23 February 2013 /2017

The W:OW Project
The W:OW Art Film & Video Festival

The W:OW Project is dealing thematically with the Present and Future of planet Earth under the influence of the human species. WE ARE ONE WORLD is not just another artistic
topic, it is the complex reality and at the same time an Utopia that matters.
The „world“ is not just planet Earth as an all encompassing whole, but also the „world“ in terms of the environment or place the individual is living in: family, circle of friends, society, city,
region, country or continent, or other sortlike unities marking the individual and collective identity, their relation between each other, and the responsibility of the individual for each other and the Whole.

THE W:OW PROJECT, respectively THE W:OW ART FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL

initiated by artvideoKOELN & The New Museum, of Networked Art – directed by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne – is representing such a sample world on a small scale, in which artists, curators and
worldwide networking partners and, not to forget, the audience are acting in mutual respect, demonstrating the diversity of artistic and curatorial concepts. The festival project is consisting of three (3) basic program components, the general festival selection, the contributions by invited curators from all over the world and curated selections from associated art film collections like artvideoKOELN Collections,The Refugee Film Collection or Collective Trauma Film Collections, they form the fundament for a wide range of presentation formats like screening, projection and installation (exhibition). According to its concept, the W:OW Project – incorporating different levels on a local and global scale – will manifest at many venues all over the world,

Before the official launch of The W:OW Project in 2018, The W:OW Art Film & Video Festival has been presented in 2017 in different constellations in India (Kolkata & Kochi Muziris Biennial Kerala), Ecuador (Quito), Brazil (Belo Horizonte), Greece (Athens), Cyprus (Nikosia), Venezuela (Caracas) & Ethiopia (Addis Abeba).

More about the
W:OW Point of View
The official program

Program 1

Curatorial statement
The selection Focus/Asia includes artists from Western and Eastern areas of Asia, eg. Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Iran -Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Philippines and Japan. The very short „moving images“ use a common pictorial language which is characterized by individual aesthetics and philosophical concepts –Ying and Yang are nearly in harmony, wouldn’t be there a typical subtle criticism, which does not accuse, however –abstractly transformed into symbols and metaphores which need to be decoded first. Differently than the familiar narratives of a short or features film, these videos start a process or even multiple processes, but do not complete them -leaving the viewer in confusion inviting him to complete the process via reflecting. In this way, each video is incorprating a kind of interactive component. The presentation format in shape of a screening giving the viewer only one chance to view requires a particular attention, also because the non-linear structures of the individual video and the screening program, as such, are generating again and again -the unexpected.

Focus / Asia
curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF.2017.India_Program-Focus.Asia-2.pdf

Sai Hua Kuan (Singapore) – Space Dawing No.5, 2009, 1:02
Mani Mehrvarz (Iran) – Wistful Affection For The Past, 2013, 3:06
Anupong Charoenmitr (Thailand) – To Face, 2014, 5:55
Mehmet ÖGÜT (Turkey) – The Basket Seller, 2014, 5:40
Noriyuki Suzuki (Japan) – Fragment, 2012, 6:31
Shuai-Cheng Pu (Taiwan) – Consciousness Spin Project, 2015, 5:39
Richard Legaspi (Philippines) – Making Love with the Wind, 2015, 9:40
Sanglim Han (S.Korea) – Bloom, 2012, 3:35
Weigang Song (China) – Walling Dissensus, 2014, 5:01
Shahar Marcus (Israel) – Seeds, 2012, 5:03
Mohammed Harb (Palestine) – Without Windows, 2009, 5:00
Yovista Ahtajida (Indonesia) – Re-Interpreting Trump, 2016, 1:15

Program 2

Curatorial statement
The selection„Focus/World“ is based on „The Refugee Film Collection“ at The New Museum of Networked Art –initiated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne in 2015 on occasion of the international refugee crisis. The selectedvideos created by artists from Germany, Israel, Morocco, France, Netherlands, Mexico, Croatia and Ukraine, deal with the globalwide phenomenon of transmigration which got these day a particular relevance through military conflicts and terror (Middle East, Ukraine), poverty and lack of perspectives (Africa, Asia, Latin America), also caused by failed national and international politics and economics and the natural and human-made climate change resulting countless individual human tragedies.The videos offer a view on different sides of transmigration, for those who migrate an uprooting but on the other hand a chance for survival, but for those who are supposed to give them shelter migrants are too often notexperienced as achance, but rather a thread causing aloss of priviledges manifested in foreclosure,xenophobia, racism and violence. The artists dedicate their reflection to empathy and humanity

