Ars Electronica Center

Located on the northern bank of the Danube, the striking architecture of the Ars Electronica Center has been shaping the Linz cityscape since 2009. During the festival, Ars Electronica’s headquarters will be presenting several exhibitions, OpenLabs, guided tours of the adjacent Ars Electronica Futurelab and a comprehensive program of presentations in Deep Space 8K.

A visit to the Ars Electronica Center is only possible upon presentation of a valid ticket and simultaneous registration for the event. Tickets can only be purchased online. It is not possible to pass on festival tickets as every visitor must register online in advance. Please carry a proof of identity with you. Please book your time slot (incl. ticket) for your visit to the Ars Electronica Center in advance. Otherwise, we ask for your understanding in case of longer waiting times.

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Exhibitions at the Ars Electronica Center

Interactive stations, works of art, research projects, large-scale projections and laboratories. The new Ars Electronica Center invites you to exciting and inspiring excursions into the future fields of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, robotics and autonomous mobility, as well as genetic engineering and biotechnology!

UNDERSTANDING AI

NEURO BIONICS

GLOBAL SHIFT

ARS ELECTRONICA LABS

MACHINE LEARNING STUDIO

MIRAGES & MIRACLES

KIDS’ RESEARCH LABORATORY

AI X MUSIC

OPEN SOUNDSTUDIO

Presentations in Deep Space 8K

Austria makes Sense – Trip to the Austrian Pavilion at the World Expo in Dubai

The world exhibition Expo 2020, bearing the motto Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, is the first world exhibition in an Arab country. The “Expo” is one of the major international exhibitions recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

Best of Deep Space 8K

Best of Deep Space 8K offers a bilingual overview (German and English) of the highlights from the Ars Electronica Center’s regular Deep Space 8K program.

Cinematic Rendering – Dissecting Theatre of the Future

Prim. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Franz Fellner (DE), Dr. Klaus Engel (DE)

Considering how computer tomography (CT) makes it possible to peer inside the human body without resorting to a scalpel is actually quite fascinating in its own right, but the app “Cinematic Rendering” at the Deep Space 8K takes the teaching of the anatomy of the human body to the next level.

Climate Change from space – 360 degrees

ESRIN, ESA Centre for Earth Observation (IT), Ars Electronica Solutions (AT)

ESA’s Earth Observation Facility (ESRIN) in Frascati, Italy hosts the Φ-Experience – an multimedia centre, comprising an Earth observation data visualization facility. The objective of the “Φ-Experience” is to use interactive display technologies to increase awareness and visibility of ESA’s Earth observation programs and applications.

Cooperative Aesthetics

Students of the University of Art and Design Linz (AT)

For the third time, the Time-Based and Interactive Media Art department of the University of Art and Design Linz will be presenting 13 new projects on Cooperative Aesthetics in the Deep Space 8k as part of the Ars Electronica Festival. The works were created as part of the course “AEC Deep Space” under the direction of Prof. Gerhard Funk and assistant Prof. Holunder Heiss and enable the visitors to have a common audiovisual aesthetic experience. The interaction between all users, their communication and collaboration are essential.

COVID19 Insights: Mapping Diversity and Community

Dario Rodrighiero, Elian Carsenat, Gabriel Carsenat, Eveline Wandl-Vogt

COVID19 is a fire accelerator. We were using the time of the lockdown to deepen our transnational collaboration and think on how we can apply our knowledge and skills to current real world problems related to the pandemics. This visualization based on the recently developed biocultural diversity index and lexical distances. This work is unpublished up to now and unique.

Creative Harmony

Julien Lomet (FR), Bastien Daniel (FR), Timothée Durgeaud (FR), Johan Julien (FR), Pierre Huyghe (FR), Ronan Gaugne (FR), Valérie Gouranton (FR), Joël Laurent (FR), Bruno Bossis (FR)

Creative Harmony is a networked virtual reality artwork, inviting spectators from different cities to co-create a virtual environment in real time through gestures. With motion capture, each participant is led to create the landscape of a marine universe, to find a connection with nature. Through letting go, music and virtual dancers, spectators will be able to express themselves with their bodies and connect with each other to evolve the world in which they find themselves immersed.

