From August 18 to September 18, the City of Karlsruhe’s Department of Cultural Affairs of and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe is presenting six media artworks in the city center, alongside the Schlosslichtspiele event.
“Culture and creativity bring people together and promote social cohesion. The City of Media Art Karlsruhe is delighted to present these spectacular artworks and interactions to its guests during the plenary assembly of the World Council of Churches. At several locations in the city center, the fascination of media art works its magic,” said Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup.
“The works selected demonstrate how media art responds to current social issues, from Covid-19 to the climate crisis — literally, insightfully, and in an enlightening way in public spaces outside the museums. The works address all the senses and thus achieve increased audience participation. A stroll through the media landscape of Karlsruhe offers visitors to the World Council’s assembly not only a stimulating overview of innovative media art, but above all insight into new thought spaces,” says Peter Weibel, artistic and scientific director of ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.
Interactive COVID-sound installation
The media installation STREAMERS — A COVID Sculpture by Benoit Maubrey is an interactive sound sculpture built with recycled loudspeakers, music chests, old tube radios, computer keyboards and circuit boards. The seven-meter-high sculpture can be seen and heard in Friedrichsplatz and can be accessed and activated via a live video stream, by a phone call or Twitter message from anywhere in the world. People directly at the square can play the artwork via Bluetooth or by plug’n play. Architecturally, the installation references Vienna’s 1679 Plague Column in the city center. Maubrey’s title refers to the current pandemic that has been ongoing since 2020 and is a contemporary approach to a social crisis. The work was commissioned and produced by TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien and was on view at Anitta-Müller-Cohen-Platz at Praterstern in Vienna from January to May 2022.
Duration: 18.08.2022 – 18.09.2022
Location: Friedrichsplatz
Video installation on ecological footprint
Karlsruhe-based media artist Jonas Denzel presents his interactive video installation footprint at the Regional Council building on Rondellplatz, which is a reflection on our ecological footprint. A camera captures the feet of visitors live. These images are abstracted, mirrored, and alienated. In the process, a simple image becomes a complex duplication. This is created by subjecting the live video recording to multiple reflections, whereby daylight influences the form and color of the installation. The outcome varies according to each person’s position and movements. The artwork was created with the generous support of innovation partner Bechtle GmbH Karlsruhe and the Werner Stober Foundation.
Duration: 29.08.2022 – 09.09.2022
Location: Regierungspräsidium at Rondellplatz
Light art work of globes
The Globenbogen is a work by light artist Rainer Kehres. It is an ellipse of internally illuminated globes that form an arch over the path leading to Karlsruhe Palace like a gateway of light. In 2019 Kehres installed a light art installation on the facade of the town hall to celebrate the City of Karlsruhe joining the UNESCO City of Media Arts network. He lives and works in Karlsruhe. His works have been presented at the ZKM as well as all over the world.
Duration: tbc
Location: Karl-Friedrich-Straße
Wall drawing on humanity and society
Ukrainian graphic designer and artist Alina Bukina continues her One Line series at the Intro Café on Kronenplatz. The continual element of the line runs through the café’s wall design, highlighting the importance of human connections and the horizontal structure of society in these difficult times. Right now, democratic values are more important than ever. This is what people are fighting for in her home country, Ukraine. With her wall drawing, she wants to rethink the café as a meeting place as well as its interior architecture with its twists and curves.
Duration: From 18.08.2022
Location: intro Café at Kronenplat
Coming together with robot handshake
In the Triangle Open Space on Kronenplatz, the installation Handshake by the group AATB (Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet) will be on display. It consists of two robotic arms, each equipped with an oversized hand. An associated website allows visitors to take control of the robots. The work offers users the opportunity to control a robot with ease that is usually utilized in industry. An interaction which is as simple as shaking hands with a friend on the other side of the world. Participants are paired up when they access the website. Each controls a robotic arm in their browser in real time via mouse or touchscreen. The object of the interaction is to shake hands, to touch each other. Via a live broadcast all visitors to the website can observe this interaction between the two robots in real time.
Duration: 18.08.2022 – 18.09.2022
Standort: Triangel Open Space
The value of faith
The world is bereft of true faith. We are left to our own devices, and they fail us. Nothing we invest in today brings us more than faint hope about our ability to understand our lives. The Temptation of St. Anthony (or Tony’s Troubles) by John Sanborn is a multichannel video and music installation that uses the biblical story of St. Anthony as the basis to explore the nature and value of faith. From his own hands, Tony can fashion the future. This new conviction is personal and deeply felt but distances him from society. He is considered a curiosity by some, and a danger by Sal (the Devil) — who tempts Tony with power, money, and sex to abandon his newfound faith and give his soul over to the trivia of life.
Duration: 31.08.2022 – 09.09.2022, Mon – Fri 8 am – 6 pm
Location: City hall at market place, foyer
Further information at www.cityofmediaarts.de
Press contact
Claudia Lahn
Stadt Karlsruhe, Kulturbüro
Tel.: 0721 133-4030
E-Mail: claudia.lahn@kultur.karlsruhe.de