VIPER media art festival taking place in March 2006
VIPER, the international festival for film, video and new media, will take place this year from 16 to 20 March in Basel. Although it is one of the few internationally recognized media art festivals, VIPER could not be put on in 2005 due to financing difficulties. On its 25th anniversary, which the festival planned to celebrate in November 2005, the budget showed a deficit of 120,000 Swiss francs because various sponsors had withheld funding. This was preceded by the announcement by its chief sponsor, the Christoph Merian Foundation of Basel, to support the festival only until 2005. The foundation’s withdrawal of its backing plunged the festival into a deep crisis. Shortly before year-end 2005, the government of the Canton of Basel granted a postponement of the date for the anniversary festivities and the funds set aside for it until 2006, on the condition that the festival mount the event by 30 April. After the other partners had agreed, the new date was set for March.
VIPER was founded by the association of the same name, and regularly took place in Lucerne starting in 1980. In 2000, the media art festival was moved to Basel. Along with the offer made by the Canton of Basel, the prospect of support from the private Christoph Merian Foundation was a primary motive for the hotly debated move from Lucerne to Basel, a controversial decision in terms of cultural policy. VIPER positioned itself with a profile encompassing both works from the field of the fine arts as well as film art. In Basel, this places the festival in the midst of ART Basel and like-minded local media art organizers [plug.in] who are active year-round. In its sixth year as festival sponsor, the Christoph Merian Foundation cancelled its backing in the amount of 275,000 Swiss francs per year, claiming that VIPER had not attained the anticipated popular appeal and that the festival had failed to anchor itself securely on the city’s cultural scene. In the foregoing years, VIPER had boasted more than 21,000 visitors – but this was significantly more than previously in Lucerne.
For the 25th festival in March, interactive films, installations, video essays, web art projects, VJ events and performances from 67 countries are planned.