For media artists Sarah Degenhardt and Gerardo Nolasco-Rózsás, exciting and creative days lie ahead. In the space of a month they will each create a media artwork based on the online collaboration with two other artists who reside in different Cities of Media Arts.
Along with nine other Cities of Media Arts in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network — Austin, Braga, Calí, Changsha, Guadalajara, Košice, Sapporo, Viborg, and York — Karlsruhe’s Department of Cultural Affairs invited media artists in their city to submit proposals for projects. “We are really pleased about the level of interest shown by the international art scene in this contemporary and intercultural project,” said Dr. Susanne Asche, head of Karlsruhe’s Department of Cultural Affairs. “Media artists from all over the world responded. As a member of the international network of UNESCO Creative Cities of Media Arts we in Karlsruhe are delighted that two excellent media artists from our city are participating.”
Multimedia artist Sarah Degenhardt will create an artwork together with Portuguese sound artist João Carlos Costa Pinto from Braga. Multidisciplinary Mexican artist Gerardo Nolasco-Rózsás, based in Karlsruhe, will be working with artist Paris Díaz from Guadalajara, Mexico.“City to City is a very important initiative at a time when art is increasingly taking place in the digital sphere,” says Anastasia Ziegler, coordinator of the UNESCO City of Media Art at the Department of Cultural Affairs. “At a time when collaboration, sustainability, and exchange of ideas and knowledge are gaining in importance, we enable the sponsorship of creative ideas and thus explore new directions.”
Building Interdisciplinary Bridges to the Subject of Human Responsibility
Since the Industrial Revolution there has been continuing debate about how technological change influences the way we live as a society and shapes our relationship to our environment. The media artworks will reflect on and engage critically with the subject of Human Responsibility. Philipp Ziegler, member of the selection committee and head of the Curatorial Department at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe: “Digital technologies enable new networked forms of artistic collaboration, particularly in media art. Through engaging with topical issues, like the responsibility of humans for sustainable treatment of the Earth, new artistic approaches are developed across all boundaries.” The artworks will be presented internationally at the Košice Art & Tech Days as well as at other events and on the platforms of the Creative Cities participating.