; 7pm
transmediale.de/mcluhan-2025
Leipziger Platz 17, 10117 Berlin click here for map
