30 Years ̶ 30 Voices

Video means time machine: To present positions and attitudes, assessments and analyses with a lack of ambiguity which is not possible in commercial TV. Video is another public space of art; it is the material with which, in twenty to fifty years, it will be possible to reconstruct our contemporary arts so that we can see what we wanted to do, what we were able to do and what we were not allowed to do”, as artist and art theorist Bazon Brock wrote in the catalogue of the 2nd Videonale in 1986.

Retrospektive 30 Years – 30 Voices
30 years, 14 Videonales and more than 1000 video works presented: How have video art, and the Videonale, as one of its first platforms, evolved during this period? This question will be addressed by the retrospective 30 Years – 30 Voices, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of Videonale Bonn. From the sheer abundance of works which could be seen at the Videonale during the last 30 years, 30 associates, friends, artists and organisers of the festival have put together a selection of works which they feel showed the way forward. These works will be presented in two parts in the Bonner Kunstverein (Bonn Art Association, 24.8.-5.10.2014) and the Kunstmuseum Bonn (at VIDEONALE.15: 27.2.-19.4.2015). These works will be presented in two parts in the Bonner Kunstverein (August 24 - Oktober 5, 2014) and at Kunstmuseum Bonn (during the VIDEONALE.15).

Find a selection hier.

Paneldiscussion in the Bonner Kunstverein
Part 1 in the foyer of Bonner Kunstverein was opened by Martin Schuhmacher (head of Bonn’s cultural affairs) and Tasja Langenbach (artistic director of Videonale) on Saturday, 23 August 2014 at 5pm. Following the official opening ceremony, a podium discussion with Bärbel Lohmüller (co-founder Videonale), Marcel Odenbach (artist), Annelie Pohlen (publicist) and Evamaria Schaller (artist), among others, examinated the theme “Video means time machine: Platforms for the moving image then/today”.

Following its first years in Galerie 41 and at various places in the old part of Bonn, Videonale had its home in the Bonner Kunstverein for over ten years. Since 2005 it has made use of the rooms of the Kunstmuseum Bonn every two years. Video art has arrived: with artists and institutions – and slowly but surely, also in the art market. In the meantime, it has caught up with the changes in the media, not just in their technical reproducibility – from tape to digital video file – and the challenges of their distribution – from TV to the internet, but has also established itself as a critical and entertaining commentator on artistic, medial, social and, frequently, personal situations in the sense of “what we wanted to do, what we were able to do and what we were not allowed to do.