Blog Archive

Since 2011, our Ars Electronica Blog has also been dedicated to the triangle of art, technology and society. In addition to detailed background information and image-rich features on our activities, the blog also features supplementary interviews with participating artists and experts.

The Year in Review 2020

Well, at the beginning of 2020, even Ars Electronica had other plans for the future. At that time, even we couldn't have imagined the uncomfortable constraints we'd all be confronted with and how quickly we had to rethink things seemingly set in stone, often completely. But first things first...

"We have to invent the future we want"

Therefore, it needs people who have a feeling for change and recognize contexts, develop new strategies and set the course. And that is precisely where we want to support companies from now on.

About disappearance

In 2020, Wolfgang Fadi Dorninger receives the City of Linz's Art Appreciation Award in the category of Media, Product and Communication Design and defy the event-free times with a performance on December 1 in the Ars Electronica Center's Deep Space 8K that will be broadcast on Home Delivery. A different kind of awards ceremony.

Virtual Christmas

The Christmas story is probably one of the best known and most frequently recited stories in the world. It is not only the story of biblical expectations for the future, but also the story of the origin of our society. This year, it's becoming virtual reality in the crypt of the Mariendom in Linz and in Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center.

Ars Electronica Futurelab entwickelt NHM on tour zusammen mit dem Naturhistorischen Museum Wien

The dark side of light

Science to touch and to participate in. Together with everyone. And for everyone. With the question "Does light also have a dark side for you?", the Museum of Natural History Vienna leaves its context in the center of the city with an electric carrier bike, equipped with a lot of knowledge and an invitation to the public to participate in the research. NHM on tour comes to the people in the districts of Vienna, encourages to think and to reflect on their own behaviour. It contributes opinions as well as experiences into the scientific process in order to explore the present and to shape the future. And this sounds really inspiring to us!

Artificial compositions and machine-made music - The AIxMusic Festival 2020

Music and technology, artificial intelligence and musical instruments, discussion panels and workshops. One term unites all these elements in one: The AIxMusic Festival!

"What exactly is a star?"

A beverage can as mini-satellite, children as climate detectives or a training camp for astronauts: ESERO Austria uses the fascination of the topic of space to introduce young people to scientific topics.

Events in times of pandemic? Is this possible?

Events in times of Corona are a much discussed topic - to which we also have something to contribute.

We also deliver to schools and companies now

What do we deliver? Ideas and visions of our future. And where do we deliver them? Directly into your living rooms, but also to schools and companies. Here's an overview of our new Ars Electronica Home Delivery offer for you!

Digital Data in major and minor

Can machines create? As a key researcher and artist on the subject of Creative Intelligence at the Ars Electronica Futurelab, he has been dealing with this question since many years. The algorithm is in his blood, Ali Nikrang is an expert in artificial intelligence and music.

Tears for the Sea

She spent most of her childhood on merchant marine vessels and has developed an ever closer relationship with nature through her proximity to the sea. During her EMAP/EMARE residency, as a media artist, Kasia Molga tells how she came to her project "How to make an Ocean?", how personal grief and COVID-19 gave her work new impulses and why she came up with the idea of collecting her own tears.

How art and science can benefit from each other

Ars Electronica and the ArtCollection Deutsche Telekom are collaborating to select artists for a residency at the interface between the fields of art and science. To kick off the partnership, we spoke with both sides about the importance of Art&Science.

This was Open Futurelab 2020

The Open Futurelab is an interactive format that presents current works and research by the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Besides new online formats and virtual journeys, public tours through the laboratories and ateliers of the Ars Electronica Futurelab were also offered for the first time during the Ars Electronica Festival 2020.

Rebecca Merlic: Making The City Your Own

Imagine giving up everything: Your bed, your kitchen, your bathroom, your apartment. From now on you live, eat and sleep in public space. Rebecca Merlic has been awarded the Marianne.von.Willemer.2020 Prize for Digital Media for the artistic realization of this experiment.

Of rhythms and algorithms

They promise a future full of convenience and are said to surpass us humans in every respect quite soon. Artificial intelligence is already way ahead of us in many areas of competence. Just a few years ago, we thought that it was human creativity alone that distinguished the analogue from the digitally generated work. Because Mahler and Chopin cannot be replaced by algorithms. Or, can they?

Future Ink: Where is my soul?

