Society
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Project Alias: Rediscovering the Private Sphere
With “Project Alias,” Bjørn Karmann and Tore Knudsen of Denmark demonstrated a simple yet effective way to take back control over our own private sphere, which earned them the STARTS Prize of the European Commission. We talked with both of them about privacy, parasitic fungi, and the appropriate narratives.
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Future Humanity – Our Shared Planet: Is this the future?
In November 2018, Ars Electronica and Hyundai Motor Group will open three exhibitions around the world on the theme of “Future Humanity – Our Shared Planet”. The shows at Hyundai Motor Studios in Moscow, Seoul and Beijing will artistically examine what it means to be human in the future. We found out more in this…
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aqua_forensic: The Invisible Danger in the World’s Oceans
Invisible and yet threatening. The EMAP/EMARE project “aqua_forensic” by Robertina Šebjanič and Gjino Šutić is investigating human pollution in the oceans. It is the result of their residency at Ars Electronica. The second Open Call for a EMAP/EMARE residency runs until December 3, 2018.
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Guest Article: Artificial Intelligence – The next frontier
After his visit to the Ars Electronica Festival, Roberto Viola, Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission, talks in this guest article about how important it is to involve art in the further development of AI technology.
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Deep Space LIVE: Inspired by Bruegel
On October 4, 2018, the delegation from Flanders, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien and Ars Electronica will be showing high-resolution gigapixel images and exciting background information by and about the masterful Flemish painter at Deep Space LIVE “Inspired by Bruegel”. Find out more in this interview.
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Data to the People: Ernst Hafen
Biologist Ernst Hafen will speak at the Ars Electronica Festival’s Theme Conference on September 7, 2018 about how we can deploy our data to foster scientific progress and democratize the data economy at the same time. He goes into detail in this interview.
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Plastics for Life: Sustainable Plastic
How can plastic be made more sustainable? Greiner, a maker of plastic and foam products, will present two good ideas on this subject that the company’s own employees came up with. See them at the Festival September 6-10, 2018.
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Symposium: Perspectives on Political Education
The 3rd annual Perspectives on Political Education symposium will be held at the Ars Electronica Festival on Thursday, September 6, 2018. This year’s theme is “Fresh, Courageous, Demanding – Self-empowerment through Peer Education?” To learn more, read on!
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Chairs and Tables for a Good Cause: Social Furniture
A very special contribution to the interior décor at this year’s Ars Electronica Festival is being made by Social Furniture, a project in which refugees work together with Austrian mentors to construct wooden furnishings. After the festival, these chairs, benches and tables will be donated to refugees and NGOs.
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Yummy, Local, Organic: The Farmers’ Market at the Festival
The aroma of fresh bread and Upper Austrian regional delicacies will waft amongst busy festivalgoers in POSTCITY Linz once again on Saturday, September 8, 2018, the day of the BIO AUSTRIA Farmers’ Market. We got a foretaste in this interview.
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The 2018 Festival Theme In-Depth: Theme Conferences
Panel discussions, speeches and conferences staged over the course of three days will take a theoretical approach to Error – the Art of Imperfection, the theme of this year’s Ars Electronica Festival, September 6-10, 2018. Artistic director Gerfried Stocker and project manager Karla Spiluttini give us a preview in this interview.
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Day of Encouragement: ZusammenHelfen Conference
This is the third consecutive year that ZusammenHelfen in Oberösterreich (HelpingTogether in Upper Austria) is staging a conference at the Ars Electronica Festival in POSTCITY Linz. On September 8, 2018 at 10:00, the focus will be on encouraging those providing aid to refugees. You can find out more in this interview.
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Dream Job Astronaut: Advanced Space Academy
Simulated weightlessness, scuba training and a Russian course—at the Advanced Space Academy of the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, young people can get a close-up feel on space travel. ESERO Austria made it possible for two Austrian youngsters to attend this year. Here’s their account.
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Please Recharge: On Sustainability and Deceleration
The Campus Exhibition at the Ars Electronica Festival (September 6-10, 2018) by Linz Art University’s Interface Cultures program takes a step back from the hustle & bustle of modern mass media. The theme of “Please Recharge” is pervasive media overload. To find out more, read this interview with program director Christa Sommerer.
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Space Travel and Me: International Space Camp 2018
NASA and the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama annually hold an International Space Camp, and once again this year, ESERO Austria made it possible for a teacher and two students to take part. Here, teacher Julia Schleritzko tells about her experiences.
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Happy Birthday ESERO Austria!
ESERO Austria celebrates its 2nd anniversary! The Austrian European Space Education Resource Office, located at the Ars Electronica Center, was founded in June 2016. In addition, Ars Electronica Center Director and ESERO Austria Supervisor, Andreas Bauer, recently became a member of the Advisory Board of the FFG for Aerospace. Reason enough for an interview with…
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BitSoil: My Data, your Profits? No, thank you!
Every click and every post on the Internet generates data. The Digital Economy is making billions with our actions on the web and concentrating these profits in the hands of a few. A completely unsatisfactory situation, say LarbitsSisters and initiated the BitSoil Popup Tax & Hack Campaign.
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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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Museum Total: Four Days, Nine Museums
Museum Total is back by popular demand! This event, which is being held for the fifth time this year, is set for February 22-25, 2018. One ticket admits the holder to nine Linz museums—the AEC among them—over the course of four days. What’s lined up? Nicole Grüneis, director of Ars Electronica’s Education and Cultural Outreach…
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Discussions about the Future in the School of the Future
School of the Future creates the setting for discussions about technology, society and art right in the middle of Tokyo. The format consists of a regular series of temporary exhibitions and round-table discussions that the Ars Electronica Futurelab stages in the Tokyo Midtown complex in the heart of Japan’s megalopolis. Sound interesting? Read on!
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Humanising Autonomy: A Language for Self-Driving Cars
How do we as pedestrians want to communicate with the autonomous autos that will soon be driving around our cities? Now is the best time to give some thought to this question, according to the staff of Humanising Autonomy, a project that was honored with a 2017 STARTS Prize and is now collaborating with, among…