Themed Exhibition: (Co)Owning More-than-Truth

(Linz, Sept 6, 2023) Who owns the truth? It’s an age-old question that Ars Electronica is bringing to the table this year. But why now? Because the next storm is threatening to shake the foundations of our coexistence. The erosion of democracy and politics caused by social media will be accelerated even more by AI bots. In the future, algorithms will not only reinforce polarizing views, but will introduce such views themselves. A policy that is primarily influenced by sentiment and opinion polls then runs the risk of becoming a policy for machines instead of for people.

There are many good reasons today to doubt the vision of technology as the solution to our problems. As a society, we have to do everything in our power to steer the ever more breathtaking technological development in a direction that makes its potential accessible to as many people as possible. We need a new “community” that enables us to cope with the profound and far-reaching changes of the digital age and even more the global-collective consequences of climate change.

So who owns the truth? The large exhibition on this theme of Ars Electronica 2023 will present a total of 35 artistic positions, which will be staged in the spectacular catacombs and nuclear bunker of POSTCITY. The title of the show is “(Co)Owning More-than-Truth”.

StellaVerde. Inspirational Prototype of Precision Garden as a Possible Scenario for Sustainable Food Production / Gregor Krpič (SI), Simon Gmajner (SI), Dr. Jan Babič (SI), Dr. Marko Jamšek (SI), Gal Sajko (Jožef Stefan Institute) (SI)

A green togetherness. The StellaVerde project is a vertical garden facility that demonstrates a functional connection between animals (in this case fish), plants, and robots (a five-legged Spiderbot). A computer code ensures the movement of the Spiderbot, an algorithm ensures the well-being of the plants. In focus: care through the interaction of plants and machines—and a better understanding of plants and animals that inhabit the natural ecosystem cycle.

Project Credits. Authors: Gregor Krpič and Simon Gmajner / Scientific collaborators: Dr. Jan Babič, Dr. Marko Jamšek, Gal Sajko (Jožef Stefan Institute) / Technical solutions: Uroš Mehle, Marsel Osmanagić, Andraž Tarman, Luka Žagar, Martin Konič, Jure Sajovic / Hands-on assistance: Nastja Ambrožič, Eva Debevc / Producer: Lea Lipnik / Innovation catalyst: Jurij Krpan, Kersnikova / The project development was supported by the European Commission – DG Connect, S+T+ARTS Regional Centers initiative. / The prototype solution was supported by the konS project, co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.  

This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

Cartographies of the Unseen / Felipe Castelblanco (CO), Lydia Zimmermann (CH)   

Conceived as a participatory research process in southwestern Colombia, the film project Cartographies of the Unseen works on two levels: It shows itself as a cinematic journey into the region between the Andes and the Amazon, as a foray through vertical landscapes shaped by territorial conflicts and resistance—while at the same time documenting an ongoing biocultural peace process sustained by the spirituality and governance of indigenous peoples.

Project Credits. Support from: Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst Basel and PROHELVETIA – COINCIDENCIA, Colombian Ministry of Culture. Thanks to: AWAI Territorial Agency, The Putumayo River, Sumak Kawsay Foundation, Kustruktur and Camilo Pachón (AMA).  / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.  

FORMATA / PЯОТO-ALIEИ PЯOJECT (CO/JP) 

Experience extraterrestrial matter. The PЯОТO-ALIEИ PЯOJECT is a multidisciplinary laboratory dedicated to the artistic use of extraterrestrial organic matter (ETOM) with the FORMATA project. FORMATA is a multi-sensory art installation that stages living blobs in a reactor that recreates the conditions of an alien planet. The blobs are constantly changing, deforming and moving. The physical encounter between the audience and the alien active matter is crucial to the project. Visitors are called upon to reassess their own place in an active cosmos and the human/non-human hierarchy.

Project Credits. Experimental laboratory–Gifu Prefectural Industrial Technology Center / Rock Design–Yasushi Inoue / Support–The Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS); Department of Information Design, Tama Art University; and The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo. / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

Organ of Radical Care: Una Matriz Colaborativa /Charlotte Jarvis (GB), Dr. Patricia Saragüeta (AR) 

A new world. Organ of Radical Care: Una Matriz Colaborativa uses new scientific knowledge to grow a collaborative uterus from the menstrual blood of multiple women, trans and non-binary people from Argentina. The project is communicated through a sculpture showing the growing cell colony in a glass goblet, as well as poetry and a video/audio installation, and aims to stimulate rational conversations as well as creative imaginations.

Project Credits. Scientific Consultants: Prof. Susana Chuva de Sousa Lopes, Anastasia Bragina, Manuel Selg / Poem: Dr. Patricia Saragüeta / Translation: Sarahi Valeria Fuster Cortés, Diego Trujillo Pîsanty, Amber Scott, Fiona Athie / Glass: Atelier NL / Lab colleagues Argentina: Luciana Ant and Clara Campos, Saragüeta Lab / Lab colleague Linz: Anastasia Bragina, ARS Electronica Lab / Film: Charlotte Jarvis, Wo Portillo del Rayo, James Read  / The work is being realized within the framework of the European Media Art Platforms residency program at Ars Electronica with support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union. Additional support from MU Hybrid Arthouse, the Royal College of Art, CONICET and FCEN-UBA / EMAP is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. This project is funded and presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.  

