You never know what to expect when the programme briefing of a festival involves watching a Boyz II Men track slowed down and warped, but Transmediale couldn't have come at a better time. The festival followed the arrest of German born Kim Dot Com (the founder of file sharing website Mega Upload) who is now being tried in the New Zealand High Court. Transmediale is a week long event engaging discussions between art, technology and culture. Transmediale is a transdisciplinary platform, a place for new artistic, academic, activist and everyday expressions.
Forums invited guests to discuss and share views on distribution models. In the age of information what's so wrong about sharing and why is it impossible to access so many music videos on Youtube in Germany? GEMA the agency which manages copyrights couldn't reach a deal with Youtube on the price of streaming, which means they're just not available.
Formerly linked with Berlinale, Transmediale had a selection of Arab short films. The Berlinale programme also featured films about the Arab, and Muslim worlds. Films looking at the Arab Spring also feature on the Berlin University of Arts programme.
Otherwise Transmediale didn't fail to surprise and interest with it's random offerings and political position. A man gave away the contents of his apartment one object at a time in a transaction where he asked recipients to
watch this video. He said the video explained why he was dismissed from his last job as a teacher. And a stage set up with four microwaves burning objects had a crowd of hundreds captivated for over an hour.
Before a performance by the Joshua Lightshow we were requested to keep the experience true to the '60s and keep smart phones away. "No live streaming, no audio, and no video". Delivering that message to a room full of bloggers was funny but made for a better performance. Watching it live on what was probably the biggest overhead projector in the world can't be accurately represented on
youtube. Several musicians and groups were invited to interpret/reinterpret their amazing analogue visuals created with oils and liquids over a couple nights.
And it helped that topics were addressed without being overintellectualised. Transmediale showed the many ways of storytelling and protest which can be successful and insightful into the worlds problem's (on and offline). We hope the festival continues to mash up mediums, and challenge our expectations by presenting all manner of works in the future.
By
Jonathan Brooking and
Sahar Lone
