Upgrade! Berlin is a caravan of questions, which explores venues and locations associated with media art and digital culture in Berlin. It shifts its look and appearance in every new meeting, according to the participants and the contributions being made. Berlin already has a lively media art scene and a long tradition of networks, so it is not our strategy to add another venue or event to the existing ones. We rather want to re-visit the places which are already there and approach them with questions concerning their contemporary cultural practice and the future agenda of media art. We invite the Upgrade! audience and contributors here in Berlin to join us in this quest.

It is an objective of Upgrade! Berlin to map the media art resources in the city and to create a horizontal network among institutions, artists, curators, scholars and also industry representatives. With this approach we hope to establish another quality of debate and broaden the chances for media artists to access these structures.

The upcoming Upgrade! meetings will lead us in ateliers of media artists, in galleries, cultural-political institutions, academies, and also in places which are not associated with media art right away: the public space or underground clubs. In this sense we hope to contribute a local component to the international Upgrade! landscape, which others might find inspiring for the media art practice in their own city.

Upgrade! Berlin is organised by:

Julia Barth, Multimedia Concepter
Stéphanie Boisset, Webdesigner and Media Artist
David Farine, IT-Consultant
Ela Kagel, Multimedia Producer
Susa Pop, Cultural Manager
Mirjam Struppek, Freelance Urbanist and Consultant

The networks behind the organisers:

Iconclub
Interactionfield
Public Art Lab

Coordination: Ela Kagel (+49-30-29364788), Technics: David Farine, Skype: upgrade-berlin