Future Ink is the result of a mutual inspiration between art and science, with the aim of exploring the creative potential of "ink". In a process of multiple steps consisting of the implementation of the innovative concepts for Space Ink, AI Ink, Bio Ink, Mind Ink and Body Ink, Space Ink research opens new accesses to creative expressions. In an inspiring collaboration with the pen-and-tablet producer Wacom, the Spaxels Research Team at the Ars Electronica Futurelab is attempting, in the course of a collaborative Space Ink research project, to capture the multidimensionality of the artistic moment of creation, to interact, to control and to project it onto the wall as a sign of a succeeding cooperation between machine and human.

In search of the evolution of intelligence in the universe

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence may make some people think of a funny guy in a bicycle basket, for others it has serious scientific relevance and is closely interwoven with research on artificial intelligence. Thinking off the beaten track helps in this multidisciplinary work.

Creative Question Challenge Art Education Science Innovation Society Governance

Challenge accepted! Ars Electronica Futurelab challenges with creative questions

Two speakers, a moderator (catalyst), a visualizer and a challenge. During the 2020 Ars Electronica Festival, viewers of the Ars Electronica Selection Channel were able to experience the innovative potential that unfolds when thinkers from different disciplines and backgrounds attempt to work together to consider complex interrelationships, on the basis of a central, creative question in order to contribute to innovation in our society.

Get the camera ready, we're going to Mars!

Cliff diving on comets, opulent refractions of light in the ice crystals of Saturn's rings or the gigantic mountain worlds of Mars: Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum, is probably the most unusual travel guide in the country. The destination of his journey is the solar system, first stopover the Red Planet. All aboard and hold on tight, please!

Ars Electronica Solutions Stages the Fire Truck of the Future

Clouds of fog, flashing blue light, spotlights shining through the evening sky and a pulsating LED façade: On Wednesday evening, September 23, there was a lot going on in front of and inside the Ars Electronica Center...

Special Times Require Special Measures

What does a museum visit to the Ars Electronica Center currently look like? Can I hold an event and if so, what are the conditions? We have all the information you need on how you can safely visit our program and events at the Ars Electronica Center.

In Kepler's Gardens - The Ars Electronica Festival 2020

What a festival! 5 days, countless sessions, talks, events, partners, Ars Electronica Gardens around the world... but... Waaaaaiiiit! Wasn't there something completely different than usual? Aren't we in a pandemic? Aren't we right in the middle of "New Normal"? How could a media art festival take place then?

Ars Electronica Gallery Spaces Garden

2020 is a truly blasted year for the art industry, as available resources were concentrated first and foremost in politics and health care to overcome the crisis. And so the ice was getting thinner and thinner for the art business, and it became clear that a new assessment of the situation was necessary - and quickly, if one did not want to sink. The only platform still available for commercial transactions was - and still is - the Net.

Home Delivery Conference: About Minecraft Universities and Digital Museums

On the Thursday of the festival, the Home Delivery Conference will be dedicated to the cultural aspects of digital space, presenting projects such as the first Minecraft University, the Museum of the Future and a dedicated domain for the art world. This is just one of the numerous thematic focuses in our wide range of conferences, workshops and talks at the Ars Electronica Festival 2020.

Ars Electronica Gardens SOUTH AMERICA

As the saying goes: the best comes last! Our last Ars Electronica Festival Garden we would like to present to you on our blog is the continent of South America! Start a journey with us through the gardens of Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile!

Ars Electronica Gardens: NORTH AMERICA

Many of the Gardens that will be featured at the 2020 Ars Electronica Festival as a loophole to the rest of the world have already been presented on the blog. Now we're taking a leap across the Atlantic and presenting institutions, projects, artists and visions from the North of America - more precisely, from Canada, the USA and Mexico.

Open Futurelab at Ars Electronica Festival 2020

Every year during the Ars Electronica Festival, the Ars Electronica Futurelab opens its gates for the public and invites festival visitors to get to know its latest research findings and collaborative projects in a special, interactive format called Open Futurelab. In this blog post, we want to give you an overview of what you can expect from this year’s Open Futurelab and how, when and where you can take part.

Magister Raffaello – How Raphael came to Linz

With 2020 being the 500-year anniversary of the artist’s death, Magister Art has created a new cultural project titled Magister Raffaello which will be presented in Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center on Friday, September 11.

Ars Electronica Gardens AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST

The lockdown has affected us all. However, during this difficult time, artists from all areas and corners of the world had the opportunity to reflect the problems, fears and hopes in their art. The result is visible in some of our gardens. Let us take a look at the gardens of Africa and the Middle East!

create your world 2020 – are you ready?

Each one of us has one or even more talents. Some talents are visible, others are hidden and have yet to be discovered. Essential for this is the talent development platform create your world.

