Stephen Kovats

Canadian born media researcher and architect Stephen Kovats is Artistic Director of Transmediale, Berlin's festival for art and digital culture. Previously, he was chief program curator at V2_Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam and initiator of the Electronic Media Interpretation Studio at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Through these organizations and independently he has applied his interest in the dynamic relationships between media, political, and electronic space in projects, conferences and festivals which aimed at strengthening the role of art and technology on the active transformation of societal and cultural landscapes.

In the 90's he initiated and directed 'ostranenie - the international electronic media forum' at the Bauhaus Dessau which examined the role of media art and broadcast culture within the transformation process in Eastern and Central Europe. Other major projects included a yearly series of Central European Media Art Picnics, the Archi-Tonomy workshops and the biannual 'DEAF' festival in Rotterdam.