We are pleased to present the 17th transmediale festival in 2004. Founded in 1988 as VideoFest, the festival continues to present a comprehensive overview of current developments in international media art. Previous themes have varied from digital ‘Do It Yourself! '-culture (2001) and new public spheres (2002) to artistic strategies for the global game (2003). Now we turn to the utopias of a time desperately lacking in optimism. The festival presents both positive and negative visions designed by artists from all over the world. Today, even the capacity to project oneself beyond what appears to be inevitable holds utopian potential.

The 2005 festival will see important changes, transmediale has been included in a mid-term funding programme of the Federal Culture Foundation, providing financial support until 2009 for the festival and bi-annual media art exhibition consisting of interactive installations. This good news, however, is countered by a painful loss: Micky Kwella, long-time director and co-founder of the festival, died suddenly in February 2003. A special evening programme and a book publication are dedicated to him.

transmediale. 04 is grateful for the generous support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Fonds Soziokuitur. Returning main programme partners are the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Forum Goethe-Institut. A special thanks goes to Wilhelm Großmann, former director of the managing organisation Berliner Kulturveranstaltungs-GmbH, for his continuing support of transmediale over the years. And for the third time in a row, we are cooperating closely with our most important partner, the House of World Cultures, whose director, Hans-Georg Knopp, is an avid supporter of transmediale. We are particularly grateful to our sponsors, especially AVM Computersysteme, Avid Technologies, Art+Com e.V., das werk novalisstrasse/luxoom, Fork Unstable Media, Heimat, and IN-Berlin, as well as the embassies and cultural institutes without whose help the realisation of the festival would not be possible.
They foster our optimism: FLY UTOPIA!