Cubo Negro: Live-Duet Cubo Negro Culiacán and Deep Space 8K Linz

Centro de Ciencias (MX), Ars Electronica Solutions (AT)

Last year Ars Electronica replicated Deep Space 8K in Mexico, Culiacan, where the replica is called “Cubo Negro”. For the Festival the main advantage of Deep Space 8K, namely community experience will be brought to a new level. There will be a Duett between the Deep Space Mexico and the Deep Space in Linz. Visitors from Cubo Negro in Mexico and Deep Space 8K in Linz will be able to play together, live. Same environment, same time, only different destinations.

Daily Selection

You don’t have time to watch the complete Deep Space program during the festival? In the Daily Selection you can experience the highlights.

DARV_ Abandoned Land

Lee Jung In (KR/AT) Mihaela Kavdanska (BG/RO/AT) Violeta Ivanova (BG/AT) Florian Weinrich (AT)

DARV_ Abandoned Land is an intermedia dance performance which sprouts connections between analog and digital. The performers interact with large-scale objects and video projections, resembling the endless migration from one world to another in search for the better. The DARV team and eight dancers perform in various locations in Austria, South Korea and Bulgaria, guiding the audience through dystopian realities and abandoned sites. Drained-off utopias, failed social mechanisms and ideologies are embodied, explored and ultimately abandoned.

Deepandemia

Peter Freudling (AT), Nicolas Naveau (FR/AT), Johannes Pöll (AT), Julian Zauner (AT)

Inspired by the recent coronavirus pandemic, Deepandemia aims to visualize (and gamify) the consequences of actions like physical distancing, quarantine or wearing a mask. The project team’s hope is to encourage the visitors to think, discuss and take action in the real world, since this kind of threat will most probably remain with us for a while.

Electronic Theatre @ Deep Space 8K

Since 1987, the Electronic Theatre has compiled a large number of submissions from all over the world, providing an up-to-the-minute survey of animation art in the context of technology and society. It impressively illustrates the dynamic development of artistic computer animation over the past three decades as well as the expansive growth of various fringe areas. A glance at the works selected this year shows a broad range, from animation in the context of performance and installations to real-time animation and multifaceted, subject-based discussions.

Solar Walk @ Deep Space 8K

Réka Bucsi

Solar Walk, by the Hungarian animation artist Réka Bucsi, is a symphony between humans, animals, creatures, and inanimate and unknown objects.

FOR FOREST – The Unending Attraction of Nature in DEEP SPACE 8K

Gernot Paulus (AT), Klaus Littmann (CH), Philipp Zebedin (AT), Günter Koren (AT), Roland Haring (AT), Roland Aigner (AT), Ulf Scherling (AT), Karl-Heinrich Anders (DE)

FOR FOREST by Klaus Littmann was a temporary art intervention of a real forest at the soccer stadium in Klagenfurt gaining worldwide attention. This art intervention in fall 2019 not only created the largest of its kind in public space in Austria, but also a unique scientific laboratory in the context of forestry, surveying and digital transformation. The “Making of” this unique collaboration from the artistic and scientific point of view is for the first time presented in Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Festival 2020.

Geophysics, drones, laser scans… tracking the ancient Romans with hightech

Stefan Traxler (AT)

In this segment, expert on ancient Rome Dr. Stefan Traxler (OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH) will give you an overview of current projects.

Gustav Klimt’s “Kiss” as Gigapixel – On the Cooperation between Google Arts & Culture and the Belvedere in Vienna

Belvedere, Franz Smola (AT)

At the presentation initiated by ARS Electronica, experts from Google Arts & Culture will explain the technology of the Art Camera and its application in cooperation with museums worldwide in a vivid way. Belvedere curator Franz Smola, responsible for the scientific expertise and supervision of the project, will also explain the art historical aspects of Klimt’s painting “The Kiss”.

Immersify: The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral

ScanLAB Projects (UK), RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems (AT), Dombauhütte St. Stephan zu Wien (AT), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT)

The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral invites Deep Space 8K visitors to an interactive 3D-journey through high-resolution 360° images of the Viennese St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The images, consisting of more than 21 billion laser points, together make up the multiple layers of transparency of the beautiful sacred building.

