Festival Countdown: The Curtain Goes Up in 24 Hours

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours Opening
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An unusual picture—the old postal service logistics center next to the train station abloom in bright green. Not only Ökoplant-trees, bushes and flowers impart fresh colors to the immense halls; the dreary gray walls increasingly disappear behind a proliferation of colorful festival furnishings—for instance, bright red scaffolding, brilliantly white Styrofoam blocks and gaily decorated chairs. In less than 24 hours, POSTCITY will open its doors to 2016 festivalgoers. We went on a stroll through this 80,000+-square-meter facility and recorded a few impressions for your viewing and reading pleasure.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Dr. Marjan Colletti and his team are intently tweaking the presentation of their 3-D printer. This huge robot prints out a very special material—concrete.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

The structures that can emerge from this are truly impressive, not least of all due to their size.

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Credit: Vanessa Graf

On the other end of the long hall, Yasuaki Kakehi is at work setting up “Single-Stroke Structures”—inflatable partitions that can be used to set up a small room posthaste.

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Credit: Vanessa Graf

Meanwhile, beneath the nearby bank of spiral packet chutes, a marketplace is being installed. This will be the setting of a BIO AUSTRIA organic farmers market on Saturday, September 10, 2016. Innovative farmers will show how they produce and process regional products. Festivalgoers are cordially invited to put these wares to the taste-test.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

BIO AUSTRIA isn’t alone. Here and there, artists are tinkering with what they’re putting on display.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

And speaking of hardware—there’s still work to do at lots of locations. The partitions and scaffolding are slowly taking shape.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Like every year’s festival, a whole crew of Infotrainers will be on hand to explain the exhibitions. Here, they’re going through orientation so they can do the best possible job mediating festivalgoers’ encounters with complex content.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours Gerfried Stocker

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of Ars Electronica, gives the Infotrainers an introduction before taking them on a tour of the various works.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

The conference hall is almost finished. This space will host a very diverse lineup of conferences and speeches over the course of the festival—for example, the Helpers Conference on Saturday, September 10th.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours Plants

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Not all plants grow where they should. The last shipment from Linz’s municipal nursery arrives.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours Dragan Ilic

Credit: Vanessa Graf

One floor down, the scene is less flowery—Dragan Ilic and his crew are working out the final details of his robotic performance, “Roboaction(s) A1 K1.”

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Nearby, Eric Dyer is setting up “Implant,” a jumbo-format medical instrument.

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

There’s a bunker hidden deep inside POSTCITY. Here, Osamu Tanabe explains a work entitled “CHOZUMAKI.”

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

A wide variety of atmospheric works is hidden amidst the winding corridors and spaces inside the bunker—for instance, “Time Displacement / Chemobrionic Garden.”

Postcity Festival Countdown 24 Hours

Credit: Vanessa Graf

Garden below, garden above—whether in the form of salt crystals or genuine plants, something’s growing everywhere. See for yourself and pay us a call. We’re kicking off the Ars Electronica Festival on September 8, 2016 at 10 AM. The complete program, the schedule, helpful maps and informative material can be downloaded as a PDF from https://ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms/en/download/.

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