ZKM Expands Media Art 21: New Voices on the Online Platform

PRESS RELEASE

ZKM Expands Media Art 21: New Voices on the Online Platform

Through a series of new texts by renowned authors and an international exhibition, the bilingual English-Chinese online editorial platform Media Art 21: Practices, Reflections, and Pedagogies of Global Media Art Since 2000 (MA21) is consolidating its position as a unique virtual space for critical discourse. The platform brings together global conversations about media art, contextualizes them, and makes them accessible for practice and education.

→ Explore Media Art 21 here: ma21.org/en

Contributions Address Current Questions and Discourses
MA21, the research and exhibition online platform hosted by ZKM and co-organized by Institute of Sci-Tech Arts of Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA, Beijing) and ZKM, launches a new round of content this spring, supported by He Foundation and New Media Art Foundation. Commissioned by artistic directors Alistair Hudson (ZKM), Rudolf Frieling, and Zhang Ga (CAFA), the new texts further expand themes at the intersection of the Posthuman, Ecologies, and the Commons as central discourses within contemporary art. 16 new contributions broaden the horizon to other geographies and include among others a text by Auronda Scalera and Alfredo Cramerotti examining how artists from the Gulf region, the Levant, and North Africa are redefining the relationship between technology, culture, and identity through their distinctive media art practices. Architect, author, and educator Paulo Tavares draws on anthropologist William Balée's research into the anthropogenic forests of the Amazon, while art historian, author, critic, and curator Caroline A. Jones places the media of bioart within a broader historical context. 

Developed in collaboration with KADIST, the nonprofit organization for contemporary art, the exhibition We, Earthbound draws on Bruno Latour's concept of the Terrestrial as a contemporary designation for humanity. Curated by Mariana Fernández with Joseph del Pesco (KADIST), the exhibition brings together works across video, sound, performance, and research-based practices from both the MA21 index and the KADIST collection. The works attend to forms of life that remain largely invisible within human-centered frameworks of thought, foregrounding sound, vibration, and movement as modalities for engaging with nonhuman agencies and planetary systems. Extending the exhibition, a dedicated film and video program is available to stream on KADIST.tv. 

In addition, the existing range of educational formats has been expanded through a global network of advisors, and video recordings from the Media Art 21 Symposium are now available. The symposium took place in 2025 during Art Basel at the Hong Kong Arts Centre and addressed the demands for a pedagogy for the 21st century.

Media Art 21: An Educational Resource for Media Art
Media art is an essential and continually evolving component of global contemporary art practice. As its presence in international exhibitions grows, so too does the need for critical and scholarly reflection, as well as for greater integration of this field into art education. Against this backdrop, MA21 aims to capture the worldwide discourses around the most significant and pressing currents in media art practice and make them accessible for research and teaching. Artists, curators, scholars, and students can find low-threshold access to original materials created from the year 2000 onwards, serving the critique and contextualization of media artworks. Alongside facts, background information, and data on individual positions and works, the platform offers educational formats including streaming lectures, interviews, and panel discussions.

A Question of Perspective
MA21 does not seek to advance a single narrative. Instead, it honors a multiplicity of voices and brings together diverse discourses, shifting to a more transnational and global perspective. Content is organized around three thematic areas: Ecologies explores the interplay of materiality, technology, cultural histories, and critical practices; Post-Human investigates the agency, aesthetics, and evolving role of creative practice within a posthumanist field; and The Commons centers on the collective and cooperative narratives directed toward shared resources in the 21st century.

Contributing authors include:
Nick Aikens, Arie Altena, Inke Arns, Giselle Beiguelman, Sean Cubitt, Mariana Fernández with Joseph Del Pesco, Rudolf Frieling, Alistair Hudson, Shannon Jackson, Caroline A. Jones, Nora N. Khan, José-Carlos Mariátegui, Laura U. Marks, Domenico Quaranta, Raqs Media Collective, Doreen A. Ríos, Chris Salter, Auronda Scalera with Alfredo Cramerotti, Paulo Tavares, Wang Xin, Zhang Ga, Joanna Zylinska.

Interested in an interview or soundbite?
Feel free to contact our press office via email at press@zkm.de or by phone at +49 721 8100-1220.