netz.macht.kultur - Interview with Mercedes Bunz, Media Scientist

netz.macht.kultur - interview with Mercedes Bunz, Media Scientist
"Public Structual Change – Art and Audience in the Digital Age" will be the topic of Mercedes Bunz at the politico-cultural education congress in Berlin. 2010LAB.tv asked the publisher of the monthly magazine DE:BUG about digitalisation and cultural politics.


Are we in the middle of a transformation process that is just as drastic such as the industrial revolution?

Definitely! We don't fully grasp it yet. We lament on a daily basis that digitalisation and all its information is overloading us individuals - yet we haven't started to comprehend what it means for our society. The frequent complaining seems to distract us from raising our heads and to take a look beyond our egoistic horizons. A great task for cultural politics, I'd say.


What effect will digitalisation have on cultural politics in future?

You have to ask the question the other way round: "What effect will cultural politics have on digitalisation in future? Much like other evolutions, digitalisation is a historical event which we cannot control - at the same time, however, we aren't at the mercy of digitalisation either. The basic mistake lies in the fact that we understand ourselves as too passive. I'm excited to learn what cultural politics plan on doing about that.


Which measures do cultural politics have to apply in times of the digital age?

Applying measures - this sounds as if digitalisation was an adolescent who has gotten out of control. Cultural politics don't have to apply measures but simply have to sound out active options for action. Digitalisation offers so many chances, especially in the area of cultural politics.

How much is our culture influenced by digitalisation?

It is rotated by 180 degrees. The technology enabling digital copies and cut, copy & past has only perfectioned what Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp had once started.

Which question has to be answered most urgently for the digital society of the future?

That's easy. It's the following question: What do we really want from digitalisation?






Dr. phil. Mercedes Bunz, expert in Cultural Studies and Journalist. She lives in London and writes about digital journalism and digitalisation; she was Editor in Chief of Tagesspiegel.de and the Berlin-based magazine "Zitty". Since 1997, she is the publisher of DE:BUG - the monthly magazine for electronic aspects of life.


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