Numerous projects have been selected as part of the new Media Art Fund and Media Art Fellows funding programs. What do they all have in common? A cooperative mindset and the ambition to use media art and digital culture to examine current issues and developments in the fields of art, technology and society. In the second series of the podcast, journalist Sophie Emilie Beha wants to find out from the participants themselves what ideas and goals lie behind the projects by art and cultural institutions and initiatives from all over NRW. In behind the screens – behind the scenes, she talks to artists, curators and academics from NRW about topics that concern and affect them. They explore together: the essential, the hidden, points of friction and interfaces with society that can be found in the projects.

Episode 17: Ambiguity and unpredictability

In the new podcast episode with journalist Sophie Emilie Beha, Turkish author, curator and activist Aylime Aslı Demir, researcher Eva Liedtjens and performer Julia Nitschke talk about the collaborative project Ambiguity and Unpredictability: On Forms of Resistance and the Archiving of Queer Narratives at the Institute for Art and Art Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The research area that Aylime investigated during her stay in the Ruhr area as a media art fellow is integrated into the art studies sub-project of the DFG research group Ambiguity and Distinction. Historical-Cultural Dynamics under the direction of Prof. Dr. Gabriele Genge and with the collaboration of Eva Liedtjens. The discussion focused on queer perspectives and ambiguous concepts of temporality in contemporary art in Turkey, forms of resistance and the archiving of queer narratives as well as the exchange of experiences and artistic, curatorial practices in the context of archives and (in)visibilities. During her stay, Aylime made contact with local initiatives and institutionalized archives in order to develop new forms of networking with actors of queer (media) artistic and curatorial projects between the Ruhr area and Ankara. She now talks about her experiences with Eva, Julia and Sophie in the last episode of the series behind the screens – behind the scenes.

Aylime Aslı Demir is a curator and activist from Turkey. She studied public administration, political science and women’s studies. Since 2010, she has been working on editorial and curatorial projects that explore the politics and aesthetics of combining diverse knowledge in exhibitions and publications. She is the coordinator of the Academic and Cultural Studies Program and editor-in-chief of Kaos GL, the leading LGBTQ+ organization in Turkey. Demir has curated numerous international exhibitions. In 2019, she founded the Ankara International Queer Art Residency, which supports visual artists in their creative and research processes.

Eva Liedtjens is an art historian and cultural manager in Cologne. She has been working at the Institute for Art and Art Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2020. She is pursuing her dissertation project on Ottoman manuscript painting in contemporary art in Turkey at the TU Darmstadt in the Fashion and Aesthetics department. Since 2024 she has been a member of the working group Art Production and Art Theory in the Context of Global Migration at the Ulmer Verein für Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft e.V. Since 2008 she has been active in curation, art education (including the Istanbul Biennial, New Talents Biennial Cologne, documenta 14) and cultural management in the context of Turkey and Germany. In research and mediation, her focus is on transculturally situated art studies. In particular, she focuses on contemporary art in Turkey, queer-feminist positions and the appropriation of traditional art forms in the present. Since 2015, she has been chairwoman of the cultural association Neola art projects e.V. The association is committed to contemporary art and culture from Turkey and Germany and promotes cultural diversity.

Julia Nitschke is a performance artist and author. She studied scenic research at the Ruhr University Bochum. Her current work deals with the political memory of the past, both in queer-feminist and in familial post-eastern contexts. She is part of Grupa Mauczka, a collective that deals artistically with migration stories from Upper Silesia and Poland. Her work can be seen beyond the Ruhr region at the FFT Düsseldorf, Pathos Theater in Munich and Ringtheater Berlin, among others. She has also been invited by the Akademie der Künste Welt Köln and Urbane Künste Ruhr. In Bochum, Nitschke and other wonderful people run the atelier automatique, an off-space for the local art scene and a place for artists to work in solidarity. In 2023, Julia Nitschke completed her studies in curating in the scenic arts and is currently a scholarship holder of the Kunststiftung NRW for a research project on deep mapping historical narratives about Poland and Upper Silesia.

Sophie Emilie Beha is a multimedia music journalist. She works in various contexts, including music, text, language, curation, improvisation, dramaturgy and poetry. Sophie moderates festivals, concert launches, podcasts and panel discussions. She is also an author and presenter for various public broadcasters. She also curates interdisciplinary events, realizes transmedia compositions and works as a dramaturge for ensembles.
More about Sophie

Several projects have been selected as part of the new Media Art Fund and Media Art Fellows funding programmes. What do they all have in common? A co-operative mindset and the ambition to use media art and digital culture to investigate current issues and developments in the fields of art, technology and society. In the second series of the podcast, journalist Sophie Emilie Beha wants to find out from the people involved what other ideas and goals lie behind the projects of art and cultural institutions and initiatives from all over NRW. In behind the screens – behind the scenes, she talks to artists, curators and researchers from NRW about topics that concern and affect them. They conduct research together: into the essential, the hidden, points of friction and interfaces with society that can be found in the projects.

Episode 15: I AM YOUR BODY

How is sound perceived by those who do not hear it? How does one listen to something that cannot be heard? Sound is most often considered through the normalizing viewpoint of the non-deaf. If I become your body, what does sound become for me?

These are a few questions discussed in the new episode of the podcast “behind the screens – behind the scenes” by medienwerk.nrw. Journalist Sophie Emilie Beha talks with artist Marco Donnarumma about his project I Am Your Body. The project artistically and scientifically engages with the relation between sound, AI and the embodied knowledge enshrined in D/deaf and hard of hearing bodies. It originates from reflections on Marco’s own hearing condition and builds on his previous works with AI and robotics that investigated technology and body politics. “I Am Your Body“ is based on a collaborative process of artistic research with other d/Deaf people. A working group of D/deaf and hard-of-hearing people was selected through an open call. The group met in regular sessions and shared, analysed and collected personal accounts of their embodied experience of sound and technology.

As a result of this research, Marco Donnarumma presented a film installation and a performance and a round table with the Group participants and the public. This took place at PACT Zollverein in Essen, where he was residing as an artistic research fellow in 2023.

Download a transcript of this conversation here

Marco Donnarumma (DE / IT) is an artist, performer, stage director and theorist weaving together contemporary performance, new media art and interactive computer music since the early 2000s. He manipulates bodies, creates choreographies, engineers machines and composes sounds, thus combining disciplines, media and technology into an oneiric, sensual, uncompromising aesthetics. He is internationally acknowledged for solo performances, stage productions and installations that defy genres, and where the body becomes a morphing language to speak critically of ritual, power and technology.
More info about Marco Donnarumma

Founded in 2002, PACT Zollverein in Essen is a production house with a special focus on performing arts in relation to science, contemporary theory and social topics. The house initiates and promotes experimental, artistic and transdisciplinary forms of knowledge production. Within an international stage programme, PACT presents co-productions, premieres and guest performances and realizes discursive formats such as symposia and festivals in the platform area. As a residency venue, PACT is a central place of work and activity for international and local artists. Together with six other central institutions in Germany, PACT is a member of the Alliance of International Production Houses.
More info about PACT Zollverein

Sophie Emilie Beha is a multimedia music journalist. She works in various contexts, including music, text, language, curation, improvisation, dramaturgy and poetry. Sophie moderates festivals, concert introductions, podcasts and panel discussions. She is also an author and presenter for various public broadcasters. Furthermore, she curates interdisciplinary events, realizes transmedia compositions and works as a dramaturge for ensembles.
More about Sophie