
Theme: Futures Implied
Originally, media architecture was most concerned with the integration of displays and interactive installations into architectural structures, such as media facades and urban screens. Over the years, the discipline has grown much broader, as new technologies such as digital platforms and smart city technologies have increasingly made their way into the experience, management and design of cities.
None of these technologies brought into the city are neutral enablers, mere decorative structures or just simple market places connecting demand and supply in fields as diverse as energy and transport to commerce and leisure. They are built upon numerous spoken and unspoken assumptions about urban life, each with their own implications for both social relations as well as their effect on the natural ecosystem.It is time therefore for the discipline of media architecture to address the implied futures of new technologies.
MAB20 calls for media architectures that move beyond the mere spectacular; as well as beyond the design of individualized services comforting human customers. MAB20 calls for media architectures and urban interaction that dare to take on a more-than-human approach: aiming at the well-being of the natural ecosystem as a whole; For urban media art and design that bring implicit and explicit bias within technology and culture to light, and provide the means for ongoing discussion, debate, and societal change; For digital platforms that strengthen citizen’s digital rights in democratic societies
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MAB20 wil be ONLINE
The Media Architecture Biennale 20 (MAB20), originally planned for the fall of 2020, will take place on June 28th – July 2nd, 2021 in an online format. All of the major events such as workshops, keynotes, awards and paper sessions will be accessible online from locations throughout the world. We still hope to be able to accompany these with some smaller scale, on-site meet-ups in Amsterdam and Utrecht, depending on Covid regulations at that time. Our goal is to ensure we provide an exciting and safe experience to the MAB-Community.
Check out below the extended deadlines for our calls for participation. For monthly updates on our events, deadlines and registration, sign up below for our newsletter and we will keep you informed.
Subscribe here
We hope to welcome you for an inspiring conference in the Summer/Winter of 2021.
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Call for Outstanding Media Architecture
DEADLINE: Extended to 29 March 2021

Call for MAB Student Awards
DEADLINE: 1 April 2021

Call for Late-Breaking Work
DEADLINE: 1 May 2021

Call for Participation Demos & Posters Online Exhibition
DEADLINE: 8 May 2021

Call for Papers
DEADLINE: Extended to 1 March 2021

Call for Workshop Proposals
This call closed February 21, 2020.
MAB Community
Since #MAB20 has been postponed to 28 June – 2 July 2021, we would like to continue to strengthen the ties that bind us together as a community. That led us to the idea of using our communication channels as open platforms to showcase the valuable work that our community has been developing. So, let us know about the projects, publications, events that you are involved with and that you would like to share with the #MABcommunity, and we will post them on our online channels!
You can reach us via our email: info@mab20.org
or you can send us a direct message on our social channels:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter
Let’s stay connected!

ONLINE STUDIO | Exploring Novel and Advanced Materials for the Smart Urban Built Environment
TEI 2021

AWARD | Dr Dave Colangelo received an SCMS Award
2021 SCMS Anne Friedberg Innovative Scholarship Award

AWARD | Dr Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska receives an IDA Award
International Dark-Sky Association Award

WORKSHOP | Research Through Design Approaches In Human-Robot Interaction
Carnegie Mellon University, The University of Sydney and Cornell University

LIVECAST SERIES | Rights to the Blockchain City
Play & Civic Media, Institute of Network Cultures, Het Nieuwe Institute and The University of Edinburgh.

PAPER | Exploring Media Architecture Design in Virtual Design Environments
Written by Waldemar Jenek, Glenda Caldwell, Jared Donovan, Veronica Garcia-Hansen, Matt Adcock and Mingze Xi

BOOK | Shaping Smart for Better Cities
Edited by Alessandro Aurigi and Nancy Odendaal

ONLINE EVENT | Smart City Dilemma Sessions
Organised by HvA – Smart City Academy

BOOK LAUNCH | The Building as a Screen
by Dave Colangelo

MINI-SYMPOSIUM | AI in the Neighborhood
ArtCenter College of Design Pasadena and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

