MEDIA FACADES FESTIVAL BERLIN 2008 reflects on the increasing presence of massive-infrastructures with digital visual elements in public spaces worldwide
while investigating their communicative function in the urban environment. The festival, initiated by Susa Pop/Public Art Lab (PAL) and Mirjam Struppek/International Urban Screens Association (IUSA) in collaboration with Gernot Tscherteu and Oliver Schürer/Media Architecture Group (MAG), Vienna,
aims to provide a lasting impact on the development of new media in public space and introduce a new exhibition format to the art scene.

MEDIA FACADES FESTIVAL BERLIN 2008 presents an innovative series of events including an international conference and architecture exhibition at DAZ
that compares outstanding media facades around the world. The MEDIA FACADES FESTIVAL is an experiment on urban display screens.

For the first time, the public will witness the use of commercial facades of SAP, O2 World, Gasometer Schöneberg, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin and the Wall-
Terminal as cultural communication portals. Twenty-four original artist works specifically commissioned for the different façades will be screened simultaneously from 17 October until 3 November 2008.

The artist works will focus on the exploration of site-specific content, space and dimension. The unique artistic productions and installations will also involve
participation of the local inhabitants where the facades are situated in an attempt to generate a new sense of identity. The interaction amongst the commercial
media facade operators, curators, artists and the general public facilitated through this festival will serve as testing ground for future creative and urban
media developments.

MEDIA FACADES FESTIVAL BERLIN 2008 will provide new opportunities for communication in public space and critically examine the relevance of media architecture and urban screens. A round table of relevant movers and experts, jointly initiated with the Landesinitiative Projekt Zukunft Berlin, will establish an Urban Screens Network with inaugural representations at the Art Directors Club
and Art Forum Berlin.

The festival received generous support from Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Senatserwaltung für Wirtschaft, Technologie und Frauen - Landesinitiative
Projekt Zukunft.