Stephen Kovats

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Born 1965 in Canada. Media researcher and architect. His interests lie in the dynamic relationships between media, political, and electronic space.

In 90s he initiated the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation's Electronic Media Interpretation Studio which hosted numerous international projects exploring the relationships between media space, political culture and electronic art including Ostranenie Electric Media Forum focusing on the shift of society and cultural landscape in Eastern and Central Europe. During this period he founded several media culture oriented exchange and network programs including Archi-Tonomy, EMARE, ECX and the current Bauhauskolleg, a multidisciplinary post graduate program for alternative urban design.

Thereafter, based in New York, he developed work and communications based strategies for mobile media and urban reconstruction projects including the initiation of a new urban masterplan for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Through his telecommunications projects Aurora Universalis and NOM he has also been active in investigating the spatial structures of terrestrial electromagnetism, communications mobility and technological isolation systems.

Served as a chief curator and international media arts program developer at V2 in Rotterdam, through which he initiated and co-organised the "Trans european Picnic 2004: Media and Art of Accession" in Novi Sad, an event exploring media culture on the edge of the newly expanded European Union, co-curated the DEAF04 event "Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems" and produced "Splendid Immersion: The Time and Space of Flow", an exhibition and seminar on experimental immersive systems for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2005.

From spring 2007 until 2011 the director of Transmediale Berlin. Co-director of the McLuhan in Europe 2011 Network examining the impact of the Canadian media philosopher's work on art and culture in Europe.

Publications
  • co-editor, OSTranenie '95: das internationale Video-Forum an der Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / The International Video Forum at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation: Video, Installation, Performance, Workshop: 8.-12. November, Dessau: Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, 1995, 403+14 pp. [1] [2] (German)/(English)
  • editor, with Mirja Rosenau, Ostranenie '97: Dessau 5.-9. Dezember 1977: das internationale Forum elektronischer Medien / the International Electronic Media Forum, Dessau: Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, 1997, 553 pp. [3] [4] (German)/(English)
  • editor, Ost-West Internet: elektronische Medien im Transformationsprozess Ost- und Mitteleuropas / Media Revolution: Electronic Media in the Transformation Process of Eastern and Central Europe, Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus (Edition Bauhaus 6), 1999, 381 pp. ISBN 9783593363653. With CD-ROM. TOC, TOC. Review: Broeckmann (Leonardo). [5] [6] (German)/(English)