Mediale Kunst Zürich. 13 Positionen

Arts Zurich: 13 Positions from the Department of New Media

Scheidegger Und Spiess Ag Verlag, Germany
Hardcover, 204 pages, 400 color plates, with PAL-format DVD, 7-1/2 x 9-1/2
2008
Deutsch, English
With Essays by Inke Arns, Andreas Broeckmann, and Giaco Schiesser and Photographs by Schaub Stierli
ISBN-10: 3-85881-210-2 / 3858812102, ISBN-13: 978-3-85881-210-0 / 9783858812100

Mediale Kunst Zürich: 13 Positionen aus dem Studienbereich Neue Medien / Media Arts Zurich: 13 Positions from the Department of New Media (English and German Edition)

Media art is one of the most exciting experimental fields to emerge in contemporary art in recent years—and yet its innovations have been sparsely documented. Media Arts Zurich, the third yearbook published by the Department New Media at the newly founded Zurich University of the Arts, seeks to fill this gap, offering an illuminating overview of the Swiss media art scene of the past decade. This book examines the varying approaches, techniques, and strategies of acclaimed media artists as well as the public reception of their work.
Accompanied by a companion DVD in PAL format and 400 lavish illustrations, this volume presents thirteen individual artists and groups in the context of their backgrounds, exhibitions, and the state of European media art. Two essays by art and media historians here position these Swiss media artists in the international art world and document the first ten years and visions for the future of the media art program at the Zurich University of the Arts and its predecessor, the School of Art and Design Zurich. Richly illustrated and deeply informed, Media Arts Zurich points the way to a new European avant-garde.
A yearbook published by the Department of Art & Media at the Zurich University of the Arts details the support given to the young generation of media artists trained at the institution. This is a lavish product, designed to help promote talented work (and also, therefore, the school) through a combination of short descriptive texts, lots of pictures and a DVD. We are presented with work from 13 artists in total (Valentina Vuksic, André Gwerder, Marc Lee, Lea Filodoro, Andalus, Markus von Glasenapp, Sven König, Annina Rüst, Meriem Bouhara, iMediengruppe Bitnik, Mario Purkathofer, Fabian Voegeli, Roland Roos), some of whom have already been able to establish their name internationally. This yearbook provides an opportunity to survey new media from a generational standpoint, and raises questions about whether there are any commonalities among this young Swiss group. One immediate answer to this focuses on the idea of the choices of specific medias. Moreover, we are presented with works that look at the technical limits and possibilities of various media, and which explore their relationship with social environments and rules. Inke Arns (a member of the teaching staff) frames the current artistic development in terms of being post-medium (which will hopefully help promote the notion of the redundancy of the term ‘new’ in ‘new media’) and stresses the importance of a critical and tactical evaluation of tools used. Andreas Broeckmann, in one of his “Seven short essays on art and media”, reinforces this position affirming that “Even though this art uses digital technological means, it is a mode of experience that takes us to the limits of perception, sensitivity and thought”. And both are simply on the right track.

Vorwort/Preface
Giaco Schiesser

Uber Zeitgenossenschaft: Die medialen Künste im Zeitalter ihrer postmedialen Kondition/On Contemporaneity: The media arts in the age of their post-modern condition
Inke Arns

Sieben Exkurse zu den medialen Künsten/Seven Short Essays on Art and Media
Andreas Broeckmann

Positionen/Positions 1-13
Künstler*innen
Valentina Vuksic, Andre Gwerder, Marc Lee, Lea Filadoro, Andalus, Markus von Glasenapp, Sven Konig, Annina Rüst, Meriem Bouhara, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Mario Purkathofer, Fabian Voegeli, Roland Roos