Media Art as Mediator? Co-Curating “Manifesto of Spring” across Continents

In conversation with Liwon Lim (ACC - National Asian Culture Center, Gwangju), Silke Schmickl & Kelly Li (M+, Hong Kong), Alistair Hudson & Clara Runge (ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe)

How can media art act as a mediator – between histories and futures, institutions and publics, local struggles, and global conversations? This session brings together curators from ACC – National Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, M+ in Hong Kong, and ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe to discuss their experiences of co-curating “Manifesto of Spring” – an exhibition that is currently showing at ACC, and is on view until February 2026.  

The show features 16 new co-commissioned media works that explore capitalism, globalization, and climate change through lenses of regionality and biodiversity. It also sheds light on the history and context of Gwangju – a city that is known for its democratization movement and uprising in 1980, and to this day stands for civic resistance and solidarity. Alongside these new works, the show also includes important pieces from the collections of M+ and ZKM. 

In this Museum Mutuals session, the speakers of the three institutions will reflect on how co-curation between Asia and Europe has informed the commissioning process, as well as the challenges and opportunities of presenting works across different institutional and historical contexts. Rather than treating media art as simply a medium, the discussion considers its role in mediating protest and civic memory, and its capacity to act as a shared language.