Ars Electronica Gardens: EUROPE Part 2

Human life in the uncertainty of the days: It seems impossible to understand the world in its complexity, as every action, no matter how inconspicuous, influences life on the other side of the world. The thing with the butterfly effect...

Strolling Between the Disciplines

The JKU campus as a place of encounter and as a place for projects that can only be discovered by strolling through the park and looking attentively into the air. JKU LIT @ Ars Electronica as well as the Garden Exhibition in Kepler's Garden on the JKU Campus feature playful projects that combine various disciplines.

BIO AUSTRIA: Back to the Regional

The Regional has recently experienced a new upswing as a result of the Corona crisis, especially when it comes to food. The BIO AUSTRIA Farmers' Market once again invites visitors to the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz to taste these regional products.

THE WILD STATE

A prairie in the Wild West, a futuristic pirate island on the ocean, people dancing at Burning Man - what images emerge in front of your inner eye when you hear THE WILD STATE?

A Look at the Civil Society of the Future

Civil society engagement is crucial for our pluralistic, open and solidary society. The ULF symposium on Saturday of the Ars Electroncia Festival 2020 will be all about the future of this very civil society.

Ars Electronica Gardens: EUROPE Part 1

And our festival journey continues! Not too far away from Austria there are countless exciting exhibitions: in the city of love - Paris, the coastal city - Liepāja, the ancient metropolis - Athens, or the central heart of the EU - Brussels! Welcome to the gardens of Europe!

Ars Electronica Gardens: ASIA

Part 2 of our trip around the world, during which we'd like to introduce you to some of the Ars Electronica Gardens and their programs, takes us to the east, towards the rising sun: It's off to Asia!

Meinhard Lukas: From the Postcity into Kepler's Gardens

It was the site of the old post distribution center at the main train station, where the magicians of Ars Electronica transformed an analog yesterday into a digital tomorrow. In no other place and in no other time has Linz ever been more urban and international than in the Postcity.

"When innovation meets sustainability"

Since 2019, Ars Electronica has been equipped with IT devices by AfB - Arbeit für Menschen mit Behinderung. At this year's festival, too, they're supporting us with PCs and other equipment. Find out more about how this cooperation was established in this blog post!

Deep Space 8K - Festival Program

A breathtaking piano piece, a virtual and real performance or a journey back to Roman times, this year's Deep Space 8K festival program offers all this and much more. Let's take a closer look into it!

„Look beyond the boundaries of our own organization“

What do a plastics manufacturer and a festival for art, technology and society have in common? A lot, as the long-standing successful cooperation between Greiner AG and Ars Electronica proves.

CyberArts 2020: The latest trends in media art

For over three decades, the Prix Ars Electronica has been one of the world's most coveted awards for digital media art. With the CyberArts exhibition, the OK, as part of the newly founded OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, will once again devote itself to the award-winning works of international artists during the 2020 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz. We'll show you what there is to see this time!

Travel Tips For Ars Electronica 2020 / Part 2

Welcome to the other side of the "Pacific Ocean" and the second part of our journey around the world! Welcome to the "New World", more precisely on the west coast of the USA, in the 70 kilometre long and 30 kilometre wide Santa Clara Valley. Don't you know it? Yes, but under a different name ...

Ars Electronica Gardens: AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

Ars Electronica has a long-term and intensive relationship with the other end of the world. Not only do employees, researchers and friends from there keep coming back to the company and the network, a " satellite office " has even been established - Ars Electronica Australia. Here as there, the vision is to support the creative community at the interface of art, technology and society.

These Are The Travel Tips For Ars Electronica 2020

The starting point: Kepler's Garden in Linz, Austria. The destinations: 120 locations around the globe. The duration of the journey: 9 to 13 September 2020.

Tattoo Sensors and Code Poems - Future of Sanity?

The Ö1 project "Repairing the Future" raises questions such as: Can we rethink and redesign the future with our innovative ideas? And can we use these ideas to bring new concepts to life that do not exist yet? Definitely!

.art Domains and Ars Electronica Launch Online Exhibition for the Festival 2020

In response to the global pandemic and its impact, the leading new media arts festival Ars Electronica will premiere a dual format for its 2020 edition, including an online showcase in addition to the physical event. Ars Electronica has partnered with .art Domains to inaugurate Ars Electronica .ART Gallery, one of the online arms of the festival this year.

The Kepler Hall hosts the STARTS Prize 2020

The festival takes place! Not despite, but because of Corona. For months a global pandemic has been raising questions that we hadn't asked ourselves before - but which will most likely keep us busy for a long time to come.