Infected

Gerhard Funk (AT)

In this simulation game for approx. 20 people, the visitors have to cooperate with each other and develop a common strategy in order to continue to live and stay healthy in an infectious world.

Jan van Eyck was here, there and is now everywhere …

Till-Holger Borchert (DE)

On the occasion of the Van Eyck Year 2020, Ars Electronica, in cooperation with the General Delegation of Flanders, Musea Brugge and with the kind support of the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) and Art in Flanders; high-resolution images will be shown of Jan van Eyck’s most famous masterpiece, the Ghent Altarpiece, as well as other images made by KIK-IRPA for the VERONA Project (Van Eyck Research in OpeN Access).

Climate emergency in Vorarlberg: a trip to the exhibition “Global Shift – Die Welt im Wandel” in Bregenz

The climate emergency in Vorarlberg, declared in 2019, not only addresses politics, but also the art and cultural scene have to make a contribution against global warming. The exhibition “Global Shift – Die Welt im Wandel (engl.: Global Shift – The World in Transition)” includes various interactive and participatory stations. These stations observe, document and comment on the traces left using our natural resources.

Lost in Resolution – 16K Video and 3D Audio Playback for Large-Screen Immersive Spaces

Spin Digital Video Technologies GmbH (DE), Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PL), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT)

An introduction about the Immersify project and the work performed on tools, content, and spaces for immersive media. Including a presentation highlighting the requirements and potential of a new generation of immersive and interactive media applications that combine very high resolution video with 3D audio. A content showcase including three content pieces that feature 16K 360° video with 3D audio based on ambisonics and user interaction presented at the Deep Space 8K.

Magister Raffaello 2020

Magister Art (IT)

Conceived to celebrate the 500th death anniversary of the renaissance artist Raphael, Magister Raffaello is a new cultural project by Magister Art, digital innovators in cultural heritage content creation, production and promotion. It combines the high scientific value with the constant experimentation of new languages and media, to create an ‘augmented narration’ and a ‘total’ cognitive experience. Magister Raffaello is shown in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.

Magister Raffaello 2020 – Talk

Magister Art (IT), Jelena Jovanovic (IT)

Conceived to celebrate the 500th death anniversary of the renaissance artist Raphael, Magister Raffaello is a new cultural project by Magister Art, digital innovators in cultural heritage content creation, production and promotion. It combines the high scientific value with the constant experimentation of new languages and media, to create an ‘augmented narration’ and a ‘total’ cognitive experience. Magister Raffaello is shown in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.

Mirage – An Interactive Experience

Carolina Bischof (AT), Andreas Dorner (AT), Lena Kalleitner (AT), Adam Lamine (AT), Thomas Tippold, Matthias Husinsky (AT), Clemens Scharfen (AT)

In Mirage – An Interactive Experience, Deep Space 8K visitors find themselves in an alien world, where they collectively partake in a story appealing to multiple senses. Up to 16 persons can actively participate in this encounter. In this abstract-looking world, visitors must find hidden pathways to a portal through teamwork, solve puzzles cooperatively and avoid manifold hazards.

Of Peacocks and Men

Irena Birsa (SI), Simona Korošec (SI)

“Of Peacocks and Men”, an interdisciplinary project by Irena Birsa is all about fear and what we could have been without it. Original text and pre-stored sounds are the main items. The relationship between music and text is submissive, the sonic atmosphere of electronic sounds is merely accompanying the story and reacting to actress’ sometimes improvised gestures. The text, music and light are working together to create an almost garish space for the audience in which little clicks can occur.

Opera @ Deep Space 8K

Erick Oh (KR/US)

Opera is a cycle of a five-minute animation created by the prize-winning filmmaker and artist Erick Oh.

Pianographique

Maki Namekawa (JP/AT), Cori O’Lan (AT)

Philip Glass’ piano solo piece Passacaglia: After a tranquil opening, we break into boiling and purely pianistic passages of arpeggios and scales. Philip Glass’ trusted pianist Maki Namekawa (who has premiered several of his piano pieces) performs this work in its Austrian premiere.

