11th International Media Art Biennale WRO 05
2005, May 11th – 15th

Until that point WRO Biennale had made a very clear distinction between the competition part solely devoted to video works, and the part of the programme comprised of performances, special events and exhibitions, although in 2005 a new approach had been introduced. The competition had become open to most media forms and had no longer classified the applications into categories. That approach emphasized the diversity and progress of the media in art. For the first time the number of applications received from all over the world had exceeded 1000 entries.

A special exhibition in the National Museum dedicated to the subject of the Inna Książka (The Other Book) through the works of Ken Feingold, Masaki Fujihata, Romy Achituv, and Camille Utterback had allowed Ira Marom to show various, non-printed, interactive forms of text responsive to the presence and actions of a viewer, and   transpiring from the virtual environment to the real world.

The most significant parts of the programme were the thorough retrospectives of the Azorro Super Group, Robert Cahen, and Józef Robakowski, as well as a film-performance for micro objects by Julien Maire, and the Polish premiere of a documentary by Lutz Dammbeck, Das Netz, using the unabomber’s (Ted Kaczynski’s) example to discuss an individual’s protest against progress leading acts of terror.

COMPETITION