Given its divertive and affirmative nature, contemporary television calls for playing along – playing against the rules clearly goes against its grain. Media art, on the contrary, is characterized by genuine creativity and productivity: it renders representations and a critical framing of the modern world, and does so on its own terms, rather than submitting to modernity’s functional constraints. Media art boldly moves beyond mere depiction into the realm of utopian concepts, lending it an aesthetic quality and sincerity today’s television programs are lacking due to sheer negligence. Tapping the true potential of media is thus something television stands to gain from art. Then again, featuring media art on TV shows is a serious challenge in light of its complexity of subjects, content and means. However, media art cannot do without the publicity of television, much like television cannot pass on the opportunity to ponder itself, taking the cues and provocations that media art continues to deliver. So how can the two come together, and what can they learn from or ‘against’ each other? These and other questions, as well as possibly productive misunderstandings and ambivalent communications, will be discussed by protagonists from media art, program creation, the academic world and journalism.
Presentation: Dr. Sönke Dinkla, Festivalbüro Duisburg
Prof. Manfred Eichel, Universität der Künste, Berlin /
formerly Editor-in-Chief "aspekte", ZDF
Prof. Björn Mehlhus, Professor for Visual Arts / Virtual Realities, Kunsthochschule Kassel & Media Artist
Joachim Ortmanns, Managing Director, Lichtblick Filmproduktion, Cologne
Dr. Uwe Rüth, Director, Sculpture Museum Glaskasten, Marl
Gitta Severloh, Head of "titel, thesen, temperamente",
Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt/M
Cornelia Sollfrank, Media Artist, ("Net Art Generator"), Hamburg
Regina Wyrwoll, Secretary General, Kunststiftung NRW, Düsseldorf