Real Feelings. Emotion and Technology

Emotions are at the core of human experience. Love them or hate them, they influence every aspect of our lives and shape our social behaviour. In the 21st century, technology has started engaging emotions like never before. The international group exhibition will present works by 20 artists, in mediums ranging from artificial intelligence, interactive installations, robotics and biometrics to gaming, video installations, virtual reality and photography. They explore how technologies are collating, assessing or triggering our emotions in multiple ways and directions. These technologies are even creating new feelings, which we haven’t found words to describe yet.

Several works have been produced expressly for this exhibition and will be experienced for the first time. During Ars Electronica, HeK will present virtual tours through the exhibition and online talks with curators Sabine Himmelsbach, Ariane Koek and Angelique Spaninks, as well as with some of the participating artists who have also received prizes (Lauren LeeMcCarty – Golden Nica Interactive Arts +) or honorary mentions (Lucy McRae and Shinseungback Kimyonghun) in this year’s edition of the Prix Ars Electronica.

HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel) (CH)

HeK is dedicated to digital culture and the new art forms of the information age. It is a place for creative and critical discourse on the aesthetic, socio-political and economic impact of media technologies. HeK shows contemporary art that explores and configures new technologies; it promotes an aesthetic practice that uses information technology as a medium, makes it vividly accessible and actively intervenes in its processes. HeK thereby addresses the pressing issues of twenty-first-century culture and makes an active contribution to their future evolution.