Following last year’s brilliant 40-year festival, which brought more artists, exhibitors and international experts to Linz than ever before, this year Ars Electronica is going on a journey, or rather the festival itself is becoming a journey – a journey through “Kepler’s Gardens”. This also means that the judging phase for the STARTS Prize – part of the STARTS initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of technology and artistic practice – took place digitally via video conference this year and the showcase of submissions will be spread across several international locations.
Starting with a journey through Re-FREAM Garden and UK Garden by UCA we are exploring gardens across the world with this special Inside Festival segment of Ars Electronica Home Delivery, presented by Veronika Liebl and Kristina Maurer.
Taking inspiration from the Hieronymous Bosch painting’s central panel “Garden of Earthly Delights”, and the Ars Electronica 2020 meta-topics of ecology, democracy, uncertainty, humanity, reality, and autonomy; the UK Garden will act as a unifying community celebration of amazing art-tech/art-science collaborations showcased from the North to South, with the START Prize winners, runners-up, nominees and other STARTS projects (Residencies, Lighthouse projects) at the heart of the program.
The research project Re-FREAM is exploring the interaction between the domains of Fashion, Design, Science, Craft and Technology, promoting a space for co-creation and research, where experimental projects will be connecting artists with scientists and technologists for better human centred and sustainable solutions. The Re-FREAM Garden shows the results of 10 co-creation projects, illustration the potential of combining art with technology, crafting and sciences. The Re-FREAM Garden also looks at fashion from an uncomfortable perspective and opens up new spheres for sustainability and diversity with various talks and positions of artists.
Find more information about STARTS here.
Credit: Florian Geerken
