THE ARTS+/B3 Future of Culture Festival 2019: The festival with a view to the future of culture

Once again this year, THE ARTS+ (16 to 20 October) will offer plenty of inspiration to visitors: Shudu, the first digital supermodel; the second Frankfurt Creative AI conference; an exciting programme for and with pioneers of the media and cultural industries, as well as international artists and tech experts. Now in its fourth year, THE ARTS+ has formed a unique partnership with the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, an event organised by the University of Art and Design Offenbach (HfG). As the cooperation between THE ARTS+ and B3 shows, the merging of content between the cultural and media industries in the digital age is running at full speed.

Conferences and think tanks – the “future lab” of the Frankfurter Buchmesse

The five-day programme of the Future of Culture Festival includes one conference per day, each with its own focal topic. Each conference will be followed by a think-tank event where the participants get a chance to meet the conference speakers and benefit from their inside knowledge. Holger Volland, founder of THE ARTS+ and Vice President of Frankfurter Buchmesse, will open THE ARTS+ on Wednesday 16 October, together with Professor Bernd Kracke, President of HfG and artistic director of B3. At the opening panel discussion on “Shifting Realities and Desirable Futures”, they will talk to authors, cultural figures and scientists about the potential benefits of art and culture in creating and cultivating a better future.

The first conference on the opening day is entitled “New Rules for Business. Revolutionising the Cultural Economy”. The discussions here will focus on innovative approaches and strategies that have been developed and implemented by cultural institutions and organisations, and by creative (tech) start-ups. The speakers and participants will include Cleo Schoeps, Head of Art Sponsorship Partnership at UBS, Diane Drubay, founder of “We Are Museums” and Francesca Polo, co-founder of Vastari.

The second conference on Thursday, 17 October, will bring together the book industry and related creative sectors to present new highlights in the print and digital fields. Under the heading, “Beyond the Cover. Pushing the Boundaries of Publishing Through Collaboration”, speakers including Elise by Olsen, editor-in-chief of Wallet magazine, and the artist Sheena Calvert will present approaches they take to their work which successfully transcend different sectors, industries and materials.

New technologies have the potential to democratise knowledge, education and culture. On Friday, 18 October, panellists such as Jessica and Evrim Oralkan, the founders of Collecteurs, will speak about new opportunities at the third conference on “Power to the People. How Technology can Facilitate Access to Culture and Empower Audiences”.

“Digitisation has shattered the boundaries between media formats and industries,” explains Holger Volland. “And that has set free an incredible potential for new business with creative content. Artists and media professionals have been given new tools with which to express themselves artistically and innovatively, but they are also increasingly pointing out the dangers and the problems – and we are bringing these people together at THE ARTS+/B3.”

AI conference with the digital supermodel Shudu

The second Frankfurt Creative AI Conference will take place in THE ARTS+ Salon in Hall 4.1, on Friday 18 October, from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm. Featuring: Shudu, the world’s first ever digital supermodel, and its creator Cameron-James Wilson. Under the title, “Faking Culture: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Technologies in Art”, a number of prominent international speakers will ask what significance AI and machine learning hold for the future of culture and the creative economy. They include Karen Palmer, digital film producer; Professor Roberto Zicari of the Goethe University Frankfurt; Natalie Weidenfeld, author of “Digital Humanism”; Kenza Ait Si Abbou Lyadini, Senior Manager Robotics & AI with Deutsche Telekom; and Francesca Rossi, the IBM AI Ethics Global Leader.

Focus: Film Networking Day and Frankfurter Buchmesse Film Awards

We’ll be rolling out the red carpet for the Focus: Film Networking Day, “A Book is a Film is a Game”. On Friday, 18 October, THE ARTS+ Salon in Hall 4.1 will be devoted to film adaptations of literary materials, and to other trends in the field of moving images. Experts from the worlds of publishing, film, games and new media will meet up for best-case studies, panel discussions and matchmaking sessions, together with leading figures of the industry, such as Quirin Berg, producer of the Oscar nominated film “The Lives of Others”.

Moreover, on the evening of Saturday, 19 October, between 8.00 and 10.00 pm, the Frankfurter Buchmesse Film Awards will be presented in the Frankfurt Pavilion.

