European Media Art Festival 2009: The Future Lasts Longer Than The Past

Category

Festival

Year

2009

Institution

EMAF-European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück

Comment

In 2009, the EMAF portrayed over 2000 years of media history with its large exhibition entitled “Image Battles” in cooperation with the Museum of Industrial Culture Osnabrück, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche and Erich Maria Remarque Peace Centre. In a critical or ironic manner, the works shed light on the consumerist and lifestyle character of the way in which wars are presented in the media, questioning their suggestive and manipulative potential.The lectures delivered at the EMAF congress also dealt with the subject of the exhibition entitled “Media Art and War”. Further central themes addressed were the bank/economic crisis and the conflicts between Israel and Palestine.In addition, the topic series “From Archive to Living Database” was launched.The film programme revealed a strong tendency towards performative, playful acting, as well as the interpretation of narrative subject matters. The retrospective focused on the American filmmakers Jordan Belson and Mary Ellen Bute. Belson began his career as a painter but from 1946 increasingly produced moving images. Mary Ellen Bute is a pioneer of visual music and electronic art who produced a number of short, abstract animations way back in the 1930s.