Outlook
Karlsruhe considers itself a sustainably developing “Digitally Connected City of Media Arts” on a local and global level. In the coming years, the city will implement a number of newly conceived projects and further develop existing formats accordingly.
1. Media Art in Public Urban Spaces
Since the designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts in 2019, the city of Karlsruhe has been showcasing digital, interactive and virtual art in public urban spaces. The presentation of media artworks in urban spaces and the consequent promotion of media art in the public sphere is one of the most important measures as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts.
The Seasons of Media Arts Festival, which was launched in 2019, was rebranded and continued under the title Media art is here. From 2022 onwards, the annual exhibition will always take place in summer – parallel to the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELEN. The works on display will be funded and realised through the Project Funding Program. Both local and international artists are given the opportunity to benefit from this program. In addition, the experience of media art can be experienced individually and at any time thanks to its public accessibility, providing barrier-free cultural education that promotes the topic of media art both in Karlsruhe and beyond.
The SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival, which has been an integral part of the cultural summer program in Karlsruhe since 2015, is to be continued and expanded as a flagship of media art events. The event is seen as a suitable vehicle for bringing both citizens and tourists into contact with the topic of media art. The cost-free and barrier-free accessibility of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE allows them to be experienced by everyone.
2. Promotion of Innovative and Collaborative Media Art Projects on Different Local Platforms
As part of the new funding period from 2024, the City of Karlsruhe will support and initiate various projects in cooperation with local partners.
Once a year, local artists will be able to apply with project proposals for a media artwork to be exhibited in a central presentation space at art KARLSRUHE. In addition to an artist’s fee, the selected person/group will receive a grant of € 10,000.
A new cooperation with the Hoepfner Foundation will be established from 2024: Karlsruhe-based media artists can apply for a residency in the new production and exhibition space Studio Höe for a period of 10 months. The residency includes a grant of € 10,000 and € 10,000 for production costs.
The aim in both cases is to enable artistic projects that use media art to have a higher visibility in the public sphere by supporting local media artists, both financially and by providing production and exhibition spaces, resources as well as digital platforms.
An annual interdisciplinary project funding budget of € 25,000 will also be available over the next few years. This funding can be used to support media art projects that fulfil the general funding conditions of the City of Karlsruhe. This funding is provided without a specified application period.
Close collaboration with students and off-spaces in Karlsruhe as well as strengthening relationships with local contacts is also a key pillar in the promotion of young talent and support for the established independent scene. Students at the Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Arts and Design (HfG) can be seen as driving forces of cultural and artistic production in Karlsruhe, who not only regularly receive funding, but also act as ambassadors to the outside world and their networks. The high density of the off-space scene in Karlsruhe offers the opportunity to promote the field of media art more strongly outside the institutional sector through more intensive cooperation and to anchor media art in general in the consciousness of the citizens and beyond the city limits.
3. Urban Development through Cultural and Creative Industries
As a booming IT location, Karlsruhe has an excellent and broad-based reseau of universities and research as well as cultural and creative industries that address cross-cutting topics in the field of media art. In recent years, the UNESCO City of Media Arts Office has worked together with companies from the cultural and creative industries on various projects that have enabled media art presentations and other interdisciplinary projects. As a crosscutting measure, it is planned to give a further boost to cultural and creative industries.
The comprehensive remodelling of Karlsruhe’s Kaiserstraße began in April 2023. As part of this measure, Karlsruhe city centre is to be made more attractive, and the creation of new spaces will also enable the presentation of media artworks in public spaces.
There are also plans for an artistic redesign in the Kaiserpassage area. In co-operation with the Kulturhaus Karlsruhe, a new cultural area is being created here, which promises an increased quality of stay. The neighbouring area in Kaiserstraße is already being used for the presentation of media artworks by SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE and Media art is here and is to be increasingly used for media art projects in the coming years.
Another measure for sustainable and social urban development was the creation of two laboratories in the Passagehof and Nördliche Kaiserstraße in summer and autumn 2022, during which several light and media artworks curated by the UNESCO City of Media Arts Office were presented. Based on the insights gained, the Passagehof became a pedestrian zone from September 2023 with floor painting and many opportunities to linger. Further options for transforming the area of Nördliche Karlstraße are currently being discussed and evaluated.
4. Expansion and Intensification of International Networking, Exchange and Collaboration
The City of Karlsruhe will continue to provide special funding for international network activities. With this support, the City aims to intensify international networking, exchange and collaboration between the network partners in the field of media art.
In 2020, the internationally award-winning project City to City was launched by the Media Arts Cluster as a response to the pandemic to support artists in their difficult period of inactivity. Selected artists were able to create a digital artwork as part of a three-month artistic collaboration on an international level.
Following the successful realisation of two international and collaborative artworks, the City to City project was continued in 2023 between Karlsruhe and Cali, Colombia. Since then, the Cali x Karlsruhe exchange project has enabled two artists from both Creative Cities to participate in an artist residency, which takes place annually, as well as presentations of the resulting artworks in both cities.
With the CULT: Modena x Karlsruhe project, a citizens’ exchange with the equally young City of Media Arts Modena is being planned from 2024. Not only artists and cultural professionals, but also young citizens and interested participants from both cities can register for the cultural exchange and thus gain an insight into the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the two cities in relation to media art.
5. Funding of International Media Art Projects
On the occasion of the designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, the City of Karlsruhe created a new funding program for media art projects and international networking activities with a total annual volume of € 100,000. Within the framework of the Project Funding Program for Media Art, the City of Karlsruhe supports media art projects that use the possibilities of media art to offer perspectives on contemporary social issues and enrich the field of media art, especially for viewers and interactors in the city. International exchange, cooperation and interdisciplinarity are the focus of this annual call for proposals. Since 2024, the Project Funding Program for Media Art is not only open for local but also for international artists, cultural professionals and institutions.
From 2024 onwards, the dm Award connecting worlds will be rewarded to an outstanding project, that connects the digital and analogue space and carries the projection mappings from the façade of the palace to the city center. The open call is an internationally announced award, for which artists or artist groups from all around the world can apply for. connecting worlds is awarded with a prize of € 10,000. In addition to the prize, the production costs of the winning project will also be supported financially with up to € 20,000.
6. Hosting of the Media Arts Cluster Meeting in Karlsruhe in 2029
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the designation of Karlsruhe as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, as well as 15 years SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE and 40 years ZKM I Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe wants to host the annual Media Arts Cluster Meeting in 2029. This annual meeting is a great opportunity for the member cities to share their experiences, current projects, and main challenges in the development of their praxis as Media Art Cities.
The main goal is to make all ongoing activities as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts visible both within the network and to a wider audience (through media coverage at local, national and international level) as well as to enable the initiation of new projects and collaborations.
During these days it is in Karlsruhe’s best interest to share with the delegations attending the meeting a glimpse of the city’s creative power through a series of activities specially planned for this occasion. In cooperation with our local partners and the national Creative Cities, an extensive supporting program with media art exhibitions, projection mapping shows, lectures, workshops and networking sessions will be put together.