Zehn Jahre Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst

Speakers

Martin Schumacher, Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Oldenburg
Dr. Annette Schwandner, Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture
Joachim Werren, Secretary General of the Lower Saxony Foundation
Dr. Helene von Oldenburg, 1st Chairwoman, Society for the Promotion of Media Art
Sabine Himmelsbach, Director Edith Russ House for Media Art

Afterwards:
Dance performance Monologue (2008) by Chen Yun-Ju
and
Concert Erratic Flow (2009) by Daisuke Ishida

The Edith Russ House for Media Art celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2010 on the birthday of its benefactor Edith Russ. She bequeathed her fortune to the city of Oldenburg in 1993 with the stipulation that a "house for the arts" be built, which was to be a place for "art in transition to the new millennium." In the years that followed, the concept of a house for media art grew, mediated in exhibitions and supported by visiting fellowships. Thanks to funding from the Lower Saxony Foundation, three new artistic projects in the field of media art can be realized in Oldenburg every year. In an average of four to five exhibitions per year, in numerous events and through diverse cooperations, the Edith Russ House for Media Art presents the still young history of this art movement and introduces its current development and new approaches. The Edith Russ House is one of the few houses in Germany that is explicitly dedicated to media art. Its international reputation shows how right the founder and founders were in their decision to provide a forum for media art in Oldenburg.

The first ten years of the Edith Russ House's work will be celebrated and honored with a grand ceremony. In keeping with the occasion, there will then be two special program items, each of which has to do with the specific approach of the house.

First, the Taiwanese media artist Chen Yun-Ju will give the German premiere of her dance performance Monologue (2008) with two dancers from Taiwan. The content of this performance refers to diaries of women, formally to the Chinese character system Nu Shu, which is only used by women. The movements of the dancers are directly transferred into graphic sequences, which become visible as a projection behind the dancers. Chen Yun-Ju is the first Taiwanese artist to take up the scholarship of the Digital Art Center Taipei at the Edith Russ House for Media Art, which was established with the support of the Goethe-Institut Taiwan to realize a new project in the field of media art.

Daisuke Ishida was a scholarship holder of the Foundation of Lower Saxony at the Edith Russ House in 2009 as a member of the Japanese Sine Wave Orchestra and will perform his concert Erratic Flow (2009) in the field of electronic music as a solo artist.

Both program points of the anniversary evening thus also represent the intensive work with scholarship holders who, as guest artists, integrate specific Oldenburg suggestions into a new project of media art, but who, to the same extent, have an effect back on the Oldenburg art scene.

There will be a repetition of the dance performance and concert on Saturday, January 23, at 7 p.m. in the Edith Russ House.