(Berlin, transmediale.11) - On February 6th, 2011 transmediale.11, the international festival for digital art and culture in Berlin, came to a close. Over 200 participants from 30 countries, among them artists, media activists and researchers devoted themselves in 300 projects to the changes in an increasingly connected society “going live” in the digital age. Altogether, including all venues, from Haus der Kulturen der Welt to the Satellites, the festival attracted more than 30.000 visitors, a record number. On February 5th, 2011 the winners of three transmediale awards were announced at the Award Gala, one highlight of the festival. Members of the Indonesian media art laboratory, The House of Natural Fibre (HONF), were honoured with the transmediale Award 2011 for their installation Intelligent Bacteria – Saccaromyces cerevisiae, a visionary work in the context of a society shaped by ancient cultures and new technologies.
The American media artist and theorist Jordan Crandall won the Vilém Flusser Theory Award 2011 with his essay GATHERINGS 1: EVENT, AGENCY, AND PROGRAM. The Vilém Flusser Theory Award promotes innovative media theory and practice-oriented research exploring current and pending positions in digital art, media culture and networked society.
Paris based artist Evan Roth received the very first Open Web Award with his project Graffiti Analysis / Graffiti Markup Language for its use of open technologies, inciting collaborative methodology that clearly demonstrates the unbound potential of the open web in ways that can spark new thinking and practice. All three awards were endowed each with 5.000 Euro. By special request by Evan Roth the Open Web Award prize money was split among the three nominees.
Furthermore five works were honoured with a distinction: the German artist Christin Lahr for MACHT GESCHENKE: Das Kapital – Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie, the Italy-based artist duo Les Liens Invisibles for Seppukoo.com, the Brasilian-American interdisciplinary artist Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez with her piece Digital Anthropophagy and the Anthropophagic Re-Manifesto for the Digital Age, FLOSS Manuals with Booki and Telekommunisten with their software Thimbl – Decentralized Microblogging.
In 2012 the 25th anniversary of transmediale will be led by the Swedish media researcher and cultural producer Kristoffer Gansing as the new Artistic Director. Gansing will replace Stephen Kovats in this role, as he is moving on to new projects following transmediale after four years. The transmediale attracted mainly young international visitors and established an interdisciplinary and participatory stage for a critical discussion about the zeitgeist of digital art and culture.
