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• B3 launches Talent Forum, a networking platform for regional, national, and international young professionals and creative talent
• B3 presents special series on the topic of IDENTITY
• B3 takes art into public space

With its new B3 Talent Forum, the B3 Biennial dedicates itself in a special way to the fostering of emerging creative talent. By combining two new formats – the initiative HessenLab and HAB-Hessen, a program supporting graduation projects from several universities – it gives participants additional space to present themselves and to network on an international level.

HessenLab was developed in close collaboration between B3 and Hessen Film und Medien GmbH. Both partners seek to put into place a platform for young professionals and creative talent from the fields of film, art, XR, and games, with a special focus on regional, national and international networking. Individuals interested in becoming a part of HessenLab may still apply until 15 July. We are looking for 25 international creative minds with a project in the early stages of development which is to be taken further through dialogue and exchange with experts and other program participants. The conference program will focus on building international networks, initiating co-productions, and on the artistic reflection on the proposed project ideas.

The conference program is composed of masterclasses, interactive workshops and one-on-one mentoring. Topics include producing, building networks and cultivating them, financing, legal issues, and the teaching of creative know-how, especially narrative techniques, as well as career opportunities including funding and fundraising.

Hessian Minister for Science and the Arts, Angela Dorn, values the long-term fostering of young talent for the film and media industries based in Hesse: "We want all bright and creative minds to be able to develop their full potential, because this will make them create things that can enrich and advance all of us. By the means of art, they will gift us unique artistic experiences and also stimulate a multi-voiced dialogue in our society. To do this, they need artistic freedom and good funding – and that is why we want to support these young artists and media professionals in their efforts at networking and breaking into international markets, while at the same time presenting Hesse as a widely-known place for studying and being creative. To this end, HessenLab, HAB Hessen and B3 Talent Forum can make an important contribution.“

"I am very pleased that we can now implement our idea of HessenLab with international appeal and a top-notch program, all with the support of B3. We hope for many successful and exciting projects that our regional talents will bring to fruition in international co-productions. This way, production structures in Hesse can grow over the coming years, advancing our regional industries long-term. In addition, all program participants will benefit immensely from the exchange with renowned colleagues.“ says Anna Schoeppe, Managing Director of HessenFilm und Medien.

Another important module of the B3 Talent Forum is HAB-Hessen, a program supporting graduation projects from several universities. It is aimed at students majoring in art, film and media at either Kunsthochschule Kassel, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Hochschule Rhein Main or Hochschule Darmstadt. All these schools are part of the hFMA’s (Hessian Film & Media Akademy’s) network.
Kunsthochschule Kassel, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach and Hochschule Rhein Main are to receive funding from the Hessische Hochschulpakt in order to implement the HAB concept. Hochschule Darmstadt is financing its HAB share through budget funds from its Design Department. In addition, HessenFilm und Medien GmbH supports HAB as part of its university funding program. HAB will feature a high-profile advisory board including film and media professionals Anna Schoeppe (Managing Director, HessenFilm und Medien GmbH); Anne-Kathrin Brinkmann (ZDF/arte); and Stefan Weil (co-owner and Managing Director, Atelier Markgraph GmbH Frankfurt).

"I am very happy about the strong support we receive from Minister Dorn, our close cooperation with the universities from the network of the Hessian Film and Media Academy (hFMA), and our alliance with HessenFilm in establishing this groundbreaking support for creative new talent in Hesse. The B3 Biennial strengthens this initiative with its expertise and offers an attractive, international platform designed to build long-term contacts among professionals from the various media and creative industries and young creatives, as well as to promote international exchange among them." states Professor Bernd Kracke, President of Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach (HfG) and Artistic Director of B3 as the initiative’s goal.

Between crypto art and identity

The equally newly developed B3 Moving Image Forum, funded by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, offers a special series which shines a light on the topic of IDENTITY. National and international artists and media professionals are going to delve into the various aspects of this topic in their works of art, projects and lectures. What does identity mean for the individual, what does it mean for the group? What connects us, what binds us? What role do storytelling and its artistic rendering play in this context?

Works of art selected for the B3 Forum will be exhibited in public spaces such as temporarily vacant stores at Frankfurt’s shopping mall MyZeil. By doing so, B3 wants to give people a chance to rediscover downtown areas through the experience of art.

