For its 26th edition, transmediale boldly went BWPWAP – Back When Pluto Was a Planet.

Pluto and its reclassification was taken as a metaphor for how quickly cultural imaginaries can change and be contested in a world driven by parallel and shifting paradigms. BWPWAP suggests a methodology of looking backwards in order to cast a critical eye on the present and in doing so reformulating cultural practices for a less prescribed and more explorative sense of the possible.

At transmediale 2013, three exhibitions and a five-day conference, workshop, screening and performance program were presented. Additionally, the all-year platform, “resource transmedial culture berlin” contributed to the creation of three large installation and performance projects. To help visitors navigate this extensive program, four threads were developed that were each explored through BWPWAP methodology: Users, Networks, Paper and Desire. Just like the debates on Pluto and its possible definitions, these threads re-classified the standard festival event taxonomy and offered an alternative roadmap to the festival program.