Democracy

VirtualPolitik

Neo Christopher Chung

The world is at a critical junction where polarizing forces are working hard to keep us divided and troubled. We are witnessing the rise of exclusionary laws and policies, fueled by the dark side of the Internet and algorithms. Across Europe and beyond, the challenges of civil unrest and human rights are negatively affecting marginalized populations and creating intractable divisions. How can we use public platforms and new media to create inclusive outlooks and to create new political spheres?

AIxDemocracy by IMPAKT: Radicalization by Design

Richard Rogers (US/NL), Bharath Ganesh (US/NL), Marc Tuters (CA/NL), Arjon Dunnewind (NL)

Social media platforms are feeding the raw material of youth culture directly into the nationalist populist insurgency that is currently sweeping through the planet. Evoking the fear of an existential enemy at the gates of Fortress Europe – or more often, an enemy within – this new political style is especially successful in the online culture wars. Radicalization by Design will discuss the question of whether our media are radicalizing us. In connecting us, are social media also tearing us apart? How do trolls, conspiracy theories, memes and fringe platforms impact politics today? The panel discusses issues of freedom of speech, extreme speech and deplatforming.

Inside Festival

The Inside Festival series focuses on the research and work of different guests with regard to the festival topics democracy and autonomy. Among the guest are Joanna Bryson, Lorena Jaume Palasì and Renata Schmidtkunz who will discuss with Gerfried Stocker, the artistic director of Ars Electronica.

Artist Talk: Joy Buolamwini (US)

Artist Talk by Joy Buolamwini (US) about the project 'Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) - AI, Ain't I A Woman?' which won the Award of Distinction in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

Exponential Mindset: The Skills of an Exponentialist

Niki Ernst, Eveline Wandl-Vogt

A 4-Sessions dive deep into the Exponential Mindset. An interaction series to consider the SDGs from an exponential growth strategies perspective.

Community Creates Mobility: Participatory Speculative Critical Design beyond dream-making for the City.

Eveline Wandl-Vogt, Niki Ernst, Claudia Falkinger, Peter Zehetbauer, Wolfgang Preisinger, Elisabeth Füssl, Penesta Dika, Aleyda Rocha Sepulveda; lightning talk: Jeffrey Schnapp

Co-Envisioning Mobility Infrastructures - The challenges facing cities around the globe are complex and multidisciplinary by nature. Attempting to solve them in conventional linear ways is insufficient for addressing these manifold human-environment relationships that are at the heart of these challenges. Alternative approaches are necessary.

If once we ever were by Jaime Carrejo (USA)

Black Cube Nomadic Museum (USA)

Black Cube Nomadic Museums’ executive director and chief curator Cortney Lane Stell presents If once we ever were, a virtual recreation of a public sculpture and temporary monument by artist Jaime Carrejo that recognizes immigrants and their contributions to our communities. The monument is a triumphal arch composed of chain-link fencing that originally appeared in Denver, Colorado and acts as a metaphor for boundaries—the delineation of private and public space, the division of geographical borders, and the separation of rights.

Augmented Idolatry (AI) - inaugural project of the Desert Valley Art Ranch (VAR), San Luis Valley, Colorado

LAST/RESORT Club

Augmented Idolatry (AI) is a collective AR artwork composed of seven distinct AR idols, designed in direct response to the landscape, history and spirituality of the San Luis Valley, home to the artist residency “Desert Valley Art Ranch.” An actual mud plinth built on-site is shared among the seven AR idols and connects them to the land. The AR idols refer to memento mori, indigenous histories, natural resources and sacred geometries.

Rio Verde

Cherish Marquez (US)

Rio Verde is a socially conscious video game by Cherish Marquez that explores the healing powers of the desert, as well as themes such as Latinx iconography and mental wellness.

Crosser & LaMigra

Rafael Fajardo (US)

Crosser & La Migra are two video games that represent opposite perspectives on the dynamics at the US-Mexico border, rendered as early arcade graphics and presented as a diptych. Artist and designer Rafael Fajardo is the founding director of SWEAT, a loose collaborative that makes socially conscious video games in order to explore the poetics of interactivity, critique and deploy electronic media, and comment on cultural realities.

Frontera!

John Jota Leaños

Leaños directed and produced the animated documentary, Frontera!, retelling the history of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico. The film has been supported by a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship in Film and Video and a National Association for Latino Arts and Culture Grant, among others. Collaborators: Conroy Chino (Acoma Pueblo), Warren Montoya (Santa Ana Pueblo, Tamaya and Santa Clara Pueblo, Khapo Owinge’), Lee Moquino (Santa Clara Pueblo, Zia Pueblo, Apache/Yaqui), Aimee Villarreal, and Cristóbal Martinez (Alcalde).

Meet the S+T+ARTS Community: Building Open Source Platforms

Joseph Klatt (US), Sören Lex (AT)

Precious Plastic and Precious Plastic Universe, started by industrial designer Dave Hakkens in 2013, is one of those platforms: focused on the reduction of plastic waste through sharing an open source toolkit of technologies and ideas, it has become a global movement of 80.000 people connected by the same passion and vision.

Emilie Trice & LAST/RESORT present Garden del Rio Grande

LAST/RESORT (US)

Garden del Rio Grande pays homage to the geographic region around the Rio Grande River, which runs from central Colorado along the U.S./Mexico border to the Gulf of Mexico. Our garden contemplates how technology can reconnect us to the land and amplify indigenous voices, while questioning to what extent can art and design fortify sustainable ecologies. Through emerging technology we seek to reverse-engineer the past in order to reimagine the future.

Creative Question Challenge: Autonomy – Democracy

Lauren Lee McCarthy (US), Paolo Cirio (IT), Kazuko Tanaka (JP)

The Creative Question Challenge (CQC) is a new brainstorming format in which speakers explore and present creative questions in a 30-minute dialogue.

Artist Talk: Luz María Sánchez (MX)

Artist Talk by Luz María Sánchez (MX) about the project 'Vis. [un]necessary force_3' which got the Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

Artist Talk: Rachel Uwa (US)

Artist Talk by Rachel Uwa (US) about the project 'School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe' which got the Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

Artist Talk: Jesi Carson(CA), Amber Frid-Jimenez(US)

Artist Talk by Jesi Carson(CA), Amber Frid-Jimenez(US) about the project 'Participedia: Crowdsourcing Participatory Democracy for the Public Good' which got the Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

Artist Talk: Mourad Ayyach (PS)

Artist Talk by Mourad Ayyach (PS) about the project 'Habaq Movement' which won the Award of Distinction in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

Artist Talk: Eric Siu (HK) & Joel Kwong (HK)

Artist Talk by Eric Siu (HK) & Joel Kwong (HK) about the project 'Be Water by HongKongers' which won the Golden Nica in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.

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.