Join us for the opening ceremony of transmediale 2014, where we introduce afterglow as a diagnosis of post-digital culture. Together with a number of prominent guest speakers we will outline the “afterglow effects” that define the current ambiguous state of digital culture in between trash and treasure. After the welcoming words of Bernd Scherer (Director, Haus der Kulturen der Welt), the artistic director of transmediale, Kristoffer Gansing, will guide you further into the programme of the festival. Rounding off is none other than the American sci-fi writer and cultural critic Bruce Sterling. In his key afterglow address, Sterling will outline the cypherpunk dystopia that digital culture has become and suggest ways to deal critically and creatively with its seedy geopolitics.

Throughout the ceremony, CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE (Jamie Allen & David Gauthier), the big data producing artwork of transmediale 2014 will provide essential facts about everything you ever needed to know about the festival. Chances are you might get your burning questions answered such as what the correlation is between the transmediale festival and the global annual growth of e-waste or the amounts of tweets about Sharknados and other post-digital phenomena. This and many other afterglow effects are to be revealed at the transmediale 2014 opening ceremony.

After the ceremony, we invite you to enjoy the further opening programme throughout the whole evening at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. This includes the exhibition opening of Art Hack Day Berlin : Afterglow, a special screening of Luther Price's Utopia and the performance installation Ceremonial Chamber by MSHR. More details in our programme.

Welcome.