« New technologies are wonderful tools for embodying audiences in different perspectives » – Dana Melaver (DOK Leipzig – DOK Neuland)

Mathieu G.

Celebrating its 10th year of innovative, immersive programming, DOK Neuland, DOK Leipzig is expanding its offering and ambitions around new media, with a multiplied exhibition and a growing professional section. We met its new curator, Dana Melaver, for this anniversary edition.

Cover: NUT UNIVERSE by Yihan Mei, Jiahong Wu

DOK Neuland, 10th edition, new curator

Dana Melaver – My background is as an artist working in expanded photography and video. I have expanded my practice of cinematography and image depending on the project, proposing more participative – often analog – installations and creations. My entrance into immersive and interactive/extended reality comes from the direction of projected environments and expanded filmmaking. My curiosity led me to all this, until I joined the DOK Leipzig team at the beginning of 2024 as curator of DOK Neuland to continue exploring the worlds of XR, new media and video games.

D. M. – I’m fortunate to step into the shoes of Lars Rummel, who established and curated DOK Neuland for the last 8 editions. The exhibition is based on open call submissions as well as projects we discovered ourselves. The final selection is based on both the works themselves as well as on the idea of building a holistic program – one in which each work responds to each other artistically and thematically. The theme this year is “Fluxusopolis”, inspired by the discovery of TALES OF A NOMADIC CITY (by Med Lemine Rajel and Christian Vium) at CPH:DOX 2024, and the idea of a common city that we share, but which is also an organic, living entity.

Fluxusopolis is a place that can only be felt. It is in the motion of a group of people crossing the street and in a Halal cart in Kyoto.
It is in the face of a child who is still the baby you knew, and in the feeling that you’ve changed but are exactly the same. Fluxusopolis is continuous motion that yells to us: “You are alive!” It’s also fun to say.
Try it: Fluxusopolis. Did it make you smile?

DOK Neuland 2024 – Fluxusopolis, art by Stefan Ibrahim

Encouraging a new way for programming main audience event

D. M. – The overall quality of the works submitted this year is very high, but they are also very diverse in origin and format. DOK Neuland is taking place this year in 4 venues in the city of Leipzig, totally free to the public. It’s an experimental new way of presenting XR works at DOK Neuland, and we aim to both present exciting new works, as well as welcome new audiences (to XR).

Hauptbahnhof 1. OG, WillyBrandtPlatz 5
Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Katharinenstraße 10
Cinémathèque, KarlLiebknechtStraße 109
Galerie KUB, Kantstraße 18

D. M. – New technologies are wonderful tools for pushing the boundaries of storytelling and embodying audiences in different perspectives. As a curator of media arts, I am always interested in the possibilities offered by innovative advances, as well as unexpected uses of technologies. For example, the project NUT UNIVERSE makes use of a virtual reality headset as a part of an external controller, rather than being worn. It makes use of virtual reality, without the headset on your head.

TALES OF A NOMADIC CITY, by Christian Vium, Mohamed Ould Lemine / Denmark, Mauritania

DOK Leipzig 2024 – DOK Neuland line-up

AR CHARACTER RUN, BARBAR, Germany, 2022
MINITOURISM, Jan Grabowski, Poland, 2023
GLITCHBODIES, Rebecca Merlic, Austria, 2023
OTO’S PLANET, Gwenael François, Luxembourg, Canada, France, 2024 (read our interview)
TALES OF A NOMADIC CITY, Med Lemine Rajel, Christian Vium, Denmark, Mauretania, 2024
NOTHING CAN EVER BE THE SAME, Brendan Dawes, Gary Hustwit, USA, UK, 2023
TRACES OF RESPONSIBILITY, Anja Reiß, Jann Anderegg, Switzerland, Germany, 2024
NUT UNIVERSE, Yihan Mei, Jiahong Wu, China, 2024
MURMURATION, Patricia Bergeron, Canada, 2023
FINALLY ME (FINALMENTE EU), Marcio Sal, Brazil, 2023 (read our interview)
RECONSTRUCTION HOME, Antonia Nestler, Germany, 2024

FINALLY ME (FINALMENTE EU), by Marcio Sal

DOK Leipzig 2024 – DOK Exchange XR – Industry line-up

Prototyping Zone

REVIVAL ROADSHOW, Anne Fehres, Luke Conroy
THE ROOM OF RESONANCE, Laurien Michiels

Showcase

BOUGHT/BROKEN, Theresa Loong, Robbie Lynn Hunsinger, Eric Mika, USA
ENTROPY, Jovan Mijušković / PROTOS FILM, MNE
LID-SCAPE, Sebastián Carrasco, Andrés Piñeros / Tripode Producciones, COL
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE, Wiktor Filip Gacparski / Open Matter Studio, Felix Packe / Heimspiel GmbH, DE
SNOW, TIGER, REUNION, Jing Zhao, UK, NL
YERBABRUJA, Viviana Zúñiga Rojas / Guerrillera Films, MEX

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