Resilience / Resistance

Since the emergence of video art in the 1960s, artists have been using the medium of video persistently to draw attention to imbalances in politics and societies in a subversive and resistant way, to shed light on forgotten voices and to open up new perspectives on dominant narratives. No other medium combines images, movement, text and sound in such a diverse and complex way to speak about what affects people: from resistant political subjects, the resilience of the planet and ecosystems, experiences of exclusion, to coping with trauma from war or refugee experiences. More than other artistic media, however, video not only seems to us to be a medium of resistance and criticism, but also a medium of processing, coping and world construction.

The artists of VIDEONALE.20 come from all over the world – and so do the stories they tell. In the festival, the global contexts are anchored in the local: through cooperation with initiatives in Bonn and actors who are committed to social cohesion. With the extensive exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the parcours in the city and a variety of events, we encourage people to engage intensively with the different narrative strategies of the works and at the same time celebrate those who are unruly and continue to be resistant.