interfiction

How do the de­ve­lop­ments in the area of di­gi­tal media af­fect our cul­tu­re? What are our pos­si­bi­li­ties to in­flu­ence these de­ve­lop­ments and to ac­tive­ly shape (media) cul­tu­res? What are the re­la­ti­ons of tech­no­lo­gic, ar­ti­s­tic, so­ci­al and po­li­ti­cal uto­pi­as and rea­li­ties in art and eve­r­y­day life, in sci­ence and so­cie­ty? Which con­nec­tions are there bet­ween the dif­fe­rent fiel­ds and cul­tu­res? And what do peop­le from dif­fe­rent di­sci­pli­nes learn from each other? Ques­ti­ons like these are ad­dres­sed and dealt with at in­ter­fic­tion, the work­shop-sym­po­si­um for art, media and net cul­tu­re. Each year we choo­se a spe­cial topic to take up the chal­len­ge.

In 2017 the in­ter­fic­tion con­fe­rence for art, media and net­work cul­tu­res in­vi­tes with lec­tu­res, pre­sen­ta­ti­ons and work­shop-ses­si­ons to go for *TOPIA! We are in­te­rested in new and old, fan­ta­stic, con­crete and real uto­pi­as and dys­to­pi­as. bio- and tech­noto­pi­as – and es­pe­cial­ly in how media can be used not only as dis­plays, but also as tools for con­cei­ving *TO­PI­AS, and for ma­king them be­co­me rea­li­ty.

Ar­tists, video- and film­ma­kers, de­si­gners, pro­gramm­ers and (h)ac­ti­vists, re­se­ar­chers in media and net­work cul­tu­res, and others in­te­rested in in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry ex­chan­ge are in­vi­ted to join the con­fe­rence and to dis­cuss their ideas and pro­jects. Mo­reo­ver, the in­ter­fic­tion DIY-Lab will offer op­por­tu­nities to test, to share and to de­ve­lop how-tos and know-how in prac­ti­ce as well.

Head of the sec­tion is Dr. Ve­re­na Kuni, pro­fes­sor for Vi­su­al Cul­tu­re at the Goe­the-Uni­ver­si­ty Frank­furt am Main.

Team 2017: Kars­ten Ass­hau­er, Mar­tin Dege & Ve­re­na Kuni

PRO­GRAM 2017 – in­ter­fic­tion *TOPIA!

Kas­sel, No­vem­ber 17-19, 2017
Me­di­en­pro­jekt­zen­trum Of­fe­ner Kanal, Kul­tur­Bahn­hof

FRI, Nov 17, 2017 / 7 p.m. / Of­fe­ner Kanal
Scree­ning: Harun Fa­ro­cki: Se­rious Games I – IV. 2009/2010. Video-In­stal­la­ti­on
Talk: Do we need fic­tion to crea­te rea­li­ty?
with Prof. Dr. Ve­re­na Kuni (Kunst-und Me­di­en­wis­sen­schaft­le­rin, Goe­the Uni­ver­si­tät Frank­furt a.M. / in­ter­fic­tion, Lei­tung) and Ju­dith Wald­mann (Kunst­his­to­ri­ke­rin / Mo­ni­to­ring, Aus­stel­lungs­lei­tung)

Both the ex­hi­bi­ti­on Mo­ni­to­ring and the work­shop-con­fe­rence in­ter­fic­tion are ad­dres­sing the ques­ti­on: Can fic­tions crea­te rea­li­ties?

Harun Fa­ro­cki's se­ri­es "Se­rious Games" is about the pre­pa­ra­ti­on and post-pro­ces­sing of mi­li­ta­ry ope­ra­ti­ons in vir­tu­al rea­li­ties. Within the safe space of a si­mu­la­ti­on sol­diers are en­abled to make ex­pe­ri­en­ces that are sup­po­sed to in­flu­ence their ac­tions and their be­ha­viour out­si­de the VR.

By ta­king the ex­ample of a game whose rules are set to make the play­ers for­get about the play­ing field and its bor­ders, the shiny pro­mi­se of a pre­pa­ra­ti­on for the fu­ture and the re-working of the past made pos­si­ble by the power of images and im­mer­si­ve media en­vi­ron­ments is put on the agen­da anew and cast in a ra­ther am­bi­guous light: uto­pia, dys­to­pia, al­ter­na­te rea­li­ty were yes­ter­day - wel­co­me to our pre­sent: fake it real!

Ve­re­na Kuni (in­ter­fic­tion), Ju­dith Wald­mann (Mo­ni­to­ring) and the Dok­fest are cor­di­al­ly in­vi­ting you to the scree­ning and dis­cus­sion of "Se­rious Games"!

SAT, Nov 18, 2017 / 10.00 a.m. / Of­fe­ner Kanal
SUN, Nov 19, 2017 / 11.00 a.m. / Of­fe­ner Kanal
Work­shop-se­mi­nar with lec­tu­res, pro­jects, pre­sen­ta­ti­ons, vi­de­os, dis­cus­sions, & DIY in­ter­fic­tion-Lab

Call for con­tri­bu­ti­ons and fur­ther in­for­ma­ti­on: www.​int​erfi​ctio​n.​org

Con­ta­ct: info@​int​erfi​ctio​n.​org

About in­ter­fic­tion

in­ter­fic­tion, a ye­ar­ly work­shop sym­po­si­um, has been part of the Kas­sel Do­cu­men­ta­ry Film and Video Fes­ti­val since 1995. As the in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry sec­tion of the fes­ti­val, in­ter­fic­tion’s aim is to bring to­ge­ther ar­tists and schol­ars, theo­rists and prac­ti­tio­ners in one event, in order to deal with the com­plex field of art, media and net cul­tu­re to­ge­ther. Every year there is a new topic of focus. Based on the pres­sing ques­ti­ons of the is­su­es, pro­jects and hy­po­the­sis are pre­sen­ted and dis­cus­sed, while work­shops and talks en­able a con­cen­tra­ted ex­chan­ge, which is sup­po­sed to lead to a de­eper re­flec­tion and show new per­spec­ti­ves.

in­ter­fic­tion is a forum for the ex­chan­ge, net­wor­king and co­ope­ra­ti­on of pro­du­cers of theo­ry prac­ti­ce. The main struc­tu­re of the event is re­flec­ted in the wish to func­tion as a “tem­po­r­a­ry la­bo­ra­to­ry” – not only a plat­form for ideas and pro­jects but to en­able a di­rect and pro­duc­ti­ve dis­cus­sion about ques­ti­ons and pro­blems which are es­sen­ti­al to the par­tici­pants.

Find fur­ther in­for­ma­ti­on about in­ter­fic­tion, as well as an ar­chi­ve of the past events at www.​int​erfi​ctio​n.​org.

Con­ta­ct: info@​int​erfi​ctio​n.​org