About Festival

Explore the boundaries of art and technology at the Videomedeja Festival

Videomedeja is an international festival of contemporary art and new media founded in 1996 in Novi Sad, Serbia. It emerged from the need to create a space for free artistic exploration at a time when video art and emerging media practices lacked institutional support, visibility, and a developed critical framework within the local context.

From its inception, Videomedeja was conceived as an open, independent, and inclusive platform, a space without boundaries, free from religious, class, gender, or racial divisions. This commitment to freedom and equality remains one of the festival’s core values and forms the foundation of its long-term identity and international relevance.

From Video Art to Expanded Media

Videomedeja was established at a time when video art occupied a marginal position outside dominant institutional structures. Over three decades, the festival has continuously followed, analyzed, and actively shaped the development of media art, in parallel with technological innovation and shifts in social, political, and cultural contexts.

Over time, the festival’s focus expanded organically, from video art and experimental film to digital animation, interactive installations, networked and hybrid formats, XR/AR/VR practices, as well as contemporary artistic research in artificial intelligence and emerging audiovisual technologies. This evolution has not been driven by trends, but by a sustained need to question artistic language in relation to changing modes of thought, communication, and perception in contemporary society.

Videomedeja has never been a festival of form alone, but a festival of ideas, processes, and critical reflection on the relationship between art, technology, and society.

A Platform Beyond the Event

Although realized as an annual festival, Videomedeja does not function solely as a time-bound event. It represents a continuous platform for the production, presentation, exchange, and interpretation of contemporary media art.

Through the development of accompanying programs, publications, digital archives, and online platforms, the festival builds a lasting knowledge space that extends beyond the festival days themselves. A central element of this process is its archive of more than 16,000 artworks from around the world, one of the most significant resources of its kind in the region. Part of this archive is publicly accessible through the Videomedeja Medialab portal, serving as an active research and educational resource.

Competitive Framework and Evaluation

Videomedeja is organized as an international competitive festival in which selected artworks are presented through screenings and exhibition formats. The competitive framework is not based on ranking or commercial value, but on curatorial and professional evaluation of artistic practices that expand the boundaries of media and critically engage with contemporary social and technological contexts.

Selection and Awards

The festival program is selected by a three-member selection committee, while awards are granted by an international jury composed of artists, curators, and theorists in the fields of contemporary art and new media. Detailed information regarding awards, criteria, and jury composition is defined for each edition of the festival and published on the official festival platforms.

Continuity as a Value

One of Videomedeja’s defining characteristics is continuity. More than three decades of uninterrupted activity have enabled the festival to develop its own critical position, learn from previous experiences, and refine its programs through constant analysis, dialogue, and self-reflection.

Continuity is not an end in itself, but a prerequisite for responsible, long-term engagement in a field defined by constant transformation.

International Context and Exchange

Throughout its existence, Videomedeja has brought together artists, authors, and researchers from more than 50 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Australia. Its international character is not measured solely by the number of participants, but by long-term collaborations, knowledge exchange, and enduring professional and personal networks developed over time.

Operating from the local context of Novi Sad, Videomedeja functions as a bridge between the regional art scene and global currents in contemporary media art, while offering international audiences insight into the specific cultural and social environment from which it operates.

Today

Today, Videomedeja remains a leading platform for video art and new media in Serbia and a recognized point on the international map of contemporary media art. With each new edition, the festival resists repetition, continuously reexamines its own format, and opens space for artistic practices that pose questions, challenge boundaries, and propose new ways of understanding the contemporary world.