VIDEONALE.16

PERFORM! was the theme of the competition and festival program of the VIDEONALE.16 – Festival for Video and Time-Based Arts. In its earliest forms, performance as an artistic gesture was an act of liberation – a rejection of the role models and expectations of the art establishment. Yet today, performance has increasingly come to stand not for freedom of expression, but rather, for the imperative to act. Be it through our constant interaction with digital devices, within which we leave behind traces of ourselves; or through the relentless demand placed on individuals to present themselves online, and to optimize themselves as economic subjects – in all of these ways, our lives, whether consciously or unconsciously, have become ongoing performances. Our movements increasingly take the form of choreographed displays in public spaces, over which we have only limited control.

This implies, on the one hand, constellations of control and compulsion; and yet on the other hand, it signals entirely new possibilities for participation in social, political and artistic processes, as well as new forms of interaction, communication and manipulation, all of which can be put to creative use. In the process, the borders between real and virtual space, performer and audience, the observer and the observed are becoming increasingly blurred. How does this influence our relationships and communication, our interaction as social and political subjects, our actions in the public sphere? How does the performative imperative alter our perception of our own bodies and minds? When are we performers, when the audience, when our own choreographers? When is performance simply another word for conformity, control and reaction? And finally: under what circumstances can performance still be an expression of experimental, creative and, occasionally, subversive action?

VIDEONALE.16 Artists
Maria Antelman, Ale Bachlechner, Miriam Bajtala, Cooper Battersby & Emily Vey Duke, Jasmin Bigler & Nicole Weibel, Jared Buckhiester & Dani (Leventhal) ReStack, Jasmina Cibic, Yao Cong, Anita Delaney, An van. Dienderen, Jan Dietvorst & Roy Villevoye, Lisa Domin, Doplgenger, Teboho Edkins, Lotte Meret Effinger, Kevin Jerome Everson, Alex Gerbaulet, Miriam Gossing & Lina Sieckmann, Max Grau, Shadi Harouni, Louis Henderson, Vika Kirchenbauer, Sabrina Labis, Alwin Lay, Erik Levine, Randa Maroufi, Jennifer Mattes, Stefan Panhans, Lucy Pawlak, Benjamin Ramírez Pérez, Stefan Ramírez Pérez, Rachel Rampleman, Steve Reinke, Michael Robinson, Julia Scher, Sanaz Sohrabi, Moritz Uebele, Anna Vasof, Philip Widmann, Susanne Wiegner, Felix Zilles-Perels, Moira Zoitl

Competition Jury
Alexander Basile (artist, Cologne), Dr. Julia Draganovic (director Kunsthalle Osnabrück), Katrin Mundt (curator, Bochum), Tasja Langenbach (artistic director Videonale), Tobias Yves Zintel (artist, Berlin/Cologne), Nicole Yip (director, LUX Scotland)

Award Jury
Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg (director Kunstmuseum Bonn), Markus Hannebauer (fluentum Collection), Stefanie Kreuzer (curator Museum Morsbroich), Shelly Nadashi (artist, Brüssel, VIDEONALE.16 Award winner), Thomas Thiel (director Bielefelder Kunstverein)

Artistic director
Tasja Langenbach

Festival website
v16.videonale.org

Images:

VIDEONALE.16 catalogue cover, 2021. © Videonale

VIDEONALE.16 opening, 2017, Kunstmuseum Bonn. © Videonale / Photo: David Ertl

VIDEONALE.16 exhibition views, 2017, Kunstmuseum Bonn. © Videonale