2009: my first Transmediale ever!
Topic: Deep North.

Mmmmh, was not sure about the trendy title but finally there is much more in this that I thought! Not the best exhibition display but some good works and very good debates. I never thought that a media art festival (usually used to be self-centered) could bring so much political, social and ecological engagement.

I will not reveal yet what exact direction it will make me take (but I can already say that I’m quite busy researching on generic architecture and activism in urban environment). However, I can already point at projects I saw there and that I really want to share (of course some received an award).

Michiko Nitta: Extreme Green Guerillas
This design project takes current green trends to the extreme. By proposing a community of people called “Extreme Green Guerillas” (E.G.G.), Michiko gives “a critical point of view on the current general green visions, because many green activities are used as a medium of consumerism.”

Therefore, she proposes extreme green solutions for sending messages (no emails, mobile phones or postal ways are allowed), eating (no CO2 footprints) and overpopulation (death at 40 years old).

Don’t forget: WE MUST NOT CONSUME WE MUST BE CONSUMED

Reynold Reynolds: Six apartment
This video project presents a view of six persons isolated in their own apartment with their own loneliness. A voice over of radio news talking about diseases and consequences of climate change is the only contact with the outside world, while these persons stand still in their own drift.

It makes of course echoes to our inability to act and our isolated lives in urban environment which (will) constitutes over to 80% of human environment.

Besides these projects, there is of course a lot more.. Just to give some names: HeHe with “Nuage Vert“, the “Tantalum Memorial” dedicated to the deaths caused by the Coltan war,…

Luckily, besides these serious issues, there was Club Transmediale! And the ArtKillArt party, and … well, welcome to the never ending festival!