The amazing program lined up for the Opening event on Thursday, September 9, 2016 at 9 PM (admission: free of charge) in POSTCITY includes a performance by German sound artist FM Einheit—one of his mixing consoles has already been set up in front of POSTCITY’s spiral packet chutes—“Roboactive (n) A1 K1” by artist Dragan Ilic, and racing drones zipping through the former letter & parcel distribution facility at speeds in excess of 100 km/h. To wrap up this package, DJs will be sending out House, Techno, Hiphop and R&B.
But POSTCITY isn’t open yet, and artist Dragan Ilic hasn’t been strapped to the robotic arm that, on opening night and periodically throughout the festival, will be swinging him and the brushes and pencils in his hands as he creates his monumental drawings.
One floor higher in POSTCITY’s main hall, setup work is in progress. Heads Up is a good idea in this shared space full of robots, delivery trucks, scooters and busy people. Here, an industrial robot goes through training as a journeyman sculptor; in the background, white blocks await forwarding to artist Quayola’s “Sculpture Factory,” an Artist Lab that’s part of the big “Alchemists of our Time” theme exhibition.
Provisions have been made in POSTCITY for food and drink as well as cozy spots to kick back and savor it. After all, festivalgoers have no fewer than 80,000 square meters to explore.
The conference hall has been adorned with almost 60,000 flowers, each one commemorating a refugee who spent the night in safety here since September 2015. In return for a small donation, a festivalgoer can become the proud owner of one of these plants and take it home with her/him. The proceeds benefit a local community, Über den Tellerrand community, that’s working with refugees.
Whose vehicle could this be?
This is merely the subtlest first hint of the greening of POSTCITY; more plants are on the way.
Beneath the blue spiral packet chutes, participants in the Future Innovators Summit will find a spot to engage in their discussions about the world of tomorrow.
Several of the 3-D printers are up and running!
Japanese media artist Yasuaki Kakehi has already arrived to set up his Artist Lab.
It still looks like a construction site, but this will be changing pretty quickly over the coming hours.
The main hall isn’t the only setting for media art; there’s plenty of room in the adjacent offices too.
A media artist’s basic tool: the computer.
Projections are tested on the wall & floor space that’s so abundantly available in POSTCITY.
The drinking water tree of LINZ AG [local utility] has taken root.
The Ars Electronica DroneLab is the go-to location for everybody interested in unmanned aerial vehicles. This will be the site of speeches and presentations by experts in the field.
The conference hall will soon be hosting several meetings and symposia. An overview is available at ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms!
Don’t worry, the automatic doors will be deactivated during the festival!
We’ll be back soon with another behind-the-scenes look, starting with the commencement of the Ars Electronica Festival on September 8th at 10 AM. The complete program and schedule, helpful maps and informative material can be downloaded as a PDF from ars.electronica.art/radicalatoms!