In addition, B3 will address the phenomenon of so-called crypto art in its exhibition and conference programs. Crypto art is a genre which is developing at high speed. Works of art in this field are already being traded for astronomical sums.

From 15 to 24 October, the 6th edition of the B3 Biennial offers the world’s film, art and media professionals an international platform for innovation, exchange and visibility. It is aimed at students, graduates, and professionals, as well as the art-, film- and media-loving general public.

Like in 2020, B3 2021 will be a hybrid format. ASTOR Film Lounge My Zeil will be the main event partner, hosting the B3 film programs and the B3 Festival Center.

Since 2018, the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, the Frankfurt Book Fair and the creative festival THE ARTS+ have been strategic partners with the aim of providing a unique European platform for all media arts and the moving image, for innovative media developments and academic discourse around the future of the global creative industries. In 2021, the three partners are once again planning an extensive joint program.
With Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, which supports the B3 Moving Image Forum, and Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt, two other long-standing B3 partners are on board again in 2021. The prestigious B3 BEN Awards are again generously sponsored by Sylvia and Friedrich von Metzler.

Artists from 3 continents (selection from the program)

Anouk Wipprecht is a Dutch FashionTech designer, engineer and innovator living in Miami. She works in the field of wearable robotics with a focus on behavioral aspects of the interactions of body-based electronic design. She wants her garments to facilitate and augment the interactions we have with ourselves and our surroundings. Partnering up with Intel, AutoDesk, Google, Arduino, Microsoft, Samsung, Adobe, Adidas, Cirque Du Soleil, Audi, Disney, Swarovski and others, she explores how our future might look as we include technology into what we wear.

Tabita Rezaire (France) works mainly with audiovisual and performative media. Her artistic work focuses on themes of colonialism and technology and their impact on identity, technology, sexuality, health and spirituality. She lives in French Guyana, is currently studying agriculture, and is planning AMAKABA – her vision for collective healing in the Amazon forest.

Jonathan Monaghan (USA) is an artist working across a range of media, including prints, sculptures and computer-animated videos, to produce otherworldly objects and narratives. Drawing on wide-ranging sources such as historical artworks and science fiction, his fantastical pieces uncover subconscious anxieties associated with technology and consumerism. Past exhibitions include The Sundance Film Festival, The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and The Palais de Tokyo in Paris. His work has been featured in several media outlets including The New York Times and Vogue.

Jonathas De Andrade (Brazil) studied communication at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife, the city where he lives and works today. De Andrade works with installation, photography and video to explore the effects of power dynamics in society, the evolution of humanity and ethics to communicate the lasting consequences of a cultural change that has profoundly altered Brazilian society due to various political decisions in the 20th century. Since 2007, he has been collaborating with the artist collective A Casa como Convém (The House as It Should Be), a collective he co-founded in Recife, Brazil.

Sandra Mann (Germany) is a renowned German artist and photographer from Frankfurt using a wide range of artistic expressions such as photography, installation, sculpture, video. She is conceptually concerned with the relationship of people to each other, to nature, the environment, to wildlife and to gender issues. Her work and teaching is informed by research into the fundamentals of photography, visual language, and image perception. She also curates exhibitions nationally and internationally. In 2021 she was honored with the Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt.

Sin Wai Kin (aka Victoria Sin, Canada) is an artist who expresses herself speculatively and fictionally in performance, moving image, and writing to disrupt normative processes of desire, identification, and objectification. Her work is based on personal experience and presents highly constructed fantasy worlds and narratives.

B3 inquires: WebVideoCast B3 in Depth features exciting guests

Until the festival in October, the new WebVideoCast B3 in depth features bi-weekly interviews with representatives from various creative and cultural industries about their experiences, dreams and aspirations during these troubled times. The first edition on 25 March 2021 welcomed punk rock icon and political activist Jello Biafra, who became known as lead singer of The Dead Kennedys. Other exciting guests to date were Sandra Mann, a renowned German photo artist; computer game composer Chris Huelsbeck; Dutch fashion tech designer Anouk Wipprecht; Internet archivist Jason Scott (USA); independent film guru Chris Gore (USA); and technology researcher Julie Carpenter (USA).