THE ARTS+ 2021 in the Forum: STARTS Day, crypto art and LOOPs

This year’s B3 BEN Award goes to director Oliver Stone and others

With THE ARTS+, Frankfurter Buchmesse is once again making space for media art and moving images, for innovative media developments on the future of the creative industries worldwide. THE ARTS+ area can be found in the Forum, Level 0 from 20 to 24 October 2021.

B3 Biennial of the Moving Image has been a strategic partner of THE ARTS+ since 2018. This year, it will once again be showcasing selected entries from the programme of the B3 Moving Image Forum competition. For example, the Russian digital artist Faraday (Sergey Barabanschikoff) engages with the current hype surrounding so-called crypto art. In a work titled RUSSIAN DOLLS, he creates an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) series based on traditional matryoshka figures. In their fictious web series CTRL ALL DEL, students at Zurich’s University of the Arts take a look at climate change and a destroyed earth in the year 2091. In his animated series TACTILE PALACES, American artist Jonathan Monaghan illuminates the subconscious fears relating to technology and consumerism.     

The opening of B3 took place on 15 October in the Astor Film Lounge, an event that included the presentation of the B3 BEN Awards. In 2021, two artists from the international film scene were honoured: the American director and three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone and the filmmaker and author Hito Steyerl. Until 24 October, B3 will be offering all film, art and media professionals a platform for innovation, exchange and visibility.
 

MUNCH, Rich and Famous Films, TAICCA, Love for Livres, Jaktent, Kreativwirtschaft Hessen, SODEC and Telefilm Canada are also partners of THE ARTS+ 2021 and have likewise planned programme content for the Forum.

On 22 October 2021, the brand-new MUNCH Museum will open its doors on Oslo’s harbour promenade, showcasing the world’s largest collection of works by Edvard Munch. The museum will offer its visitors a completely new perspective on the artist’s life and art. At THE ARTS+, the cultural institution will be introducing itself.

In the Immenhof Movie Lounge, Rich and Famous Films will be showing the trailer and exclusive clips from Immenhof – Das große Versprechen (Immenhof – The Big Promise), the new entry in the Immenhof film series which will premiere in German cinemas on 6 January 2022. Several of the main cast (including Leia Holtwick, Moritz Bäckerling and Ella Päffgen) will be signing autographs at the Immenhof stand.
 

TAICCA (Taiwan Creative Content Agency) and the Taipei Book Fair Foundation will present “The Scent of Taiwan”. Aroma therapy expert M. June WEN has developed five scents from Taiwan’s native plants and trees that express fundamental elements of Taiwanese culture.

The objective of Love for Livres is both to motivate people to read and to create better lives and a better world by focusing on books. Combining fiction and neuroscience, the project helps young people who are socially disadvantaged or affected by health issues. Its ongoing development is supported by Europe Creative and Erasmus, two programmes funded by the European Commission.

Jakarta Content Week (Jaktent) is part of Indonesia’s vibrant cultural scene and will also put in an appearance at THE ARTS+. Organised by Yayasan Tujuhbelasribu Pulau Imaji (The Seventeen Thousand Islands of Imagination Foundation or YTPI) in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse, the international festival for creative content will be held in 2021 for the second time. Jakarta Content Week 2021 will take place in a hybrid format from 10 to 14 November 2021, welcoming an expected 20,000 participants from 68 countries, along with 400 speakers and 200 events. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, has announced she will attend, as will bestselling author Matt Haig.

Part of HA Hessen Agentur GmbH, the Kreativwirtschaft Hessen bureau is once again organising the collective stand at THE ARTS+ for Kreativwirtschaft Hessen on behalf of the state’s Economics Ministry. The organisers want to increase the visibility of the creative potential present in Hesse beyond the state’s borders while creating a space for interdisciplinary exchange. Participants will include Design to Business, Deutscher Designer Club, Hessen Design, Historisches Museum Frankfurt, RAY Fotografieprojekte, WI Bank and the Serious Games developers accitio, EduTecs, The Vatrix and H.O.P.E.

As part of Canada’s presence as 2021 Guest of Honour, Telefilm Canada and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec (SODEC) have organised a wide-ranging programme for THE ARTS+. One highlight is LOOP – an interactive art installation for the public, inspired by literature from Québec. The artwork consists of 12 giant cylinders in which visitors can use their own movements to animate a series of static figures. Supported by the government of Québec, LOOP is being presented in Frankfurt in cooperation with the NODE Forum for Digital Arts. ekumen.com/loop(opens in a new window)
The installation will be on display on the fairgrounds (20 – 24 October) and in the city at Rathenauplatz (20 October to 1 November).

Storytelling Innovations and Hybrid Experiences in the Digital Age
21 October, 1.00–2.00 pm, Frankfurt Studio Inside Publishing
At this panel discussion, the LOOP project will be presented and hybrid projects will be discussed that bring together artists from all disciplines (authors, illustrators, programmers, musicians, etc.). With: Olivier Girouard (LOOP inventor and founder of ekumen); Frédéric Gauthier (publisher and founder of La Pastèque); Kerstin Rabe (editorial director at Mixtvision) and Antoine Tanguay (publisher and founder of Éditions Alto); Moderator: Sarah Spring, executive director of the Documentary Organization of Canada.

