The Uses of Media – Symposium on the State of Media Art

The Advisory Board supports the Executive Board and the Board of Trustees in all important cultural and scientific matters. Since the appointment of Alistair Hudson as scientific and artistic director, a new Advisory Board has been formed ­– chaired by Prof. Dr. Gesche Joost (UdK Berlin). To kick off the joint work, the symposium invites you to reassess the state of media art.

In 1957, in an era of cultural and technological change, the cultural sociologist Richard Hoggart published “The Uses of Literacy”, one of the foundational texts of media theory. In this book, Hoggart foreshadows the negative effects of mass media on relationships between communities. Now, in 2024, when this has become a reality and we are experiencing the polarization caused by media technologies, is there an possibility to repurpose these cultural tools to build a society worth living in?

Alistair Hudson poses the question as to how ZKM, an institution that brings together art and science for society, should position itself in the future within the new landscape of a larger global network of partners and practitioners. What might have been overlooked thus far, what could be blind spots, and with which global and local partners, people, and social groups should ZKM connect, and how can this be best achieved with which goals.
 

Program

The event will be broadcast online

Welcoming:
10:30 – 11:00 am
Alistair Hudson, Scientific-Artistic Director ZKM, and Prof. Dr. Gesche Joost, Chair ZKM Advisory Board, Professor for Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts and Head of Design Research Lab, Vice President of Goethe-Institut
Arne Braun, State Secretary, Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg
Dr. Dominika Szope, Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Karlsruhe

Advisory Board Statement on the Present and Future of Media Arts
11:00 am
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c.mult. Michael Resch
We, the World and the Digital

A Historical Review of ZKM and Its Program to Date
11:15 am – 12:30 pm
Margit Rosen (Collections, Archives & Research), Tina Lorenz (Artistic Research & Development), Philipp Ziegler (Curation), Dr. Anett Holzheid (Curation), Janine Burger (Mediation), Jens Lutz (Publications)
Where Have We Got To?

Lunch Break
12:30 – 01:30 pm

Advisory Board Statements on the Present and Future of Media Arts
01:30 pm
Prof. Dr. Gesche Joost
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

01:50 pm
Prof. Constanze Fischbeck
Shifting Paradigms

02:10 pm
José-Carlos Mariátegui, PhD
Alternative Cybernetics and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: An Approach towards a More Porous Media Art for the 21^st Century

02:30 pm
Charles Esche
Media Art and the 21st Century

02:50 pm
Valentino Catricalà, PhD
The Relationship between Art and Innovation

Coffee Break
03:15 – 04:00 pm

Advisory Board Statements on the Present and Future of Media Arts
04:00 pm
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth
The Connection between Technology, Art and Society and the Role of Museums in the Transformation of the Economy and Society

04:20 pm
Shannon Jackson, PhD
Video Art and Social Practice

04:40 pm
Stephen Wright
Contemporary Developments in Usology: Media Artists in the Forest and in the Field

Discussion and Summary
05:00 – 06:00 pm

With contributions from ZKM:
Janine Burger, Head of Museum Communications; Dr. Anett Holzheid, Scientific Curator; Tina Lorenz, Head of Artistic Research & Development "Hertzlab"; Jens Lutz, Head of Publications; Margit Rosen, Head of the Collection, Archives and Research Department; Philipp Ziegler, Head of the Curatorial Department
 
With contributions from the Advisory Board:
Dr. Valentino Catricalà (lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and curator at SODA Gallery Manchester)
Charles Esche (Museum Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, art theorist and writer)
Prof. Constanze Fischbeck (Acting Rector at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG))
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth (Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))
Prof. Dr. Shannon Jackson (Arts & Humanities Department, Chair of History of Art, and curator at the University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Dr. José-Carlos Mariátegui (Founder of Alta Tecnología Andina, Peru, London School of Economics, U.K.)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. mult. Michael Resch (Director of the High Performance Computing Center, Stuttgart)
Stephen Wright (Artistic Director, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart)
 
Moderators: Prof. Gesche Joost, Berlin University of the Arts, and Alistair Hudson, Scientific and Artistic Director, ZKM | Karlsruhe
 
The symposium is aimed at specialist colleagues and interested parties who are engaged with media art and its redefinition and would like to participate in the current discussions and developments in this field. Representatives of the media are also welcome to attend.