Ars Electronica Festival 2015

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Credit: Martin Hieslmair

The blue spiral packet chutes quickly became PostCity’s trademark. A year ago, they were still being used in what was then an Austrian Postal Service logistics center to twirl letters and parcels down one level …

Credit: Tom Mesic

… where they were loaded onto the countless trucks that took them on the next leg of their journey.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Set up between Bays 1 and 7 was the 2015 Ars Electronica Festival’s Welcome Desk, the go-to location for visitors, artists and journalists.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The festival had lots of room, to say the least! The spacious premises totaled 80,000 m2. One huge room was set aside as a conference hall, where Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of Ars Electronica, introduced the first talk at 10 AM on opening day.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

One of the top attractions was, of course, the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion self-driving car.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The participants in the Future Innovators Summit doing some meeting & greeting.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Ars Electronica Futurelab Director Horst Hörtner tests the Big Robot MK1.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The CyberArts exhibition showcasing this year’s Prix Ars Electronica prizewinners opened on September 3, 2015 at the OK Center for Contemporary Art.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The exhibition will be running until September 13, 2015.

Credit: Tom Mesic

New exhibits have also opened at the Ars Electronica Center, and they too will remain on display after the festival.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Back in PostCity, another performance was taking off. These eye-catchers are flying objects manufactured by FESTO.

Credit: Tom Mesic

There was a lot to see throughout the five-day festival. The gamut ranged from interactive animation …

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

… to extremely sensitive robot arms.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Needless to say, there was no shortage of space and ample time for conversations. Festivalgoers were welcome to listen in.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Derrick de Kerckhove at one of the first talks in PostCity.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Hiroshi Ishii of the MIT Media Lab.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

PostCity hosted the Opening on the first evening of the festival.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The Opening took place inside the former Post facility as well as outside in the courtyard still adorned with signage for bulk mail customers.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The spectrum of performances at the Opening was wide indeed. There were piano concerts …

Credit: Tom Mesic

… fanfares by brass instruments …

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… choral vocals …

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

… and the Diaspora Maschine that transformed the spiral packet chutes into an extraordinary sound-corpus for the duration of the festival.

Credit: Martin Hieslmair

The various batteries of packet chutes also contributed stylish visual highlights to the pleasant festival atmosphere—here, for instance, adjacent to PostCity’s bakery.

Credit: Martin Hieslmair

To see everything at this festival, you had to cover quite a bit of ground. For those who needed to take a short break, these wooden tables offered a user-friendly spot to hang out.

Credit: Martin Hieslmair

PostCity also hosted Post-Post, this year’s Campus exhibition by Linz Art University.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Drumming on the spiral packet chutes during a “Diaspora Maschine” performance.

Credit: Martin Hieslmair

Shooting down the chutes.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Workshops in conjunction with the Future Innovators Summit also took place amongst the chutes.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Kilian Kleinschmidt, a humanitarian aid expert active worldwide, delivering his address at the first POST CITY Symposium.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The youngsters honored this year by the Prix Ars Electronica received their awards at the u19 Ceremony on Friday.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD is the festival-within-a-festival for young people under 19 years of age.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The workshops called for creativity as well as a bit of patience on the part of kids and youngsters.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Feed me” was an impressive walk-through installation.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Round Table at the u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD Festival.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Renaming the City sought a suitable name for the main promenade through Linz’s Volksgarten park.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The Ars Electronica Center’s new Deep Space 8K was one of the featured attractions at this year’s media arts festival.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Giving the “older” stations some play could turn out to be a rewarding experience too.

Credit: Tom Mesic

A tour through PostCity’s assorted spaces offered multifaceted impressions.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Prizes were bestowed on the 2015 Golden Nica recipients at the Ars Electronica Gala on Friday evening in the Brucknerhaus.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The off-beat outfits that could be admired during the day in PostCity’s Fashion District were presented in the evening at the Gala.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

A great moment—all the 2015 Prix Ars Electronica prizewinners assembled on stage.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The presentation of the Golden Nicas was the penultimate highlight on Friday, Day 2 of the festival.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Finally, PostCity shifted into nighttime mode and staged an in-house Nightline in the Track Hall.

Credit: Martin Hieslmair

New day, new lineup—prizewinning art works created for the Teletext system were presented in Deep Space at the Ars Electronica Center.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The Council of Europe also hosted a conference in the Ars Electronica Center.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

At the five Prix Forums held on Saturday, the spotlight was on the prizewinners and the jurors. They convened for talks in the OK Center for Contemporary Art.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

For festivalgoers, this was a one-of-a-kind opportunity for up-close-and-personal encounters with the artists themselves.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Tasty, locally produced products were on sale at the “Farmers’ Market of the Future” in PostCity on Saturday.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Hammocks offered rest & relaxations for busy festivalgoers.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Sporadically swirling up in the background: the blue spiral packet chutes.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Works of art by undergrads at Université Paris 8 were showcased on the campus of Linz Art University on Hauptplatz.

Credit: Tom Mesic

PostCity’s highway signage came in handy on the weekend when thousands of spectators stormed the main festival venue.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Many of the exhibitions’ installations were hands-on affairs.

Credit: Tom Mesic

In the bunker at PostCity.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Immediately adjacent to PostCity’s Train Hall, the clocks kept time in a zone of their own.

Credit: Tom Mesic

On Saturday evening, the voestalpine Klangwolke in Donaupark was the biggest show in town.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

This year’s “Cloud of Sound” was entitled “Hochwald – Dance of the Trees.”

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Thousands of spectators gathered on the banks of the Danube for this dramatic spectacle.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The final performance of “Second Body” was in St. Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday night.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Saturday night at the movies: the roof of the OK Center for Contemporary Art was a great setting for animation alfresco.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Winding down another eventful day, this time with inspiring talks …

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

… new perspectives and prospects …

Credit: Tom Mesic

… and manifold forms of visual impetus at the nexus of art, technology and society.

Credit: Tom Mesic

On Sunday, Day 4 of the Ars Electronica Festival, spectators packed Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center.

Credit: Tom Mesic

PostCity was easily identifiable with its own jumbo-format city limits sign.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Carlo Ratti kicked off another series of speeches in the Conference Hall.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Thanks to the spacious emptiness of PostCity’s premises, works of art could spread out and do their thing.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The artists customized their presentations according to the facts & circumstances on site.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Dark spaces were ideal settings for light installations.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Thanks to a diversified food court, festivalgoers could spend the whole day in PostCity.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Or simply immerse themselves in other virtual realities.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

The roof of PostCity was the right spot for an artistic work.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Continuous changes of scenery and an ongoing process of discovery—too bad PostCity is just a temporary setting for media art.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Painting come to life.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Out-of-the-ordinary projection surfaces.

Credit: Florian Voggeneder

Urban spaces and green landscapes coalesce.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Kids get hands-on experience with 3-D printing.

Credit: Tom Mesic

The days of festival seemed to fly by, not only for visitors but also for the many Ars Electronica staffers involved in producing this extraordinary festival.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Presentations on an ongoing basis.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Find your place in the future!

Credit: Tom Mesic

Or simply play.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Sunday wound up with a marvelous Big Concert Night in the Train Hall.

Credit: Tom Mesic

Music Monday wrapped up the 2015 Ars Electronica Festival. See you next year!