2005

A new main location (Kanaalstraat 9) created much more possibilities, so the 9th Media Art Friesland Festival could be bigger than ever before. This new location also led to new perspectives and insight.

The Media Art Friesland Festival is an important promoter of Dutch and international media art. In 2004 there were four exhibitions, in 2005 the number of exhibitions grew, five new locations were added to the festival: the TEM gallery/ NHL Leeuwarden, Boulevard/ CHN Leeuwarden, Academy for Pop Culture Leeuwarden, art gallery de Valk Harlingen and art gallery Sign in Groningen.

Media Art Friesland is not just a foundation that organises exhibitions, but is also a moderator and most of all initiator.

The Artist in Residence project was a great success. The collaboration with Arthouse Syb in Beesterzwaag gave the artists a place to work and live. The Minerva Academy and the Frank Mohr Institute took care of the facilities and the technical aspects. Rob Donkers (NL) and Hannah Talbot (UK) worked on their projects for six weeks, which they developed especially in the scope of “Friesland”. The many visitors and the press gave an external reflection on the project.

More than 250 entries from students and academies of 17 different countries were made for the International Student Media Art (ISMAF) Award.
For the first time it was a Dutch student who won the award: Willehad Eilers, student of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, with the work Elefantos.

For the Frisian students there is the Multi Media Art Friesland (MMAF) Award. Jelien Veentra of the Academy for Pop Culture won the award with her work “How do you feel?”.

New this year was the sound and performance programme Soundvision. Sound artists 0 ok, 0:1 (Harold Schellinx (F/NL) and Peter Mertens (NL)) organised a headphone concert in collaboration with Micheal Ebert (GER/F). For the first time in history there were live Podcasts. Via a wireless network sound artists in the Kanaalstraat or elsewhere in the world could participate and for seven hours they created a sound composition.

The exhibition Young Talent is the biggest media art exhibition of young artists of Dutch Academies of Art. The purpose of the exhibition is to offer young artist a steppingstone in an international context and network. Talent scouts can find their own favourite. Very proud are we of Sarah Barkmeijer, she developed a work for the exhibition Young Talent at the Kanaalstraat 9. In the smallest room in the building she made a light installation which offered a moment of peace and reflection in the stream of audiovisual images.

The film and video program Videosalon had the highest amount of visitors ever. Also the amount of works that were shown in the programme increased, a total of 110 audiovisual works from 44 different countries were presented. Frantic and extraordinary reactions came form the audience, but especially from the artists who were very happy with the content of the programming: a combination of works per theme of the Videosalon. A wonderful compliment.

The Computer Gallery, an exhibition of international Internet works, increased. A total of 12 artistic Internet experiences were selected.

The collaboration with the colleges of higher education were deepened and broadend; a new collaboration was made with the Academy for Pop Culture and the collaboration with the other academies was deepened. The Experience increased and was a wonderful audiovisual success. The Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden and the Christelijke Hogeschool Nederland took care of the practical and technical organisation of the Experience location.

Thanks to all these developments, the foundation is able to look back upon a very active and successful year. We want to thank the Frisian authorities, sponsors and donors, colleagues and volunteers for making all this progress possible.