2018
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Deep Space LIVE: The Virtual House of Medusa
Ancient Rome comes to life at the Ars Electronica Center on Thursday, June 14, 2018. A Deep Space LIVE event entitled “House of Medusa” kicks off with a talk about the sensational finds made at an archeological dig in Lorch near Enns, Austria. Then, visitors can behold of virtual reconstruction of the original in VRLab.
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Bellingcat: Looking for Traces in the Digital Environment
On the online platform Bellingcat, citizen journalists are looking for the “echoes and ripples” in the digital environment when events like the MH17 incident or war crimes like those in Syria become known. The founder of Bellingcat, Eliot Higgins, talks in an interview about the project, which was recently awarded the Golden Nica, and gives…
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The first 3-D printed steel bridge
By building the world’s first 3-D printed metal bridge, MX3D and the Joris Laarman Lab have provided proof that the MX3D process they have jointly developed makes it possible to create metal objects and structures of any size that are aesthetically pleasing as well as intelligent. They were awarded the STARTS Prize of the European…
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STEAM Imaging: When Art, Science and the Next Generation Converge
Bringing together scientists, school kids and an artist, transcending the boundaries of individual disciplines, discovering flexible forms of learning and collaboration, and imparting skills to work effectively with new technologies were the objectives of the artist-in-residence project entitled STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics] Imaging. Bianka Hofmann, head of corporate communication at the Fraunhofer Institute…
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I’m Humanity: Music for Eternity
Her idea for a way to make music live on beyond humankind’s eventual extinction and to use DNA as the medium to transport this information for eternity garnered Japanese musician Etsuko Yakushimaru the 2017 STARTS Prize. In this interview, she explains her concept of “post-humanity music” and gives her take on mutations that randomly occur…
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The Internet of Thinking Things
How would it be if everything that surrounds us is intelligent and it’s no longer possible for human beings to perceive what’s happening in the Internet of Things? Professor Alois Ferscha of Johannes Kepler University Linz introduces us to the world of networked thinking things.
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Imparting a Direction to the Future: The 2018 STARTS Prize Jury
The jury made up of international experts charged with selecting the recipients of the 2018 STARTS Prizes awarded by the European Commission recently convened for an entire weekend at the Ars Electronica Center. Their mission: to recognize outstanding work at the interface of science, technology and art. The outcome is still confidential; nevertheless, jurors Francesca…
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Drones as Media Tool: Mixed Reality Drone Racing
What’s still just a construction site in Kapfenberg, Austria will soon be the world’s most modern stainless steel mill. One of the highlights of the groundbreaking ceremony for voestalpine’s new work was a spectacular mixed reality drone race staged right above the building site by Ars Electronica Solutions. We found out more in this interview.
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Gallery of Code: Prototypes for Africa
Gallery of Code in Abuja, Nigeria is a multidisciplinary lab that Oskar Ekponimo has established with the support of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Ars Electronica and other partners. Its target audience is the country’s young generation of students and entrepreneurs. This is where art meets science, talks team up with workshops, and ideas lead to…
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The Busy Bees at Ars Electronica
Anyone who’s walked all the way upstairs at the Ars Electronica Center lately is sure to have already discovered them—Ars Electronica’s busy bees. Now, a webcam delivers live images of the hives and their approximately 200,000 industrious inhabitants. We recently met with Harald Wohlschlager, the beekeeper in charge of this project, and learned some things…
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MasterWorks: World Cultural Heritage, Right Up Close
Set out on a virtual journey to World Cultural Heritage sites worldwide in the comfort of the Ars Electronica Center! Your departure gate: CyArk’s MasterWorks. Elizabeth Lee, vice president of CyArk, told us more in this interview.
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Physicians’ Colleague, Patients’ Helper: The Cognitive Computer
The 3-D short film entitled “Physicians’ Colleague, Patients’ Helper: The Cognitive Computer” will be running in Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center beginning in May. This film explains how deep neural networks can facilitate the evaluation of medical data, and how this is changing both the physician’s role and the doctor-patient relationship.
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2018 Prix Ars Electronica: The jury has decided
“Please don’t disturb” and “No filming” – total secrecy is key while the international jury of the Prix Ars Electronica chooses the best projects in media art in 2018. Nevertheless, we sneaked a peek behind closed doors at the Prix weekend from April 20 to 22, 2018, and collected a few impressions.
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Linz – Steel City with Culture
Everyone in Linz is familiar with the metal sculptures in the downtown park along the south bank of the Danube. But almost no one is aware that Forum Metall celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017? Those who attended a recent Deep Space LIVE learned more about this project’s historic significance for the City of Linz.