Pooling Creative Forces: THE ARTS+ Innovation Day

On Thursday, 17 October, from 10.30 am to 6.00 pm in THE ARTS+ area, the Börsenverein Group will host THE ARTS+ European Innovation Day. As the follow-up event to last year’s Innovation Summit, Innovation Day will build on the “European Manifesto on Supporting Innovation for Culture and Creative Sectors”, which was developed and published in 2018 by 14 European partners. In 2019, the main focus is on using cross-sectoral cooperation and a common agenda for innovation in order to pool the voices of Europe’s cultural and creative industries. The highlights of Innovation Day will be the opening panel discussion at 10.30 am, the first informal meeting of the new Creative Innovation Council, and the final signing of the CONTENTshift Accelerator

B3 – “Realities”

“Realities” is the theme of both the festival programme and the main exhibition of the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image. With many artists and creative professionals participating, the main exhibition of the B3 in THE ARTS+ Area in Hall 4.1 will be an exciting experience. Amongst those expected to attend are the New York producing arts group “3-Legged Dog”, with a 350 sqm installation, the american film artist and performer Lena Chen and Chinese artist, Fei Jun, with his “Interesting World”, an interactive installation. A virtual-reality park with twenty world, European and German premieres as well as a moving image park with video art and short films are integrated into the leading exhibition.

Under the motto "Revolution, Innovation and Realities", the B3 Festival conference programme will address key issues such as financing and creativity or the influence of XR technologies on moving image narration.

The B3 Filmprogramme shows a series of German premieres at the B3 Festival Kino Cinema Frankfurt, among them: "God of the Piano" (Israel, directed by Itay Tal), "The Wall of Mexico" (USA/Mexico, directed by Magdalena Zyzak, Zachary Cotler), “ADAM” (USA, directed by Rhys Ernst) and “TITO” (Canada, directed by Grace Glowicki).

“The world is going through great upheavals in many areas – technical, political and artistic,” says Professor Bernd Kracke, President of the University of Art and Design Offenbach (HfG) and artistic director of B3. “Our overarching theme, ‘Realities’, demonstrates this in many different ways, and it will also be reflected in the contributions of our festival attendees. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing (media) society, creative people of all stripes increasingly have to face up to the prevailing political and economic conditions.”


Tickets for THE ARTS+/B3 costing EUR 60 (trade visitor) are available at www.buchmesse.de/en/highlights/theartsplus/buy-ticket(opens in a new window). Those with a ticket for the Frankfurter Buchmesse are also entitled to visit THE ARTS+ in Hall 4.1.

Journalists can obtain accreditation for THE ARTS+ and the Frankfurter Buchmesse at www.buchmesse.de/presse/akkreditierung(opens in a new window)

For more information and full details of the programme
www.theartsplus.com(opens in a new window) / www.b3biennale.de(opens in a new window)

> Find all press releases and photos on our website. https://www.buchmesse.de/en/press/(opens in a new window)

Contact for the media:

Press & Corporate Communication, Frankfurter Buchmesse
Katja Böhne, Vice President Marketing & Communications, Phone: +49 (0) 69 2102-138(opens in a new window), press@buchmesse.de(opens in a new window)
Kathrin Grün, Head of Communications, Phone: +49 (0) 69 2102-170(opens in a new window), gruen@buchmesse.de(opens in a new window)
Tina Pfeifer, PR Manager, Phone: +49 (0) 69 2102-271(opens in a new window), pfeifer@buchmesse.de(opens in a new window)

About THE ARTS+ / B3

For four years now THE ARTS+ Future of Culture Festival takes place at Frankfurter Buchmesse and is dedicated to the future of the creative and cultural industries. It is an international showroom of the future that brings together the creative minds and pioneers of the digital ecosystem - with inspiring keynotes from national and international speakers as well as extraordinary performances. In 2019 THE ARTS+ entered a strategic partnership with B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, an event conceived by the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach. B3 will contribute to the accompanying THE ARTS+ programme with its own themed strand and will show its renowned flagship exhibition at the centre of THE ARTS+ area in Hall 4.1. The area is also the heart of CREATE YOUR REVOLUTION, this year’s campaign by Frankfurter Buchmesse which contributes to the significance and future of culture. www.theartsplus.com(opens in a new window) / www.b3biennale.com(opens in a new window)

About Frankfurter Buchmesse

 Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with over 7,500 exhibitors from 109 countries, around 285,000 visitors, over 4,000 events and some 10,000 accredited journalists and bloggers in attendance. It is the most important international marketplace for content – from novels and children’s books to academic databases and stories for films, games and virtual reality experiences. Publishing professionals from around the world meet here with partners from the technology sector and from related creative and cultural industries, sparking new partnerships and business models. A strong conference programme ensures that Frankfurter Buchmesse is a major source of inspiration for content experts from around the world. Since 1976, the book fair has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association). https://www.buchmesse.de/en(opens in a new window)