For the first time this year, the festival Friday was the official STARTS Day – an entire day dedicated to the European Commission’s STARTS initiative. At the same time, the big theme conference on Error – the Art of Imperfection took place in the conference hall of POSTCITY Linz, while there was again a lot to see, experience and try out in the exhibition areas. The evening finally ended with the Ars Electronica Nightline, which once again turned night into day. How exactly all of this looked like? That’s what you’ll learn here, in the best festival impressions of the second day.

Julia Kaganskiy (US) at STARTS Collaborations (Credit: gregor tatschl)

The STARS Day started at 10:00 AM, right on time for the opening hours of POSTCITY. STARTS unites projects at the intersection of science, technology and the arts, and it was exactly this interdisciplinary approach that was focused on in the various presentations.

We Guide You – Starts Tour (Credit: tom mesic)

STARTS was not only in the center in lectures, expert talks and the presentations of the two winning projects of the 2018 STARTS Prize, but also at the guided tours organized especially around this day.

πTon / Cod.Act (CH) (Credit: vog.photo)

At noon, Cod.Act amazed the festival audience with their room-filling installation πTon: Here, a huge rubber hose winds like an animal to escape strange noises.

Kissing Data / Karen Lancel, Hermen Maat (NL) (Credit: vog.photo)

Then it became romantic with Kissing Data. In the performance installation, people are invited to experience a common kiss as an intimately co-created, reflective data landscape.

The Art of Deception / Isaac Monté (BE), Toby Kiers (US) (Credit: vog.photo)

Impressive is also The Art of Deception, which will explore with the collection of 21 transformed hearts how biological interventions and aesthetic manipulation can be used as tools for the ultimate deception: the transformation of inner beauty, from grotesque to perfect.

Artist Talk with Jonathan & Brigitte Meese (DE) (Credit: tom mesic)

Once again this year, the POSTCITY bunker and package storage will house the Gallery Spaces, a format specially designed for media art on the art market. Artist Talks take place regularly in the middle of the exhibited works – this Friday, for example, LINZ-V.R.-(T)RAUM featured Jonathan Meese and his mother Brigitte Meese.

The Art of Imperfection Conference: AI in Art & Science, Strategy for responsible Innovation (Credit: vog.photo)

Back at First Floor, international media artists, scientists, activists and experts from various fields spoke at the The Art of Imperfection Conference.

Stage Your City (Credit: Magdalena Sick-Leitner)

Meanwhile, the Ars Electronica Center on the other bank of the Danube became the venue for the Digital Theater Network Meeting, where the future of the theater was discussed. Projects such as Cooperative Aesthetics or Stage Your City, which can be experienced during the festival, were presented.

Expanded Animation (Alex Verhaest (BE), Boris Labbé (FR) and Mathilde Lavenne (FR) (Credit: Martin Dorfer)

Friday also started with a series of presentations and lectures at Central, a festival location in the heart of the city of Linz: This year’s Expanded Animation festival was all about Interfaces in Motion. Furthermore, the Prix winners in the Computer Animation category got a chance to talk about their work in the Forum.

u19 Ceremony (Credit: tom mesic)

Not only adults are honored year after year at the Prix Ars Electronica for their outstanding work – the very youngest of the media artists and creatives also get their fair share of praise and attention. The U19 Ceremony, where the coveted prizes for the Prix Ars Electronica category u19 are awarded, took place on Friday in the middle of the huge parcel slides.

1. row (f.l.t.r): Eliot Higgins (GB) (Digital Communities), Mathilde Lavenne (FR) (Computer Animation), LarbitsSisters (BE) (Interactive Art+), Vincent Thierry (AT) (“Levers and Buttons” – u19), Giulia Tomasello (IT) (STARTS – Artistic Collaboration – Future Flora), Gijs van der Velden (NL) (STARTS – Innovative Collaboration – MX3D), Nina Czegledy (Leonardo/ISAST, Visionary Pioneers)

 2. row (f.l.t.r): Martin Hatler, Lorenz Gonsa und Samuel Stallybrass (alle AT) (“Levers and Buttons” – u19), Joris Laarman (NL) and Tim Geurtjens (NL) (STARTS – Innovative Collaboration – MX3D), Roger Malina (US/FR) (Leonardo ISAST – Visionary Pioneers), Hannes Leopoldseder (AT) (co-founder Ars Electronica)

In the evening, one of the annual highlights of each Ars Electronica Festival took place: The Prix Ars Electronica and STARTS Prize Gala. Here, the Golden Nicas were ceremoniously handed over to the winners, selected works and performances were presented, and a best-off of the festival was shown.

To conclude the festival Friday, the Ars Electronica Nightline provided a party program for the evening. For one entire night, the old POSTCITY Linz train hall was transformed into a club for the finest electronic music.

Are you curious to see how things will continue over the next few days? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al., subscribe to our newsletter, and check us out online at https://ars.electronica.art/news/en/.