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It’s Amazing How Creative Robotics Can Be!
They usually perform their tasks in huge factories or on construction sites, executing identical routines thousands or millions of times, over and over again. Or they vacuum our apartments, fully automatically. But things are different at the Ars Electronica Center. The Creative Robotics exhibition that opens on May 9, 2018 will show how robots are…
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On Milestones and Megatrends: Two Pavilions for Umdasch Group
To mark the Umdasch Group’s 150th anniversary, Ars Electronica Solutions designed two pavilions showcasing the company’s past and present, as well as the future of the company and our world to go on display in Vienna’s Weltmuseum. Solutions project manager Claus Zweythurm told us more in this interview.
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STARTS Prize 2018: Meet the Jurors!
The prominent international experts who make up the 2018 STARTS Prize jury will gather at the Ars Electronica Center on April 23rd. Their task is to select this year’s recipients on behalf of the European Commission. Read thumbnail bios of the individual jurors here.
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Linz, Naturally: Botany in Steel City
Nature downtown—couldn’t be much more than a few weeds amongst the concrete, could it? That’s what you think, says Friedrich Schwarz of Linz’s Botanical Garden! He goes into detail about the inner city’s hidden flora and fauna in “Linz, Naturally”, his ongoing series of talks in Deep Space. On April 19, 2018, his topic will…
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Error – The Art of Imperfection
“Error – The Art of Imperfection” is the theme of this year’s Ars Electronica Festival that’s set for September 6-10 with POSTCITY as its hub. Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of Ars Electronica, talked to us about the festival theme, how we deal with mistakes, and errors as a source of innovation.
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This was the CanSat Competition 2017/18
Mini-satellites the size of a coke can, a rocket launch at the Austrian-German border and three teams of students from all over Austria, competing for the title as best CanSat team (and the participation in the European CanSat Competition from June 28, 2018, to July 1, 2018 in the Azores islands) – that’s the first…
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VR-Themed Weekend: Virtual Realities in Gaming
How are VR and AR changing the gaming scene and computer games? In Part 2 of our interviews previewing the virtual and augmented reality-themed weekend April 6-8, 2018, we discuss the upshots of these developments with Jeremiah Diephuis of the Playful Interactive Environments research group at the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences’ Hagenberg Campus.
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VR Themed Weekend: Virtual Worlds – New Realities
Digital environments occupy the focal point at the Ars Electronica Center April 6-8, 2018. The “Virtual Worlds – New Realities” themed weekend features talks and workshops about virtual & augmented reality. And, of course, there’ll be lots of installations that let visitors experience this amazing technology right up close, hands on. To find out more,…
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The Always Astonishing World of Deep Space 8K
From music videos to dance performances and even interactive installations —there’s always something interesting going on at Deep Space 8K in the Ars Electronica Center. Let’s take a look at how creatively and diversely artists use this extraordinary space.
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Classical Music Meets Real-time Visualization: Pianographique
Two outstanding pianists, one visualization artist and three challenging pieces are what go into “Pianographique.” This musical co-production of Ars Electronica and the Abu Dhabi Festival combines sound and light—Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies provide the keyboard artistry at one or two pianos; Cori O’Lan accompanies them with real-time visualizations. Find out more in…
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The Digital Playground: Otelo Futurespace
The Ars Electronica Center’s lobby will be transformed into a colorful playground well-equipped with laser cutters, robots, drones and other forms of digital technology from April 4th to 8th. Otelo Futurespace – The Digital Playground will be the setting of an innovative organized game. In this interview, Otelo eGen executive Martin Hollinetz tells us more.
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Deep Space LIVE: The Last Supper
The Deep Space LIVE event on the Thursday before Easter, March 29, 2018, is dedicated to one of the world’s most recognizable paintings—The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Art historian Lothar Schultes and theologian Michael Zugmann will elaborate on the background of this masterpiece. We just got a sneak preview.
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2018 CanSat Competition: The Rockets
While teams of school kids throughout Austria are hard at work creating their cola-can-size satellites to be launched during the CanSat Competition April 9-11, 2018, the Space Team at TUW–Technical University of Vienna is also busy with its preparations—building the rockets that will take these mini-satellites aloft in April. We just paid a visit to…
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Political Conflicts on the Drawing Board: COMIC CULTURE CLASH
The 2018 NEXTCOMIC Festival is about open in Steel City. One of the venues is the Ars Electronica Center, where, on Saturday, March 17th, comics illustrator Titus Ackermann will present a book entitled “COMIC CULTURE CLASH” in which 20 artistic duos deploy the comic medium to deal with 20 political conflicts. In this interview, he…