From November 16th to 17th 2019, the Ars Electronica Futurelab contributed to the International Science Art Festival in Matsudo, Japan, for the second time – with an “Ars Electronica Salon” on the theme of “Future Citizen”.
With three specially designed installations and a curated show on the artist Etsuko Ichihara, the Ars Electronica Futurelab transformed two of the traditional Japanese houses in Tojogaoka Historikal Park in Matsudo into a place of art, science and new media for two days.
In the main building, two works by Japanese artist Estuko Ichihara took visitors into the world of media art – the Digital Shaman Project, which even won an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica in 2018, and the Virtual Currency Offering Festival. Both works play with ancient Japanese rituals and their transfer into the digital age, be it farewell rituals or traditional offerings at temples and shrines.
The three works created by the Ars Electronica Futurelab also fall entirely under the umbrella of the “Future Citizen” – in “Questioning News”, Japanese news were retrieved from the Internet every two minutes and provided with a question mark at the end. This drastically changes the content and meaning of the headlines – and raises the question of critical media consumption in the 21st century.
Questioning News photo: Nicolas Naveau
Switch Future Citizen photo: Nicolas Naveau
Listen To Nature photo: Nicolas Naveau
Switch Future Citizen photo: Nicolas Naveau
Listen To Nature photo: Nicolas Naveau
The second installation, “Listen to Nature”, is just as site-specific: on a Japanese seat cushion, sounds from the surrounding nature could be listened to while contemplating a creative question. The questions were created at the annual Future Innovators Summits, Ars Electronica’s Think and Do Tank, and deal with important topics of the digital age.
The last work, on the other hand, was a call to action: In a Switch workshop, the edutainment kit “Switch,” which was developed at the Ars Electronica Futurelab, was used to work on images of the future of the city and the citizens of Matsudo. On one side of the kit there was a question or problem, while on the other side there was a proposal for action.
Credits
Ars Electronica Futurelab: Hideaki Ogawa, Nicolas Naveau, Florian Berger, Arno Deutschbauer
International Science Art Festival, Matsudo: Estuko Ichihara