About
transmediale creates a space for critical reflection on cultural transformation from a post-digital perspective. For over thirty years, the annual festival for art and digital culture has been bringing together international artists, researchers, activists, and thinkers with the goal of developing new outlooks on our technological era through the entanglement of different genres and curatorial approaches. In the course of its history, transmediale has grown from its beginnings as VideoFilmFest to one of the most important events for art and digital culture worldwide.
Beyond the yearly event, transmediale is a transversal, dynamic platform with a vibrant community and a strong network that facilitates regular publications and year-round activities including commissions and artist residencies. One of transmediale’s closest cooperation partners is CTM Festival. The German Federal Cultural Foundation has supported transmediale as a cultural institution of excellence since 2004.
Festival
At the heart of transmediale’s activities is the annual festival that has turned into an essential event in the calendar of media art professionals, artists, and students from all over the world. The annually changing themes are being reflected through exhibitions, performances, screenings, and workshops. Among other things transmediale has discussed the role of emotions and cultural emergence in digital culture, the political, economic, and cultural divides of our time, the elusiveness of perpetually transitioning media cultures at the festival. It takes place at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, where every year about 25,000 visits are made during the festival period.
History
Initially founded as VideoFilmFest in the context of Berlinale’s International Forum of New Cinema in 1988, the festival shifted its focus from video culture to a critical and artistic dialog with television and multimedia over time. In the course of its more than 30-year history it developed with media history and eventually evolved into one of the leading platforms for art and digital culture as transmediale. archive
Network
transmediale is part of a broad network of partners, supporters, and initiatives, ranging from local to international, and includes independent and institutional actors such as cultural organisations, renowned universities, and like-minded festivals. CTM Festival is transmediale’s main partner; other regular collaborators include Aarhus University, Berlin resource Network, Embassy of Canada in Berlin, Vilém Flusser Archive, the Winchester School of Art. In addition, there are temporary partnerships with other cultural organizations within the framework of national and international funding programs. network
Journal
The transmediale/journal is an online publishing platform for reflection and debate. Through essays, conversations, and interviews contributors engage past, present, and recurring festival themes in arts and digital culture, thematically compiled in journal issues. journal
Publications
Throughout its history, transmediale has regularly published publications and print products related to the themes and program of the festival. Among them are readers, exhibition catalogues, magazines, and publications resulting from the annual PhD workshop. publications