‘ZERO KILLED’ @ VIDEONALE.14 – FESTIVAL FOR CONTEMPORARY VIDEO ART

‘Zero Killed’ has been selected to be presented at the 14th Videonale from February 15 to April 7, 2013 at Kunstmuseum Bonn. The opening reception for VIDEONALE.14 will take place on

Thursday, February 14, 2013, at 8 pm @ Kunstmuseum Bonn

and will be followed by three extensive festival days (Fri, Feb 15 through Sun, Feb 17, 2013) with lectures, (artist) talks, performances and the Videonale party.

VIDEONALE.14 – Festival for Contemporary Video Art
VIDEONALE.14 – Zero Killed

The young man with the gun knows no mercy – Michal Kosakowski transfers the murder fantasies of his interview partner into a fictional portrayal. The resulting work, “Zero Killed”, is a challenge to the moral principles of the viewer. This video work is an example of how media art currently explores new documentary techniques and is one of the 41 positions on display at VIDEONALE.14 in the Kunstmuseum Bonn.

The Videonale was founded in 1984 and is one of the oldest video art festivals in the world.

The record number of submissions of the previous Videonale was once again exceeded: The jury of the 14th edition had to sift through more than 2100 works from 70 countries.

“The investigation of private histories, but also of collective memories, crosses the boundaries between reality and fiction in order to examine the subject of the story from various sides. Dramatic mixed forms result which, with new, open ways of telling a story, cast their spell over the viewer”, says Tasja Langenbach, artistic director of VIDEONALE.14.

In “like rats leaving a sinking ship”, a highly personal collage of visual and acoustical documents, Vika Kirchenbauer, who frequently poses questions about identity, gender, feminism and political activity in her works, pursues her own search for identity as a transgender. In “Slideshow Johnny”, Martin Skauen investigates the blurred borders of identity: with sombre poetry and surreal performances he pushes the possibilities of artistic self-portrayal to its very limits. And in “In free fall”, Hito Steyerl merges the life cycle of an aircraft with personal stories and fictional elements to produce a criticism of the dynamic of the capitalistic system.

But also the past of the almost 30 year old Videonale is reflected in this year’s selection: Besides numerous interesting artists of the younger generation, well known names like Frances Scholz, Christian Jankowski, Meena Nanji and Melanie Manchot are found once more.

”Works which differ greatly can be found: tranquil ones which take their time – both documentaries and ones with strongly narrative elements; but also a large number of short clips which emphasise sound and are characterised by their rhythm, by a rapid collage of different pictorial elements”, says Heike Ander, curator of the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (Academy of Media Arts Cologne) and member of the jury.

The Jury comprised Heike Ander (curator of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne), Katerina Valdivia Bruch (freelance curator and art critic, Berlin), Keren Cytter (artist, Berlin), Philipp Fürnkäs (curator and author, Dusseldorf), Jennifer Gassmann (project manager /festival programme VIDEONALE.14, Bonn), Tasja Langenbach (artistic director of VIDEONALE.14, Bonn), Rolf Quaghebeur (director of Argos centre for art & media Brussels), Sabine Maria Schmidt (curator and author, Düsseldorf), Olaf Stüber (publisher, curator of Videoart at Midnight, Berlin).

The exhibition architecture of VIDEONALE.14 will be the work of Julia Büchel, Hochschule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel College of Art and Design), Masterstudio Design (supervised by Prof. Andreas Wenger).

Artists showing at VIDEONALE.14:

Sergio Belinchon, Helen Benigson, Bigert & Bergström, Mariola Brillowska, Jasper van der Brink & Yasmijn Karhof, Elkin Calderón, Monica Cook, Eli Cortiñas, Tanja Deman, Bettina Disler, Charles Fairbanks, Toby Huddlestone, Yuk-Yiu IP, Christian Jankowski, Mikhail Karikis & Uriel Orlow, Laleh Khorramian, Vika Kirchenbauer, Aglaia Konrad, Michal Kosakowski, Daniel Kötter, Clemens Krauss, Robert-Jan Lacombe, Daniel Laufer, Chang-Jun Lee, Mauricio Limon, Melanie Manchot, Dani Marti, Agnes Meyer-Brandis, Meena Nanji, Florin Tudor & Mona Vatamanu, Evamaria Schaller, Frances Scholz, Lina Selander, Martin Skauen, Gabriele Stellbaum, Hito Steyerl, Jon Thomson & Alison Craighead, Arthur Tuoto, Bridget Walker, Gernot Wieland, Tobias Yves Zintel.

At the opening ceremony of VIDEONALE.14 on February 14 2013, the KfW Videonale Prize, worth 5,000 euros, will be awarded to an outstanding artistic work. For the fifth time in succession, the KfW Bank Group is the main sponsor of Videonale Bonn: “It is noteworthy that many of the submissions to VIDEONALE.14 are internet and YouTube works which deal with current and also political themes. Here the attempt is being made to transform the reality of television and pictures from the news into artistic works – an approach which mirrors the early days of video art under new conditions. We are delighted to support Videonale in this exciting phase of changing artistic aesthetics”, declares Dr Günther Bräunig, chairman of the board of directors of the KfW Bank Group.

VIDEONALE.14 is supported by: The City of Bonn; the Ministry for Families, Children, Youth, Culture and Sports of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; the Arts Foundation NRW; the Art Foundation of the Sparkasse Bonn; ifa- Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for Foreign Relations); PwC- Stiftung Jugend-Bildung-Kultur; Rheinenergie Stiftung Kultur and the Medienstiftung Kultur.

VIDEONALE.14 is sponsored by: KfW Bank Group as main sponsor, cine plus (technology sponsor), Kameha Grand Bonn (preferred hotel partner), Deutsche Post DHL.