„A Place Where You Can Lose Yourself“

Ars Electronica 2020 is a journey to measure the 'new' world and a journey through "Kepler's Gardens", which are located in Linz at the JKU Campus and at 120 other locations worldwide. We introduce you to the Garden Linz in more detail.

Christine Schöpf: "40 Years Are Enough!"

Christine Schöpf has accompanied Ars Electronica since its founding in 1979. Now, on the occasion of the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica, she says "40 years are enough" and takes leave of her official posts.

STARTS Prize 2020: A Virtual Journey Through the Time Zones

Three members of the STARTS Prize 2020 jury, Mara Balestrini, Clara Blume and Domhnaill Hernon, talk in an interview about the influence of Covid-19 on this year's jury process, the difference between design and art, recycling management and the usefulness of Excel lists.

Manuela Macedonia: Ten Years "Brain For All" In Special Times

What does sport have to do with the brain and what percentage of our brain do we really use? These and similar questions have been addressed by Dr. Manuela Macedonia for 10 years now in her lecture series "Brain for All" at the Ars Electronica Center. Today she's celebrating her premiere at Ars Electronica Home Delivery.

A Combination of Real and Digital Life

"If you can't come to the Museum of the Future, the museum will come to you" is the motto of the new Ars Electronica Home Delivery format. What content awaits us? Who is it intended for and what does it mean in terms of interaction with visitors?

A Slightly Different Jury Weekend

The 2020 jury weekend was not spared from the corona virus: the winners of the STARTS Prize and the Prix Ars Electronica were selected digitally this year instead of during an analogue meeting in Linz.

"We have to drastically rethink this jury meeting"

Every year an international jury of experts travels to Linz to jointly select the Golden Nicas of Media Art in intense discussions lasting several days. For the first time in the history of Prix Ars Electronica, the jurors will meet from their home offices.

How AI, Big Data and Machine Learning can also be used against the Corona virus

There are countless examples where AI is currently being used in the fight against the Corona virus and many companies, scientists and artists are working on similar plans. We exemplary present you some of these projects.

The future under the pillow

Of course we realize that we do not understand integral calculus better if we put the textbooks under the pillow on which we sleep. But it doesn't do any harm, does it?

Women in Media Arts: Does AI think like a (white) man?

"Women in Media Arts" is an Ars Electronica database specifically dedicated to women in media arts. In this series, we introduce you to female media artists and their work, starting with the question: Does AI think like a (White) man?

The Museum Never Sleeps

The Ars Electronica Center may be closed at the moment, but it's not abandoned. We accompanied a colleague during his work at the Museum of the Future, saw a robot from the inside and learned how 3D printing can help in the corona crisis.

The world stands still - the whole world?

There is no talk of social distancing here, there are enough reasons to leave the house and hygiene is a permanent topic anyway - not only in exceptional cases. Our beekeeper Harald Wohlschlager visited the colony of bees on the roof of the Ars Electronica Center in times of the corona pandemic.

The Big Ars Electronica AI Glossary

Everyone talks about Artificial Intelligence (AI) - but what exactly is it? This glossary shows and explains the most important terms of the world of AI and connects them with examples from the Ars Electronica Center.

"The Deep Space has a soul"

With fascination we go on a time travel back to the 90s - to the "Cave", a multimedia room in the recently opened Ars Electronica Center where you could float through walls... A lot has changed since then, both technically and contentwise.

"The lower the mobility, the lower is the social contacting"

On the basis of anonymised mobile phone data, the Austrian company Invenium is creating movement analyses to help the crisis team to check the effectiveness of the measures taken against the Corona virus. But many citizens are concerned about the protection of their data.

All the best, Hannes!

At the end of the 1970s, Hannes Leopoldseder set out to create a festival for art, technology and society. Today, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, we look back on four decades of digital change with excerpts from his texts and historical photos of the co-founder of Ars Electronica.

AI isn't Artificial but Human

Our world is becoming more and more entangled. Financial markets where bots trade endlessly with other bots, social media algorithms that control what narrative we follow, deep fakes that make us doubt even our own senses. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find out where human influence lies in the process of AI.

How AI, Big Data and Machine Learning can be used against the Corona virus

We looked at several examples of how Artificial Intelligence, Big Data or Machine Learning are used in the containment of the coronavirus, and the problems, opportunities and challenges they present.

The Prix Ars Electronica Jury 2020: Digital Communities

Joint action and the digital exchange of information are right at the heart of the "Digital Communities" - one of the four categories of the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica. We present this year's jury.

