living archive transmediale

The Transmediale will celebrate its 30 years Anniversary in 2017. The objective of this project is to design an archive for the Transmediale. But how can an archive for an experimental Media Art Festival look like? An ›other‹, a lively and dialogical archive, which is an active correspondence of the festival in the virtual? An archive that enables the real-time exchange on topics of the festival? And that perhaps can make thoughts and contributions of visitors visible?

In close collaboration with the Transmediale, we will analyse the programme, the communication flow of the festival and its various initiatives. We are thinking about which demands should such a »Living Archive« fulfill, one which can both accompany the actual Festival, as well as will render the past festivals accessible, and in an appropriate manner. As a result of the project the concepts will be realized as a prototype.

Even if this project has been planned for the Winter semester 2015/16, a further cooperation with the Transmediale in the future is possible and desired.

transmediale
transmediale is an annual festival for media art and digital culture taking place for one week in February in Berlin. The festival engages in reflective, aesthetic and speculative positions in between art, technology and culture. The activities of the Transmediale aim at an enhanced critical understanding of the current contemporay culture and politics, which are shaped by the media technologies.

transmediale was founded in 1988 as VideoFilmFest, a side-project of the Berlin Berlinale’s International Forum of New Cinema with the intention to offer a platform to electronic media productions not accepted at traditional film festivals such as the Berlinale. In the following years the emphasis on pure Media Art has been expanded to become the broader field of art, digital culture, technology and society. In the framework of the yearly festival, the various exhibitions, the film and video programmes, the live performances, symposium and various publications have formed the focus of the Transmediale. In parallel, and in cooperation , though both organisational and in term of content independant, a festival called the Club Transmediale (CTM) takes place. This festival provides an Dialogue between electronic music and the club culture. The Vilem Flusser Theory Award was set up in 2008, which since 2012 is carried on as the residence for artistic research.

In its 28 years old history, this yearly Transmediale Festival has established itself as one of the most important events for media arts experts, for artists, activists and students from all over the world. This festival is supported by the German Federal Government.

Archive
The transmediale possesses both a digital and a physical archive. However, there is no appropriate access to them. Photos, videos, websites, publications and other contents from the previous festivals have been archived. This archive was part of the project »Digitising contemporary arts« (DCA), between 2011 and 2013, which is funded by the European Commission. The objective is to set up the European Database Europeana (www.europeana.eu), to enable access to Europe's cultural heritage. Through the funding of the European Commission, it was possible to create high quality digital reproductions.

Guests
Constant vzw is a non-profit association and an interdisciplinary arts-lab based and active in Brussels since 1997. Constant works in-between media and art and is interested in the culture and ethics of the World Wide Web. The artistic practice of Constant is inspired by the way that technological infrastructures, data-exchange and software determine our daily life. Furthermore, Constant was part of the transmediale.
→ constantvzw.org → activearchives.org

Carsten Stabenow is communication designer (Milchhof) and initiator of various festivals, formats and initiatives within the framework of new media, art and science and sound art. He isamong others the founder of the media art festival Garage and initiator and artistic director of the festival Tuned City. For the Transmediale Carsten worked both curatorial and active as a lecturer. → carstenstabenow.de → tunedcity.de

Brendan Howell is a media artist (Weise7), Critical Ingeneer and Professor of the University of Fine Arts Braunschweig. Brendan has often exhibited at the Transmediale and can therefore give us the perspective of a an exhibiting artist.
→ wintermute.org → weise7.org

Wolfgang Ernst is cultural and media scholar and Professor of Media Theory at the Department of Media Studies at the Humboldt University. He is engaged in media archeology and is the author of several books on the subject (see above).

Knut Ebeling
is a philosopher, formerly at the Department of Aesthetics of Humboldt University of Berlin, where he headed the research project »Archives of the past. Knowledge transfer between archeology, philosophy and arts«. One of the priorities of his work is archive theory.

Meetings
Monday and if necessary Wednesday, 10h – about 13h
Course of the project
13.10.15, 10h Kickkoff

14.10.15, 10 – 13h
Visit transmediale
Klosterstr. 68, 10179 Berlin

Mi, 14.10.15, 15h
Guided tour with Andreas Lange,
Director of the Computer Games Museum, Focus archival aspects

Mo, 26. + Tu, 27.10.15, 10h
Kick-off Workshop
Constant VZW, Brüssel: Peter Westenberg und Nicolas Maleve – www.activearchives.org (until 27.10.)
Intro-Panel about Archives Theory with
Prof. Walter Ernst (Prof. Media Theory HU Berlin)

23. /24.11. Intermediate Presentations
7. – 11.12. Sauen
3. – 7. 2.16 transmediale 2016
09./ 10.02.16 Presentation

Other guests:
Knut Ebeling, Weißensee
Brendan Howell, media artist and Professor College of Fine Arts Braunschweig
Carsten Stabenow, curator and initiator of Garage and Tuned City festival

Meetings Transmediale
2.11. 10h Technical introduction
16.11. 10h

Goals WS 14/15
• prototype of a vision
of the Living Archive
• review of the concepts on the
transmediale 2016

Literature
german:
Knut Ebeling and Georges
Didi-Huberman: Das Archiv brennt,
Kadmos Kulturverlag Berlin

Knut Ebeling and Stephan Günzel:
Archivologie: Theorien des Archivs in Philosophie, Medien und Künsten: Exterioritäten des Wissens in Philosophie, Medien und Künsten

Knut Ebeling:
Wilde Archäologien 1+2
Theorien der materiellen Kultur
von Kant bis Kittler

Wolfgang Ernst:
Das Rumoren der Archive:
Ordnung aus Unordnung

english:
Bernhard Serexhe:
Digital Art Conservation
Preservation of Digital Art: Theory and Practice. The Project »digital art conservation«
→ zkm.de/en/publication/digital-art-
conservation-english