ARTWORK | ‘Moment Magnet’
by Anuj Gala & Jari Vuorinen | Lighting Design Collective

ARTWORK | ‘Wave of Rainbow’
by Anaisa Franco

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION | “More-than-Human Futures: Connected Urbanism and Cohabitation in the Smart City”
by Marcus Foth

ONLINE EVENT | Trust in Play Special Live Cast
Trust in Play European School of Urban Game Design

DOSSIER | Media and the Physically Distanced City
by Dave Colangelo, Zach Melzer, Nanna Verhoeff, Sigrid Merx, Shanti Sumartojo et al., and Will Straw

EVENT | Media + Architecture
by Screens in the Wild @The Bartlett

WEBINAR | Media Architecture: Past & Present with Bruce Ramus
Illuminating Engineering Society – Vancouver

WEBINAR SERIES | “Archive and Process”
Jason Bruges Studio

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION | “Stop and Smell the Chalk Flowers: A Robotic Probe for Investigating Urban Interaction with Physicalised Displays”
by Marius Hoggenmüller, Luke Hespanhol, and Martin Tomitsch

MOCK-UP | “Developing a curriculum for designing media architecture with augmented Reality tools and virtual reality tools”
by Waldemar Jenek

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION | “Radical Placemaking: Immersive, Experiential and Activist Approaches for Marginalised Communities”
by Kavita Gonsalves, Marcus Foth, Glenda Caldwell, and Waldemar Jenek

PUBLICATION | “The Persistence of Code in Game Engine Culture”
by Eric Freedman

PUBLICATION | “Cahier 1: Values of Survival”
by Caroline Nevejan and Huda Abi Fares

ONLINE WORKSHOP | The City as Performative Object
with Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum

ONLINE EVENT | Trust in Play Solstice’s Games Party
Trust In Play European School of Urban Game Design

ARTICLES | “Essential Futures”
by UNStudio

ARTICLE | “From the Eyes of the City to Eyes for the Citizens”
by Martijn de Waal

ONLINE EVENT | Thursday Night Live! Who is We?
Het Nieuwe Instituut

ARTICLE | “Designing urban robots for hybrid placemaking experiences”
by Marius Hoggenmüller, Martin Tomitsch, and Luke Hespanhol

ONLINE MEETUP | Digital Design in Times of Covid-19
Master Digital Design

ARTWORK | “Pulso”
by Luke Hespanhol

FESTIVAL | SP_Urban Arte Conecta
São Paulo, Brazil

LIVECAST | Designing the 1.5m Society
Hosted by Pakhuis de Zwijger

PUBLICATION | The Routledge Companion to Urban Media and Communication
by Zlatan Krajina and Deborah Stevenson

PUBLICATION | “The Building as Screen”
by Dave Colangelo

CALL FOR PAPERS | Interaction Design and Architecture (s) Journal (IxD&A)
Augmenting Space: The role of immersive technologies in future cities

PROJECT | Renovation of 18 Septemberplein, Eindhoven
by UNStudio

PANEL | Media Architecture Talks
Hosted by Squint/Opera and Dezeen
Meetups & Events • Sep 2019 – June 2021

MAB20 Livecast #4 | Where Media Architecture Meets Civic Interaction Design
Date: 24 March, 2021
Time: 18:30 – 19:30 CET
Hosted and streamed by Pakhuis de Zwijger

Online MAB Meetup | Futures Implied: new horizons in Media Architecture #2
Date: 10 March 2021
Time: 09:00 – 10:00 CET
Online Meetup via Zoom
![[urban interfaces] seminar 2020-2021: Interfacing the (In)Formal City](https://cdn.mab20.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2020/10/image002-366x240.jpg)
[urban interfaces] seminar 2020-2021: Interfacing the (In)Formal City
Dates: March 4, March 18, April 1, April 15, 2021
Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Where: Online (TBA)

GDS-MAB webinar with Ayona Datta | Inclusion in the datafied city
Date: 23 February, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 13:00 CET
Where: Online (TBA)

