Impakt Festivals | curatorial proposals call

Impakt is calling for curatorial proposals for the Impakt Festivals in 2016 and 2017, taking place in Utrecht, Netherlands. The multi-media festivals focused on critical media culture propose the theme 'The Democratic Dilemma'.

The Impakt Festival is the annual culmination of Impakt’s activities as an organisation that focuses on critical media culture: a five-day, multi-media festival with conferences, talks, performances, screenings, exhibitions and presentations. Founded in 1988, the Impakt Festival takes place every autumn in the city of Utrecht (NL).

Curatorial proposals can be submitted by curators individually or collectively and should revolve around a single, main theme. There are two options for this call:

1. curators may propose a programme revolving around the theme The Democratic Dilemma, as outlined below.

2. curators may propose a new theme that deals with urgent questions and shifting paradigms in transglobal society, technology and the visual arts seen through media culture’s lens.

Outline of the suggested theme The Democratic Dilemma:
What exactly is democracy nowadays? In our times of global political turmoil, traditional politics are increasingly critiqued while digital technologies offer new tools of expression and organisation. The Impakt Festival will function as a platform to explore and discuss democracy’s current and near-future issues.

Is democracy the best possible political system? How can new technologies make democracy more transparent and improve the involvement and representation of citizens? Is a more direct democracy a better democracy, and can it be applied on a large scale? How about the risks of populism and the simplification of complex issues? How should a democracy deal with the rights of minorities and those who oppose democracy?

Impakt strongly calls for proposals that display an affinity with media culture, an interdisciplinary approach and a wide spectrum of views – avoiding an all-too-singular stance on the politics of the issues raised. The nature of proposed programmes and subjects can range from cultural archives, speculative futurist ideas, popular culture, new ideas about our digital landscape, to the Internet, off stream culture in visual arts, technology and thought-provoking academics.