The upcoming edition of transmediale 2021–22 is titled for refusal, and led by new artistic director Nora O Murchú, has been redesigned to unfold over the course of a year. The programme takes place in multiple venues across Berlin, which also includes the festival’s first project space – transmediale studio.
The dilemma for refusal has regained urgency. Sometimes understood as a gesture of inaction or passivity, a refusal can equally be an insistence on an alternative or a demand for reform. The 34th edition of transmediale will examine the political agency of refusal and its generative possibilities.
“A refusal is an act that often carries with it both risk and promise – a refusal opens up possibilities for worlds that can and should be”, says O Murchú, artistic director of transmediale.
From small acts of refusal in everyday life to tender forms of resistance that can repair collective infrastructures, transmediale 2021–22 will explore the potential of refusal to re-shape socio-political conditions – from positions of hope, care and desire.
Over the past few months the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on arts and society, exacerbating inequalities, and highlighting the need for a more sustainable approach to cultural work. In response to these concerns, transmediale festival has been redesigned as a year-long event taking place online and in-person throughout Berlin. As a festival that is continuously engaged in the critique of the status quo and in experimenting with cultural formats, the festival aims to provide a platform that not only responds to the conditions of the pandemic, but also provides support for artists through a sustained engagement with artistic practices, and a slowing down of the nature of cultural work. The year-long festival begins 23 January 2021, with an exhibition across three venues in Berlin, and the launch of an evolving online programme on the festival’s website.
transmediale has moved: in September 2020, the transmediale office and studio relocated to Silent Green Kulturquartier in Wedding. For the first time in the festival’s history, transmediale will have a public project space, which will host parts of the festival programme throughout the year. transmediale operates under the artistic direction of O Murchú, at the side of long-time staff member Filippo Gianetta, who takes on the role of managing director. Also working with the festival this year are curators Ben Evans James and Lorena Juan, and a curatorial advisory group made up of Edna Bonhomme, Luiza Prado de O. Martins and Terence Sharpe.
transmediale is funded as a cultural institution of excellence by Kulturstiftung des Bundes since 2004. A full list of partners and supporters can be found on the transmediale website .