Immersify: The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral – Artist Presentation

ScanLAB Projects (UK), RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems (AT), Dombauhütte St. Stephan zu Wien (AT), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT)

The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral invites Deep Space 8K visitors to an interactive 3D-journey through high-resolution 360° images of the Viennese St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The images, consisting of more than 21 billion laser points, together make up the multiple layers of transparency of the beautiful sacred building.

Events, Specials at the Ars Electronica Center

Creating a New Normal: Arts, Design, Humanities and Social Sciences 4 Emergency?

Eveline Wandl-Vogt, Nirmala Menon, Dario Rodrighiero, Elian Carsenat

Panel discussion: As this virus, and maybe further to come, affects the world and our way of living, we are aiming to explore pioneering research and action based art and design. During the time of social distancing and quarantining, it has become evident that even with the principles of science and technology that provide us with access to practical methods for securing our lives, humanities-based principles and skillsets have played a key role in enabling us to evolve. In light of this, we might want to rethink our approach to future living.

The Civil Society of the Future

Unabhängiges LandesFreiwilligen Zentrum (AT)

When, if not now, should we talk about the future of civil society? As with the refugee conflict in 2015, the corona crisis of 2020 highlighted the role of civil social engagement. Once again, it became clear how much the initiatives, associations, NGOs, NPOs and individuals we consider as “civil society” can do.

EBRIPHON / THE SHIP SYMPHONY

​Christine Hinterkörner (AT), Patrik Huber (AT)

How do cargo ships sound? For the artist Christine Hinterkörner, based in Linz, its so fascinating that she composed a spectacular music piece from the sounds of a heavy metal cargo ship, which she realized with her artist colleague Patrik Huber.

Electrified Feedback Cello

Michael Hutsteiner (AT), Verena Breitfuß (AT)

A cello is vibrated by means of magnetic pickups and structure-borne sound transducers. The feedback signal can be manipulated and changed using digital sound processors

Austria makes sense @ “Expo 2020 Dubai”

Ars Electronica Solutions (AT)

From 1. 10.2021 to 31.3.2022 the world exhibition takes place in Dubai. Austria is participating with the extraordinary project “Austria makes Sense”.

Magister Raffaello 2020

Magister Art (IT)

Conceived to celebrate the 500th death anniversary of the renaissance artist Raphael, Magister Raffaello is a new cultural project by Magister Art, digital innovators in cultural heritage content creation, production and promotion. It combines the high scientific value with the constant experimentation of new languages and media, to create an ‘augmented narration’ and a ‘total’ cognitive experience. Magister Raffaello is shown in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.

Magister Raffaello 2020 – Talk

Magister Art (IT), Jelena Jovanovic (IT)

Conceived to celebrate the 500th death anniversary of the renaissance artist Raphael, Magister Raffaello is a new cultural project by Magister Art, digital innovators in cultural heritage content creation, production and promotion. It combines the high scientific value with the constant experimentation of new languages and media, to create an ‘augmented narration’ and a ‘total’ cognitive experience. Magister Raffaello is shown in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.

Myths and Matter

Robert Angerer, Sofie Lüftinger, Neriman Polat, Alessandra Steiner

The Imaginarium shows the results of our experiments, matter from distant futures, myths and fairytales.

Open Futurelab Exhibition

The Open Futurelab Exhibition showcases the current research approaches and projects by the Ars Electronica Futurelab – Ars Electronica’s Research and Development department.

Immersify: The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral – Artist Presentation

ScanLAB Projects (UK), RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems (AT), Dombauhütte St. Stephan zu Wien (AT), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT)

The Translucent St. Stephen’s Cathedral invites Deep Space 8K visitors to an interactive 3D-journey through high-resolution 360° images of the Viennese St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The images, consisting of more than 21 billion laser points, together make up the multiple layers of transparency of the beautiful sacred building.

Symposium “Perspektiven politischer Bildung”

Arbeiterkammer OÖ (AT), Pädagogische Hochschule OÖ (AT)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is omnipresent, without us always being aware of it. For many years now, it has been making our everyday lives easier, for example when cell phones are unlocked by means of face recognition or when individual advertising guides us through the jungle of the Internet. AI can manipulate us humans. Can it thus become a danger to democracy? The first signs of this apparent development were brought about by the brexite vote or the US presidential elections, for example.