April 1 is Maundy Thursday and, on the occasion of Easter, offers biblical contemplation of the Tassilo Chalice from Kremsmünster Monastery. Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center makes it possible to present the magnificently inscribed communion chalice in all its details.
A tutorial for spring
A different approach is taken by the tutorial “Seedbombs – Flower to the people!”, which is primarily dedicated to the natural decoration of the environment. Flower and herb seeds, clay and water are mixed and formed into seed bombs and placed in the urban environment as an immediate ecological measure. Flower to the people!
“Dave,” latest work by Austrian author Raphaela Edelbauer is due out in early April. The science fiction novel addresses the ever-present question of the consciousness of artificial intelligence. The writer meets with ZDF for a report at the Ars Electronica Center.
Sound wizard, “Wunderwuzzi”, producer, multi-instrumentalist Marco Kleebauer is a guest at a Deep Space special and gives insight into his play with sound and music. The stage is his big playroom. A wide variety of instruments, weird effects, UV lights and costumes play a part, as well as a familiar round of good friends – Florian Tiefenbacher (drums), Alex Kerbl (percussions) and Aaron Hader (saxophone, synths) build together a sound world like from a utopian sci-fi movie and have absolutely no interest in letting us out of this world again. Visuals by Sophie Lindinger.
Ars Electronica Solutions sends smoke signals
On the other side of the Danube, in the Tabakfabrik Linz, sits Ars Electronica Solutions and tinkers with new projects. To get a glimpse of what’s going on, Michael Mondria, Director Ars Electronica Solutions is on the show “Rauchzeichen – Tabakfabrik on air” and chats a bit from the inside.
The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab – along with SETI – has called and Interspecifics has answered. Or to put it another way: The Mexican collective Interspecifics wins the AI Lab Residency SETI x AI with their project “Codex Virtualis”. You can read more about it on the blog:
The 2021 Festival is approaching
On April 19, the theme of the Ars Electronica Festival 2021 will be announced: A New Digital Deal. The digital transformation has taken on unimagined proportions—what should have been a tool has become a cultural technique; the original work environment has become a social habitat; the nerds’ chat room is an effective political battleground. So a new deal is needed that adequately takes these developments into account, and approaches to this are to be conceived at the Ars Electronica Festival. How the digital world might work?
Where the commonalities and where the dividing lines lie between technology, science and art, how they can enter into dialogue with one another and what potential they develop is not only a topic that Ars Electronica has repeatedly addressed, but also the CCI (Cultural Creative Industries) Lab. The exhibition, which will be on view for a month at Ars Electronica Labs, will open in a Deep Space LIVE.
From April 23-25, the jury meeting of the Prix Ars Electronica and the STARTS Prize of the European Commission will take place. After the meeting was already moved to virtual space in 2020 due to COVID, this will be maintained in 2021. Meetings will be held in four Prix Ars Electronica categories “Computer Animation“, “Artificial Intelligence & Life Art“, “Digital Musics & Sound Art” and “u19-create your world“. At the same time, the jury of the STARTS Prize of the European Commission is meeting.
2021 is the year of the 25th anniversary of the Ars Electronica Futurelab. To provide a visionary, informative, exciting and fun glimpse into the Lab’s history, seven episodes will present different topics and the individual approach – by members of the Lab, companions and partners.
In Episode 1 – Virtual Worlds the specially developed application Deep Virtual is targeted. Deep Virtual is conceived as an immersive and hybrid media format that will allow viewers to immerse themselves in virtual worlds together, and also represents a step into the future of Deep Space 8K. Roland Haring, Director at the Ars Electronica Futurelab, and Johannes Lugstein, Lead Developer at the Ars Electronica Futurelab, will present a new perspective on virtual environments and insights into the lab’s DNA, not forgetting legendary projects like the Cave, Humphrey or Gulliver’s World.
Meanwhile, at the Ars Electronica Center, students from the Master School of Communication Design at HTL1 Bau & Design Linz present their comics about the family of the future. Ranging from the absurd to the harmonious to the dystopian, the works on display can be brought to life using a cell phone and an app. Shown as part of the NEXTCOMIC Festival.
To save the world?
In Deep Space LIVE on the topic “Can the Circular Economy Save Our Climate?” Sepp Eisenriegler talks about the circular economy as a potential game changer in the climate crisis. In 2020, he published his anthology “The Circular Economy in the EU – An Interim Assessment” and, in addition to numerous awards, received the Golden Decoration of Merit of the State of Vienna in 2014.
In “At home with…” the artist Barbara Ungepflegt talks to Manuela Naveau about the time she lived in a bus stop for three weeks, her love of cleaning and the dirty. In many of her works she deals with in-between spaces and utopias in the public sphere.
Deep Space LIVE powered by Linz AG
How it continues, in our annual review 2021, and which months we have already presented, you can find out in our playlist!