For transmediale’s 38th edition, (near) near but — far will form an understanding of how algorithms place us in weird proximities and new intimacies with one another and the qualities of closeness we lose by way of their machine-driven actions. Taking place at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and silent green Kulturquartier, transmediale 2025 will feature a weekend of extensive discourse and performance programme, and a series of workshops and working sessions as a prologue to the festival.

transmediale x CTM Evening Programme

Sister festivals transmediale and CTM come together this year for two shared performance programmes at HKW. Incorporating the latest developments in generative AI, A/V storytelling, and data sonification to explore a conflictual past, present and future, the works offer personal, critical, and speculative reflections on how AI is facilitating new understanding and intimacies with our histories, with the world around us, and with one another.

The two Synthesis evenings (31 Jan and 1 Feb) include performances by Portrait XO, Rick Farin & Actual Objects, ZULI and Hulubalang feat Brandon Tay.

In conjunction with the CTM x transmediale co-programming, we’re forging connections with even more artists together. Tati au Miel will bring their artistry to both transmediale and CTM, with a late-night DJ set at Alte Münze complementing their extensive participation at transmediale, that comprises a performance, a DJset, a screening, and talks. Researcher and artist Maurice Jones will span both festivals as well, leading the Wilding AI Lab, workshops, and discussions at CTM, alongside a transmediale workshop on the future of festivals.

↗ Tickets Synthesis 1
Portrait XO and Rick Farin & Actual Objects | 20:30, 31 Jan

↗ Tickets Synthesis 2
ZULI presents: Lambda and Hulubalang feat Brandon Tay | 20:30, 1 Feb

Marshall McLuhan Lecture

The annual Marshall McLuhan Lecture will be delivered by Cait McKinney under the title A Queer History of Blackouts. McKinney will be joined in conversation with Lindsey Freeman exploring how protest tactics were translated from the analogue to the digital and how marginalised communities leverage media technologies to build connections, share knowledge, and inspire collective action.

• 29.01.2025, 19:00  Marshall McLuhan Lecture 2025 with Cait McKinneyLindsey A. Freeman 

Purgatory EDIT -- Installation

Taking place at transmediale studio, Purgatory EDIT by Ali Akbar Mehta is a techno-mediated cyberperformance and installation based on the artist-assembled media archive containing 40,000+ entries representing forms of violence, conflict, and trauma. The installation will be on view 9 Jan – 2 Feb 2025. It is presented as part of ​the exhibition UnNatural Encounters.

UnNatural Encounters is a collaboration between silent green Kulturproduktionen GmbH and Co. KG with silent green Film Feld Forschung, European Media Art Platform and transmediale, and transmediale 2025 (near) near but — far. The exhibition presents ten specially selected works, where acoustic experiments, immersive landscapes and speculative visions of the future examine the complex relationships between people, technology and the environment. It will take place preceeding the festival, during the dates 9–19 Jan 2025 at Betonhalle silent green.