About us

European Media Art Festival

The European Media Art Festival Osnabrück (EMAF) has its origin in a workshop for experimental films at the Department of Media Studies at the University of Osnabrück. This resulted in a film meeting in 1981: the so-called “Experimental Film Workshop”, and the foundation of the association of the same name, which is still the sponsor of the EMAF today. In 1988, the “Film and Television Year” proclaimed by the EU offered the opportunity to put the festival on a new footing. The team of students put together a new concept for this - under the title “European Media Art Festival”.

Today, EMAF is regarded internationally as one of the most influential forums for contemporary media art. Each year it offers its visitors an overview of current artistic productions in film programmes, exhibitions, performances and hybrid formats. Guest-curated projects and retrospectives provide in-depth insights into historical positions and contexts.

At the heart of the festival is the annually changing theme, which in the exhibition, in specially curated film programmes and talks by theorists from various disciplines, illuminates the interfaces between artistic practice, technological development and social reality. The main themes of the last few years have included documentary working methods in art (2018: Report. Notizen aus der Wirklichkeit /i.e. Report. Notes from Reality), the relationship between language and transgression (2019: Wild Grammar), the entanglements of I and We (2020: First Person Plural), the multiple relationships between possession and being possessed (2021: Possessed), our entanglement in the world of things (2022: The Thing is) and an understanding of time and history that is becoming increasingly questionable (2023: Trembling Time).

In its Campus section, EMAF offers selected German and European art academies a forum. In exhibitions and film screenings, they present current works or develop projects through which they respond to local conditions or thematic impulses. The festival identifies as a place of experimentation, where extraordinary works are created and actors from different fields can enter into dialogue with each other. Each year, around 12.000 international artists, curators, researchers, students and film and art lovers meet at EMAF.

The festival identifies as a place of experimentation, where extraordinary works are created and actors from different fields can enter into dialogue with each other. Each year, around 12.000 international artists, curators, researchers, students and film and art lovers meet at EMAF.

Sections

Film Programme: International survey of experimental and artists’ films, curated special programmes and retrospectives

Exhibition: Media installations at Kunsthalle Osnabrueck and other places

Talks: Talks, workshops, presentations and panels

Campus: European academies and universities present their latest programmes and projects

Team

Organiser
Experimentalfilm Workshop e.V.
Festival Management
Tanja Horstmann
Katrin Mundt
Administration Film Programme
Johanna Doyé
Guest Service
Nicole Rebmann
Communication
Katharina Lohmeyer
Technical Management
Thorsten Alich
Christian Löwrick
Joshua van der Veen
Reinhard Westendorf
Technical Management Exhibition
Andreas Zelle
Timo Katz
Art Direction & Design
Cabinet Gold van d´Vlies
Website Content
Johanna Doyé
Katharina Lohmeyer
Website Programming
vorderdeck. neue medien
Database
Filmchief/ThisWayUp

Festival 2024

International Jury: Marwa Arsanios, Adam Khalil, Pieter-Paul Mortier

Jury of the German Film Critics Association (VDFK): Alejandro Bachmann, Sebastian Markt, Gabriele Summen

Commission Film programme: Ryan Ferko, Mason Leaver-Yap, Katrin Mundt, Philip Widmann, Tinne Zenner, Kristofer Woods (Moderation)

Curators Film programmes “Feelers, Sensors”: Jamie Crewe, Oraib Toukan, Anna Zett

Curator Artist in Focus: Mason Leaver-Yap

Curator Exhibition “Feelers, Sensors”: Inga Seidler

Coordination Campus Exhibition: Stefan Berendes

Assistance Film programme: Alina Homann

Assistance Communications: Elizaveta Kovalenko

Translation: Almut Meakin, John Meakin, Caspar Shaller

Photographers: Angela von Brill, Kerstin Hehmann

Funders

Take a look at the fine people funding us. We thank all of them for their great support.

Funders

01a NordmediaLogo Stadt Osnabrück neu01d Stiftung Niedersachsen01e Vgh StiftungSievert StiftungLogo LandschaftsverbandLogo Canada 2024

Cooperation Partners

Kunsthalle_Logo_WebsiteLogo Museumsquartier Osnabrück 2024Logo Kunstraum hase29 202402d LagerhalleLogo Skulptur Galerie02h Haus Der Jugend02g Cinema ArthouseLogo Musik- & Kunstschule 202402e Universitaet OsLogo LaborBerlin 2024Logo SPECTRAL 2024Logo KabelvagLogo KASKLogo KHMLogo EMAP 2024

Media & Cultural Partners

Logo Camera Austria 2024Logo springerin 2024Logo kultur.west03c Le MondeAesthetica_Magazine04a Ndr Kultur