With the arrival of spring, Karlsruhe’s Department of Cultural Affairs is starting a new season of presenting media art in the city. Until July 15, 2022, a series of current art works by local and international artists are on display in public spaces and the digital realm. Installations, videos, projections, and performances funded by the city’s project funding program for media art will be presented, as well as interdisciplinary projects that foster creative exchanges at the intersection of art, technology, and science.
“The artworks provide further insights into Karlsruhe’s diverse art and culture scene in the field of media art. In doing so, we remain true to our objective of breathing new life selectively into lesser-known places in the city through culture. To showcase media artists’ creations that engage with topical issues and at the same time make the potential of artistic creativity in Karlsruhe visible are just two goals behind the aspiration of being a UNESCO City of Media Arts,” says Dominika Szope, Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs, elaborating on the season opening in the City of Media Arts.
Participating projects:
Trinity Twins – Michael Saup, Kinemathek Karlsruhe
Where in times past cinema painters would have put up huge film posters, there is now a platform for media art projects called the PhonoLuxMaschine in the foyer of the Kinemathek Karlsruhe. Michael Saup’s artwork Trinity Twins is a cinematic installation on the subject of radioactivity and its global effects on our planet, which is on show until May 22, 2022.
Seriosität – Benjamin Breitkopf and Kilian Kretschmer/ato, Schaufenster Karlsruhe
From April 22 to May 29, 2022, this successive artwork will be on display in the Schaufenster (shop window) Karlsruhe at the Marktplatz. In this installation, artists Kilian Kretschmer and Benjamin Breitkopf explore the means of expression that convey serious content and messages today. Seriousness was brought to reality by ato, an online platform for artists and exhibition makers.
Ballet of the City – Jonas Denzel, at changing locations in the city
The dancers of the State Ballet of Karlsruhe sally forth and make the city their stage. With his beambike, media artist Jonas Denzel projects a number of different choreographies onto surfaces all over the city and stages them artistically. From April 28 to May 26, the projections will be on view every Thursday at various locations throughout Karlsruhe. The work was created in collaboration with the ballet ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater.
Algorave, jubez
For several years now, parties and events have been organized all over the world under the umbrella of the label Algorave, which focuses on algorithmically generated music. The Digitale Kunstfabrik (Digital Art Factory) and the Jubez cultural center for children, youth, and young adults, both in Karlsruhe, will jointly organize an Algorave on May 21, 2022, at which both local and international artists will perform.
Time is now – Célin Jiang und Nygel Panasco, jubez
Time is Now is a new series of exhibitions by the Jubez Gallery, in which both local and international artistic standpoints are on display that engage with current social and cultural challenges in a cross-media approach. In its first edition, from June 24 to July 15, 2022, artists Célin Jiang and Nygel Panasco will present their works at the intersection of performance, digital media arts, and transcultural aesthetics. The exhibition will open its doors on June 24 with a performance on the Kronenplatz in the south of the city.
Media art projects can be experienced during the upcoming months not only in Karlsruhe’s urban public spaces — an artwork has also been created for the digital realm within the UNESCO City of Media Arts framework:
Earth We Are and Shall Return – Ingrid Cuestas, online
This multimedia artwork by Colombian artist Ingrid Cuestas was selected from 15 international submissions to the call for proposals on Visions of Transformations to Sustainability, which was initiated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research and the Department of Cultural Affairs in 2021. Cuestas combines ancient knowledge with technological change to create an immersive work that critically reflects on the rampant consumption of resources and creates a future scenario which dates back to the origins of humankind. Available only online at: https://hub.link/J2kDMxd.
100,000 Euros are available to fund projects
The city of Karlsruhe was designated a UNESCO City of Media Arts in 2019, and is a member of the global UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). The presentation of media art is part of the implementation of an action plan as a UNESCO City of Media Arts, which promotes local media art projects that are then exchanged internationally. Since 2020, the city of Karlsruhe has empowered local artists, professionals from the cultural and media sectors, initiatives, and institutions to develop and realize projects in the field of media art. In its 2022 budget, it has allocated 100,000 Euros to continue supporting these efforts. Karlsruhe residents who are professionals in the art and culture sectors can apply for funding until April 20, 2022.
Press contact
City of Karlsruhe, Cultural Affairs Department
Anastasia Ziegler
Tel: +49 (0) 721 133 4002
E-Mail: anastasia.ziegler@kultur.karlsruhe.de