Creating Cities
22 October, 2.00–6.00 pm, Mousonturm, Frankfurt am Main
Organised in cooperation with the Québec government’s Berlin office, the NODE Forum for Digital Arts, the Hessian Economics Ministry and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec (SODEC). Registration required at nodeforum.org(opens in a new window)

Québec Édition Stand
The collective stand for publishers from Québec – organised by Québec Édition. Québec Édition is a subsection of the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL), Québec and French-speaking Canada’s national association of book publishers.

Québec im Gepäck (video series)
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx27LqDY6gaFIhMaVpvfyGyzYcxRakeTB(opens in a new window)
An initiative of the publisher’s association Québec Édition, the video series “Québec im Gepäck” (Québec To Go) is supported by the Québec government’s Berlin office, the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec.
 

Un cœur nomade
10–24 October, Römerberg Square
Un cœur nomade uses text, images and sound to tell the life story of author Dany Laferrière. From his childhood in Haiti to his membership in the Académie Française in Paris, the exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in the world inhabited by this artist.
 

Telefilm Canada is responsible for the audiovisual portion of the cultural programming, in partnership with Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, Global Affairs Canada and Canada FBM2021.
Highlights from the audiovisual programming includes the Canada Film Centre’s Fiery Sparks of Light, an intimate and imaginative augmented reality (AR) poetry experience that spotlights Canadian poets Margaret Atwood, Nicole Brossard, Canisia Lubrin and Sarah Tolmie, and features holographic performances starting October 20, 2021 in Frankfurt, as well as A Crack in Everything, a virtual exhibition from MAC Montreal featuring an immersive selection of works that explores contemporary art through the vibrant lens of Leonard Cohen’s creative universe. Other highlights include A Wall is a Screen, from ImagiNATIVE in collaboration with the Vancouver International Film Festival and Festival REGARD, part walking tour, part short film screening; and Wapikoni Mobile, that will present three different programmes of Indigenous short films throughout the city of Frankfurt from October 16 to October 24, 2021. The full audiovisual programming is available on RDVCANADA.CA.
 

STARTS Day at Frankfurter Buchmesse 
On Friday, 22 October, Frankfurter Buchmesse will be organising STARTS Day for the first time. This year, Frankfurter Buchmesse became a partner for STARTS – an initiative of the European Commission whose goal is to link technology and artistic practice more closely. The focus is on people and projects that can help Europe overcome its social, environmental and economic challenges. On STARTS Day, ideas for responding to these issues from the worlds of art, technology and science will be presented at Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing.  
 

 Paths towards sustainability – Think global act local. 
Talk on the STARTS prize-winning project Remix el Barrio, 10.00–10.50 am
Remix el Barrio is the winner of the STARTS Grand Prize in the category “Innovative Collaboration”. This project investigates how artisanal techniques and digital processing can be used to create biomaterial products developed from food waste. Together with Oekom Verlag (Munich), the designers show the extent to which sustainable methods and trends have established themselves in the publishing industry. With: Anastasia Pistofidou (digital fabrication expert, wearables and e-textiles practitioner, biomaterial maker, and educator), Marion Real (systemic design researcher), Kajsa Schwerthöffer (Sustainability Manager, Oekom Verlag) and Kay Meseberg (Head of Innovation, ARTE). Moderator: Erin L. Cox (US-based publicist).
 

 The Growing Pavilion – sustainable building with biomaterials. 
Opportunities and challenges for tomorrow’s (stand)building projects, 11.00–11.45 am 
The talk on the project “The Growing Pavilion” (nominated for the 2021 STARTS Prize) provides an overview of the possibilities for building using bio-based and recycled materials. With: L Pascal Leboucq (Head of Design at Biobased Creations); Marije Remigius (senior project manager, Fiction Factory) and Prof. Jana Revedin (architect, architectural theorist and author). Moderator: Felix Zeltner (journalist, host of Remote Daily).
 

 Experiencing climate change through science, technology, and the arts: 
Oceans in Transformation, 2.00–2.45 pm  
How can rising sea levels, warming waters and the ocean’s changing chemistry be made visible? The project “Oceans in Transformation” aims to increase understanding of the relationship between human activity and the oceans. With: Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino (architects at Territorial Agency); Daniela Zyman (Artistic Director at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna); Moderator: Porter Anderson (editor-in-chief, Publishing Perspectives).

What are you going to see? Facial recognition, AI and machine learning – The human being in a world of data 
Artists Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti on their immersive experimental artwork “On View”, 3.00–3.30 pm 
When they are online, people are constantly exposed to different addictive interfaces, face-recognition technology and data capitalism. In the immersive artwork “On View”, the viewer also becomes a participant at the centre of the artistic experience who interacts in a virtual world – without knowing it. The experimental artwork “On View” sheds light on the things that remain hidden in unread fine print, leading to a discussion of the use of technologies such as AI and machine learning, as well as data protection, privacy and surveillance capitalism. With: Ania Catherine und Dejha Ti (artists). Moderator: Porter Anderson (editor-in-chief, Publishing Perspectives).