Artists and scientists, video- and filmmakers, designers, programmers and (h)activists, researchers in media and network cultures, and others interested in interdisciplinary exchange are invited to join the conference, to discuss their ideas and projects, to share and to develop know-how both in theory and in practice.
Call for contributions and further information: www.interfiction.org
interfiction, a yearly workshop symposium, has been part of the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival since 1995. As the interdisciplinary section of the festival, interfiction’s aim is to bring together artists and scholars, theorists and practitioners in one event, in order to deal with the complex field of art, media and net culture together. Every year there is a new topic of focus. Based on the pressing questions of the issues, projects and hypothesis are presented and discussed, while workshops and talks enable a concentrated exchange, which is supposed to lead to a deeper reflection and show new perspectives.
interfiction is a forum for the exchange, networking and cooperation of producers of theory practice. The main structure of the event is reflected in the wish to function as a “temporary laboratory” – not only a platform for ideas and projects but to enable a direct and productive discussion about questions and problems which are essential to the participants.
Head of the section is Dr. Verena Kuni, professor for Visual Culture at the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main.
interfiction XXXII / 2025
NETWORK F(R)ICTIONS
… looking back to the future …
(… or: objects in the rear-view mirror are closer than they appear – yet at the same time, they may appear closer than they are…)
“Utopias and realities of public opposition in data networks”: The programmatic title of the first interfiction in 1995 sounds both historic and weirdly outdated – and at the same time highly topical today. Actually, a reference to Alexander Kluge’s and Oskar Negt’s critical thoughts on the impact of mass media on public spheres and the creation of counter-publics, it can remind us of the commitment of film and video makers to the related field that also has been foundational also for Kassel’s Documentary Film- and Video Festival. Yet in the recent high times of platform capitalism, looking at the gated communities and echo chambers of so called social media and lamenting the meanwhile also AI-fueled “enshittification of the internet” (Cory Doctorow) thinking of public opposition(s) beyond the notorious conspiracy bubbles of all kinds feels rather dystopian.
However, if what has been known as the internet, once praised for offering a brand new version of the universe’s invitation to “explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before” (OK, we immediately see the problem of settler colonialism disguised in sci-fi) has become a dead valley where bots dance the last waltz: where do we want to go today? Will we try a restart with Freifunk and pirate radio (yeah, free frequencies!)? What kind of networks are we really looking for? And what can we do to make them real?
This year's interfiction workshop-conference for art, media and network cultures takes a closer look at utopias and realities of networking in digital, analog and analogital networks: NETWORK F(R)ICTIONS...
Network-thinkers, -tinkerers and -makers, artists, writers and curators interested in interdisciplinary exchange on our focus topic are invited to join the conference and to discuss their ideas and projects. (Verena Kuni)