Many other works were entered and exhibited, and installations at the workspace involved passing audiences.

“Share”, Club Transmediale

Club Transmediale proceeded through the week with relative restrain, featuring artists such as Schneider TM and Fennesz. Within the calm, however, existed a few intriguing projects, like “Share”. “Share” is a project that takes place every Sunday in Manhattan’s East Village and is a system for audio and video that allows many artists to play together across different rooms. A wireless network and free internet access encourage communication and collaboration, and the audio / video jam is then broadcast live online.

Maria’s Mao Lounge

This time the project is a two-day jam session at Maria’s Mao Lounge. Featuring not just laptops but a various selection of analogue instruments, the sounds get mixed and adjusted to keep the confusion in the space to a minimum. Visually, three walls are used to show various images, also mixed, and there are great moments where the sound and images come perfectly together.

Jamie Lidell

It’s the last weekend, and Friday featured live performances from Warp‘s Jamie Lidell and T. Raumschmiere, popular in Germany, too. Jamie Lidell, who I saw last year in Japan, gave a similar improvised-style performance with his human beat box and songs. It could be because I’ve seen it once before, and because that performance had been so intense, but I couldn’t help thinking that this time it was lacking force, like the monotonous loops that went on for a while half-way through the set. But still, Jamie Lidell will always be Jamie Lidell, and his style will always be original.

T. Raumschmiere

On the other hand, T. Raumschmiere’s sound must be familiar to the Berliners here, who simply seemed to be enjoying the punk-rock techno music. Though perhaps the artist himself was the one enjoying it the most….

By the last day, the 9 days of the festival has taken a toll on the staff and the venue seems a little tired and sad. H_kan Lidbo gives a not bad performance and SCSI9 gives a very good one, but sometimes, nothing will work.

ODD

Having said that, the Mao Lounge is as lively as ever, as the Japanese duo ODD give their all. Musically there is nothing new about their Japanese techno-pop, but their presence and wild party performance seems to have attracted and lifted the crowds.

It had been a long 9 days, and aside from the two festival venues, there have been other related events taking place across the city. It’s no secret that the ever developing technology has a profound effect on media art, but it is fun to see in events such as this how technology used everyday can be transformed. It also feels important that the trend of these developments can be seen in the span of once a year, and this Transmediale will surely change itself along with the technology and media art it represents.

Transmediale 04
Date: January 31st – February 4th, 2004
Place: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
https://www.transmediale.de