2016
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Express and Press to Discuss the Future, at People Thinking Lab
You get an exchange of creative ideas in advertisement agencies by the day, but not with everyday people or your fellow neighbors. The Future Catalysts (Ars Electronica Futurelab x Hakuhodo) take the fundamental idea of engaging people in a collective brainstorming further. They incorporate the Shadowgram-Project into the “People Thinking Lab” to make us ponder…
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Festival Countdown: The Curtain Goes Up in 24 Hours
It’s less than 24 hours until the grand opening of the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival. Needless to say, the preparations are going full speed ahead. Here, we take one last tour before the exhibitions, conferences and performances begin on September 8, 2016.
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DRONE 100 – Spaxels Over Linz: Test Flight in the Mühlviertel
“DRONE 100 –Spaxels over Linz” is the title of a spectacular quadcopter swarm performance that Ars Electronica and Intel are staging on September 10th, 2016. Before the 100 drones make their European public debut above the Danube they’ll be subjected to a rigorous physical exam. The first two test flights already took place this week—the…
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POSTCITY: The Countdown is On
It’s only a couple of days until the opening of Ars Electronica 2016! Before POSTCITY, the prime festival venue adjacent to Linz’s main train station, goes into service on September 8th as a setting for exhibitions, conferences and performances, we took a look around this imposing edifice.
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Linzers Look beyond Their Own Backyard: Cooking Events by and with Refugees
Immediately after last year’s Ars Electronica Festival, the POSTCITY venue was converted into a transit camp for refugees. Since last September, over 50,000 men, women and children have spent a night in Linz during their flight. In remembrance of them, we’re adorning the premises with the same number of flowers, which festivalgoers can buy and…
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Working Together on Behalf of Refugees: The 2nd Helpers Conference in Linz
This is a conference organized by ZusammenHelfen in Oberösterreich (Helping Together in Upper Austria) to provide support to, show appreciation for and foster networking among the many volunteers working to aid refugees. Volunteer helpers will be gathering on September 10, 2016 at the Ars Electronica Festival. Nicole Sonnleitner of ZusammenHelfen in Oberösterreich told us more.
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On Absurd Landscapes and Habitable Exoplanets
The artists collective Quadrature began Part 2 of their art & science residency at the Ars Electronica Futurelab a few days ago. The three artists spent the first part at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile in late May. To find out what they experienced, why they found everything there absurd and what they…
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WE GUIDE YOU through the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival
Exhibitions, concerts, performances, events, workshops, film screenings and awards ceremonies—there’s a lot happening at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival. But if you’re not so fluent in German or English, it can all get a bit daunting. That’s the reason for WE GUIDE YOU. Three types of guided tours provide insightful overviews in no fewer than…
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Sonic Saturday: Acoustic Virtual Worlds
September 10th is Sonic Saturday at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival. Anton Bruckner Private University will stage an extensive electronic music program including concerts and speeches, and the Computer Music Studio is hosting an open house in its recently opened Sonic Lab featuring state-of-the-art audio technology and extraordinary acoustics.
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Future Innovators Summit 2016: Creating Agendas for Tomorrow
Since its inception at the Ars Electronica Festival in 2014, The Future Innovators Summit (FIS) has grown and developed into a reputable frame and a new model for creative discussions about the future. This year is the culmination of 3 year’s experience and collaborative partnerships which has led to an expanded format and a significant…
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Die Entscheidung: A Matter of Life or Death
“Die Entscheidung” (The Decision), a computer game about life-threatening cancer, greatly impressed this year’s Prix Ars Electronica jury and garnered the Golden Nica in the u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD category for 17-year-old Jonas Bodingbauer. At the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival he will not only receive the award in POSTCITY during the u19 ceremony -…
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Second Story: Old Objects, New Stories
Aoife van Linden Tol takes printed objects that are endowed with emotions and gives them a new start. In her performance “Second Story,” she blows up old photos, passports, love letters, etc. in controlled explosions. Here, she tells us how her first test detonation went, what we can expect in her September performance, and how…
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Campus Exhibition: Media Art from China
China’s history is awesome, full of tales and traditions passed down from time immemorial. How do students at Tsinghua University deal with this monumental cultural heritage when they approach it in terms of media art? In this interview, Prof. Wang of the Academy of Arts and Design tells us about his college. We also get…
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Black Hole Horizon: Sounds into Soap Bubbles
Thom Kubli’s work “Black Hole Horizon” turns sounds into three-dimensional objects. Big black horns emit deep tones that form soap bubbles. The work can be seen live at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival. We recently had a chance to chat with the artist about his work.