MAB20 Livecast #3 | Designing Restorative Environments: Moving Beyond COVID-19
Date: 3 February, 2021
Time: 18:30 – 19:30 CET
Hosted and streamed by Pakhuis de Zwijger

Online MAB Meetup | Futures Implied: new horizons in Media Architecture #1
Date: 11 November, 2020
Time: 12:00 – 13:30 CET
Online Meetup via Zoom

MAB20 Livecast #2 | Futures Implied: How Media Architecture shapes our cities
Date: 1 Oct, 2020
Time: 18:30 – 19:30 CET
Hosted by Pakhuis de Zwijger

MAB20 Livecast #1 | Media Architecture Today, for Tomorrow’s Cities
Date: 10 Sep, 2020
Time: 14:00 – 15:00 CET
Hosted by Pakhuis de Zwijger

Online MAB Meetup | Media Architecture in the University Context
Date: 11 July, 2020
Time: 14:00 – 15:30 CET
Online Meetup via Zoom

Online Meetup | On Citizens, Their Cities, and the Role of Design
Date: 9 April, 2020
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Online Meetup via Zoom

Pressure Cooker Workshop | Designing More-Than-Human Cities
Date: 16-17 March, 2020
Time: 10:00 – 18:00
Location: MCW Lab, Kromme Nieuwegracht 20, Utrecht

MAB & MDD Meetup | Do Designers Play? A Conversation on Games, People, Cities, and Technology
Date: 27 February, 2020
Time: 20:00 – 22:00
Location: HvA Leeuwenburg, Weesperzijde 190, Amsterdam
![[urban interfaces] seminar Urban Ecologies](https://cdn.mab20.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2020/02/Urban-ecologies-2-375x151.jpg)
[urban interfaces] seminar Urban Ecologies
Dates: February 11 and 25, and March 10, 2020.
Time: 13:00-17:00
Location: Jankskerkhof 15, room 101, Utrecht & MCW Lab, Muntstraat 2A, Utrecht

Meetup | Playful Cities: Dramaturgies for Active Public Spaces
Date: 30 January, 2020
Time: 20:00
Location: Pakhuis de Zwijger (Workspace), Amsterdam

Winter School Promises Promises | Tech Reality-Check
Dates: January 23 – 26, 2020
Location: Amsterdam
Program MAB20 • 28 June – 2 July 2021
The Biennale focuses on media artists and designers from across a range of disciplines (interaction design, urban design, public spaces, architecture and digital design), as well as on researchers and parties from business and governments involved in the development of public spaces. The MAB20 programme is anticipated to attract around 250 international professional visitors.


Workshops

Symposia

Conference

Awards

Tours & Exhibitions
Partners
Main Organizers

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Utrecht University

Media Architecture Institute
Organizing Partners

Civic Interaction Design

Urban Governance & Social Innovation

Urban Technology

Master Digital Design

Centre of Expertise for Creative Innovation

Campus Amsterdam

The Mobile City

Marineterrein

Pakhuis de Zwijger

IJsfontein

Amsterdam Design Centre

ARIAS

Amsterdam University of the Arts

Digital Placemaking Institute

Architectuurcentrum Amsterdam

Nemo

Amsterdam Light Festival

Open & Agile Smart Cities

Archis/Volume

KooZA/rch

Archdaily

Dezeen

Gemeente Amsterdam
MAB20 will be online
The Media Architecture Biennale 20 (MAB20), originally planned for the fall of 2020, will take place on June 28th - July 2nd, 2021 in an online format. All of the major events such as workshops, keynotes, awards and paper sessions will be accessible online from locations throughout the world. We still hope to be able to accompany these with some smaller scale, on-site meet-ups in Amsterdam and Utrecht, depending on Covid regulations at that time. Our goal is to ensure we provide an exciting and safe experience to the MAB-Community.
For monthly updates on our events, deadlines and registration, sign up below for our newsletter and we will keep you informed.
Our calls for participation are still open and a few deadlines have been extended! For more information, click here.
We hope to welcome you for an inspiring conference in the Summer/Winter of 2021!
Media Architecture Biennale Team