24 September 2002

• New Main Location For The World Wide Video Festival

Since 2000, when it became apparent that the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam would no longer be available as the central location for the World Wide Video Festival, it has been difficult for the organisation to find a suitable space for the presentation of a large festival exhibition.

To accommodate the retrospective exhibition of the jubilee edition of 2003, we have been looking long and hard for a space that would meet our specific requirements in terms of scale, technical infrastructure and general ambience. We are therefore very pleased to announce that for its 20th edition in May 2003, the World Wide Video Festival will collaborate with the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (PTA).

The PTA offers a variety of voluminous spaces situated on multiple floors, providing ample space and opportunity for the majority of the festival’s activities. Situated on the IJ river (i.e. the harbour waters of Amsterdam) the PTA will be our main location and central meeting point during the entire festival period from Thursday, 8 May through Sunday, 25 May, 2003.

The rooms at the PTA are big enough to accommodate the retrospective exhibition of some twenty of the most imaginative media installations from the festival’s rich history, several solo exhibitions, as well as the Media Lounge. Here, in comfortable surroundings, visitors can watch their own choice of the videotapes, CD-ROMs and net-art selected for the festival.

At present we are looking into the possibility of having the screenings (large screen presentations), the seminar and the Meet-the-Artist programme also take place at the PTA. Besides all this, additional elements of the programme will be presented at locations such as the Melkweg and the Dutch Institute for Media Art.