Focus / World – The Refugee Film Collection
curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF.2017.India_Program2-Focus.World-2.pdf

Maria Korporal (Netherlands) – Stay or fly away?, 2015, 0:49
Mauricio Saenz (Mexico) – Flight simulator, 2014, 4:17
Les Riches Douaniers (Gilles Richard & Fabrice Zoll) (France) – The Lonely Migrant, 2011, 16:15
Johannes Christopher Gérard (Germany) – disorientated displacement, 2016, 05:02
Masha Maria Yozefpolsky (Israel) – In Between SiO2, 2016, 10:00
Oksana Chepelyk (Ukraine) – «Letter from Ukraine», 2014, 7:31
Mohamed Thara (Morocco) – As Long As I Can Hold My Breath, 2016, 9:40
Lucija Konda Labas (Croatia) – We are the dogs – Wir sind Hunde, 2016, 1:11
Anna Faroqhi & Haim Peretz (Germany) – Lichtenberg Cleans Up, 2016, 4:34

a complementary video selection

Wrik Mead (Canada) – Winter’s End, 2010, 8:00
Tova Beck-Friedman (USA) – Lot’s Wife, 2011, 4:00
Eimhin Hawes (Ireland) – Passage, 2009, 7:30
Alessandro Amaducci (Italy) – Not With A Bang, 2008, 4:30

My Name is Scot (Canada) – Independance, 2011, 7:56
Shigeo Arikawa (Japan) – Her Ironical Me, 2008, 15:00
Shelley Jordon (USA) – Family History, 2009, 3:00
Kelly Oliver & Keary Rosen (USA) – The After-Dinner Speech, 2010, 4:00

CologneOFF 2013 USA

participating artists

Matthias Härenstam (Sweden), Albert Merino (Spain) , Francesca Fini (Italy), Sarah Mock (Germany) , Yuriy Kruchak, Yulia Kostereva (UA), Oksana Chepelyk (Ukraine), Liu Wei (China) , Eva Olsson (Sweden) , Andres Jurado (Colombia), Alessandro Amaducci (Italy), Johanna Reich ( Germany) , Susanne Wiegner (Germany) , My Name is Scot (Canada) , Ryota Hamasaki (Japan), Przemek Węgrzyn (Poland), Emanuela Iorga (Moldova), Mark Kadota (Japan), David King (Australia), Jonathan Minard and James George (USA), Angelika Herta (Austria), Beate Hecher/Markus Keim (Austria) , Cinzia Sarto (Italy) , Emilio Bassail (Mexico) , Nicola Bergström Hansen (Sweden) , Jean-Michel Rolland (France), Dario Bardic (Croatia), Mihai Grecu (Rumania), Shuai Cheng Pu (Taiwan, Arjan Brentjes (Netherlands), Wrik Mead (Canada, Kaspars Groshevs (Latvia, Karolien Soete (Belgium, Sergio Sotomayor (Spain, Eric Patrick (USA, Caro Estrada (Austria, Pablo Fernandez-Pujol (España), Lee Welch (Ireland), Jen Ross (UK), Cyane Tornatzky (USA), Cynthia Whelan (UK), Barry Morse (USA, Shiftwork (UK), Jonas Nilsson (Sweden, Luc Gut (CH, Sally & Mo(Iceland, Andre Rangel ( Brazil, Angela Washko (USA, Sibylle Trickes (Germany, Agricola de Cologne (Germany, Lara Salinas (Spain), Virginie Foloppe, Sonja Vuk (Croatia), Doug Garth Williams (USA), Owen Eric Wood (Canada), Yiotis Vrantzas (Greece), Curator: Marina Fomenko, Alexandra Mitlyanskaya, Russi, Jacob Tonsky (USA), Jean Paul Zelada (Peru), Claudia Carboni (italy), Juan Pablo Zaramella (Argentina), Arab Media Lab Project, (Morocco/NL), Khanyisile Mbongwa, James Taylor (RSA), Shahar Marcus (Israel)