The Prix Ars Electronica Jury 2020: u19 – create your world

Young ideas and promising projects: These five experts in their respective fields will decide which are the best submissions to the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica in the u19 – create your world category.

SySTEM 2020: The Opportunities of STEM Learning

Where does learning take place if not in the classroom? How inclusive are out-of-school educational opportunities in Europe and what does "STEM" actually stand for? We had two project partners explain the project SySTEM 2020 to us.

The Prix Ars Electronica Jury 2020: Computer Animation

Since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has awarded a Golden Nica in the Computer Animation category every year. This is the jury that will decide on the best animation in 2020.

Connecting Minds, Creating the Future

It is a sonorous theme under which the World Expo in Dubai will start in October 2020. The idea behind it: Building partnerships and inspiring ideas that will shape the world of tomorrow. Because we all have the power to shape the future.

Who are the u19 – create your world winners?

Until March 16, we're looking for your projects and ideas or designs for the future in the u19 – create your world category of the Prix Ars Electronica. These five young creatives, innovators, and forward-thinkers have won the race for the Golden Nica in recent years.

The 2020 STARTS Prize Jury

Every year a jury meets to examine and evaluate the submissions for the STARTS Prize. These experts have fascinating backgrounds and extraordinary fields of research, which we would like to present in the following.

The Prix Ars Electronica Jury 2020: Interactive Art +

The jury in videos: We present to you the persons who will be deciding on the Golden Nica in the Interactive Art + category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

The Prix Universe

The Prix Ars Electronica is the most traditional media art competition in the world. The winners will receive the coveted Golden Nicas, prize money up to 10,000 euros per category and a presentation at the prestigious Ars Electronica Festival in Linz.

All connected, all affected

Shaun Hu's works explore the relationship between humans and nature in the digital age. "Internet of Everything: All Connections" - currently part of the "human (un)limited" exhibition in Beijing - shows how everything around us is not only connected but also affected.

Let's get STARTed!

It's that time again! The submission for the STARTS Prize 2020 is open. Starting immediately, the European Commission, together with Ars Electronica, Bozar and Waag, is once again looking for pioneering projects at the interface of art, technology and science that contribute to economic and social innovation.

"We are not looking for superstars!"

create your world is Ars Electronica's future initiative of the next generation. As such, it's currently on the lookout again for talents - not for superstars in the Prix Ars Electronica. Everyone can participate, everyone can win.

From Theory to Practice: Ars Electronica Research Institutes

Here, academic basic research meets Ars Electronica Futurelab’s artistic/scientific application scenarios: Starting in autumn 2019, the new Ars Electronica Research Institutes will be building a bridge between theory and practice. In this interview, we learned exactly what that looks like.

How to convert a remote controlled car into a Donkey Car

Ein "Donkey Car" ist ein selbstfahrendes Auto im Miniformat, ein ferngesteuertes Auto, das trainiert wird, um eigenständig einen Parcours bewältigen zu können. Im Rahmen der Themenwochen KI findet der Open Workshop "Donkey Training" statt, bei dem BesucherInnen mithilfe Künstlicher Intelligenz einem Roboauto das autonome Fahren beibringen können. Wir haben eine Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung für euch zusammengestellt, wie das genau funktioniert.

How to compose with MuseNet a piece of music in the style of Mozart

We tried for you how to compose music with the Deep Neural Network "MuseNet" from OpenAI and made a step-by-step guide based on it. If you want to learn more about composing music using AI, you should visit the Open Soundstudio at the Ars Electronica Center and participate in the "MuseNet Special" workshop.

“Technology will be part of the solution”

Shortly before Christmas, Katharina Hof, cultural mediator at the Ars Electronica Center, gave a lecture entitled "Anatomy of an AI System" to roughly 500 students at the HTL Neufelden. How it happened and what the lecture was about was revealed to us by the school's director, Walter Jungwirth.

Smart Home - Sweet Home?

Digitalisation is on everyone's mind. Artificial intelligence surrounds us in many everyday situations and moves into our most intimate living spaces. Everything is connected, we are constantly online. Is there still a life without the World Wide Web? Why shop yourself when the refrigerator can do it alone? Of the comforts and dangers of a smart world.

DuoSkin: Like a Second Skin

Nice metallic tattoo or modern on skin interface? Based on the aesthetics of temporary skin jewelry on skin, DuoSkin creates devices that allow users to control their mobile devices or display and store information on their skin. The project is currently part of Ars Electronica's "human (un)limited" exhibition in Beijing.