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100% Organic: The Farmers Market at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival
Saturday is go-to-market day at the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival. A whole day long, festivalgoers in POSTCITY will be able to taste and purchase organic wares produced by regional farmers, all of them members of BIO AUSTRIA. We talked to Marlene Wolfsteiner of BIO AUSTRIA about the farmers market at the festival.
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Politics meets Social Media: Participation in the Age of New Media
The emergence of Facebook, Twitter & Co. in recent years has opened up new options for the exchange of political views. How these digital platforms are changing the political discourse, what new forms of sociopolitical participation are resulting from them, and which challenges they confront us with will be discussed at “Participation & Political Socialization…
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Around the World via Quadcopter
A spectacular Spaxels show will be the lead-in to the 2016 Klangwolke, Linz’s annual outdoor extravaganza. The DRONE 100 crew has already made a name for itself worldwide; now, the record-setting quadcopter formation of the Ars Electronica Futurelab and Intel™ Corporation is making its European debut. Here, Chris Bruckmayr and Andreas Jalsovec talk about some…
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DRONE 100 in Linz: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
This will be the first public appearance in Europe of the world’s largest autonomous drone swarm. Just before the Visualisierte Klangwolke in September 2016, the Ars Electronica Futurelab’s 100 Spaxels will display their aerial artistry in Linz. Here, Chris Bruckmayr and Andreas Jalsovec of the Spaxels crew talk about all the preparations and work that…
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CyberArts 2016: The Best of Media Art
One of the highlights of each year’s Ars Electronica Festival is always the CyberArts exhibition, a showcase of the works singled out for recognition by the Prix Ars Electronica, one of the most important awards honoring creativity and pioneering spirit in the digital media genre. Here, Genoveva Rückert, the curator of CyberArts 2016, tells us…
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Presenting: The Alchemists of Our Time
The theme of the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival is RADICAL ATOMS – and the alchemists of our time. But who are these people, actually? In the theme exhibition, you’ll find out all about the artists, scientists, activists and entrepreneurs whose unorthodox approaches and inspiring projects are bound to make an impact on our future. In…
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P2P Foundation: Concentrated Knowledge for All
Who has access to knowledge and information online? Who controls this exchange and who can profit from it? These issues of decisive importance to our digital future are the P2P Foundation’s bread and butter. In recognition of their committed work, the non-profit organization is this year’s recipient of the Golden Nica in the Prix Ars…
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A Festival Goes Green: A Visit to Linz City Gardens
The 2016 Ars Electronica Festival doesn’t kick off until September 8th but the preparations are already running at full speed. Not only does our in-house production crew have their hands full; our associates have been busy too. The staff of Linz City Gardens, for instance, has been cultivating thousands of flowers to adorn the festival’s…
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Aoife Van Linden Tol: Explosions as Creative Forces
Violent explosions are sources of particular fascination to artist Aoife Van Linden Tol. An art&science residency is giving her the opportunity to visit the European Space Agency (ESA) and Ars Electronica Futurelab to soak up a healthy dose of inspiration for her next project. In this interview, she talks about, among other things, the fact…
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Hack the Robot!
“Hack the Robot” offers pupils in grades 7 & up the opportunity to learn to program robots that are normally used in industrial manufacturing processes. What this actually entails is using electronic modules to construct new remote controls that let users hack into the robotic system.
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POSTCITY, Pre-Festival: A Tour through Our Festival Location
The former Austrian Postal Service logistics center at Linz’s main train station is scheduled for demolition. But before it’s taken down, it will serve, one more time, as an extraordinary event location—POSTCITY, the 2016 Ars Electronica Festival’s prime venue. Martin Honzik, director of the festival, recently took us on a little preview tour of the…
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A Playful Design for A Future Society: The Conduit
“The Conduit” is part performance, part interactive installation that investigates social engagement and the consequences of speculative technological and political frameworks. Participants will negotiate an 8 bit simulation of the future and its effects on our everyday social interactions. The Society for Cultural Optimism has developed a framework for the creation of a future society,…
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u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD: Youngsters Join the Curatorial Staff
The Prix Ars Electronica’s u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD category is an annual opportunity for young people to garner recognition for their creative projects with great future promise. And once again this year, the prizewinning works are being honored and exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival September 8-12, 2016. The new wrinkle this year: the…
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Lauren McCarthy Provokes “Fellow Feelings” in Her Very Own Way
Designer, artist and programmer Lauren McCarthy explores the structures and systems of social interaction, identity as well as self-presentation and the potential of technology of how it can influence the dynamics between those traits. During her Transmit³-Residency at the Queensland University of Technology, she wants to find out about the influence of Big Data on…