Biosymbiotic Exoskeleton /Dorotea Dolinšek (SI) 

Portable space architecture. The artistic goal of Biosymbiotic Exoskeleton is to construct a space suit as a complete life support system: a vessel with organisms, a personal microbiome—connected to the human being in Outer Space. The artistic investigation aims to promote symbiotic alliances between humans, technology, and non-human organisms, thus stimulating a response to the profound and pressing ecological issues facing planet earth.

Project Credits. Curatorial guidance: Christl Baur, Martin Honzik, Jurij Krpan, Sandra Sajovic / Technical solutions: Dmitry Morozov / Expertise support: Anastasia Bragina, Kristijan Tkalec, Manuel Selg / Graphic design: Barbara Sušnik / Construction: Andraž Tarman (Rompom) / Inflatables: Ursula Klein (Schulteswien) / Technical support: Simon Gmajner, Jure Sajovic / Special thanks: Gabriele Berg, Leo Schatzl, Randolf Helmstetter, Florian Voggender, Johannes Buchwieser, Miha Turšič, Gernot Grömer / Co-produced by: Kersnikova Institute, Ars Electronica / This project is funded and presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.  

Microfluidic Oracle Chip & Autopoesis Answering Machine (MOC&AAM) /Agnes Meyer-Brandis (DE)

Droplets flow. Decide. flow on. The Microfluidic Oracle Chip (MOC) & Autopoesis Answering Machine (AAM) project is the result of artistic research in synthetic biology labs and is presented as a machine that uses a network of microfluidic chips to create specially made to allow droplets—“GUVs” with a polymer coating—to flow through microscopically small channels in the form of handwritten decision questions. Harnessing technology used to study the function of biological membranes and building artificial cells, the Oracle answers questions collected from scientists as well as ChatGPT. In each case, a simple YES or NO is offered.

Project Credits. Sound: Michael Moser / Microfluidic Chip Oracle & Autopoesis Answering Machine (MOC&AAM) began as part of an Artist in Residence Project at the Max Planck Institute in Postdam Golm.  / Many thanks to Naresh Yandrapalli and the Tom Robinson Lab, Dirk van Swaay  / Funded through the More-than-Planet project. More-than-Planet is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.

ZOE

A temporary co-existence between reishi mushrooms and a custom-made robotic system /Noor Stenfert Kroese (NL), Amir Bastan (IR) 

When the unknown comes together. ZOE is a temporary coexistence of reishi mushrooms with a customized robotic system to explore the possibilities of internal communication between robot and reishi. On the one hand, research into the interaction and unknown communication within fungal mycelium networks will be continued, on the other hand, a possible correlation between two unknowns will be made visible through data visualization. The paradox of nature and technology becomes the shared ecosystem of care and mutual influence.

Project Credits. Noor Stenfert Kroese & Amir Bastan / Support: Produced by Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam with support from by Municipality of the City of Rotterdam, Fonds 21 EXTRA and Art Climate & Transition – EU Creative Europe project. / In co-production with Creative Robotics, KUKA CEE and Mushroom Research Center Austria. / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

TX-2: MOONSHADOW / Adriana Knouf (US)

Time to bring some queer joy to Outer Space. In contrast to commercial space missions that pursue military and expansionist goals, the TX-2: MOONSHADOW experiment demonstrates a speculative satellite construction, opening up possibilities to construct queer and post-colonial futures and to think non-human space experiences. The experiment impresses with well thought-out details: a handmade solar sail, sculptural “meteorites” made of hybrid lichen-human structures or a specially made 6U CubeSat covered with protective sigils, wish symbols from magic.

Project Credits. The project was the outcome of a fellowship co-commissioned by Art Hub Copenhagen within the framework of Repairing The Present. Repairing The Present is co-funded by the STARTS program of the European Union. Expert Fabrication Assistance: Giorgia Piffaretti. 3D Modeling and Industrial Design: Felipe Rebolledo. Spacecraft Fabrication Space: Georg Rasmussen, CLICK/Kulturværftet, Helsingør, Denmark. / Presented with the kind support of Creative Industries Fund NL. 

Ghostly Plants of Damaged Worlds /Alizée Armet (FR)

Are plants human property? The Ghostly Plants of Damaged Worlds installation invites us to reconsider the relationship between humans, soil, and flora. The project features a mutant form of plants, namely “albino plants”, which are unable to photosynthesize due to heavy metal overload in the soil. With her work, Alizée Armet focuses on the exploitative use of plants and organisms—and goes far beyond the logic of mere possession and robbery.

Project Credits. Funded through the EMAP project. EMAP is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.  

Massive Binaries / Andy Gracie (GB/ES)

Finding the truth—the challenge of our time. The Massive Binaries project looks at how systems in constant exchange can produce strange phenomena and new information; and what role artificial intelligence plays in this. For the installation, Andy Gracie (GB/ES) juxtaposes gravitational wave observations of a neutron star merger with the polarizing belief systems of our society. The bridge between: An AI as a tool to improve information on the one hand and erase meaning on the other. In doing so, he creates multiple possible narratives that constantly reassemble complexity, loss, time, truth, and risk.

Project Credits

Brakfesten / La Grande Bouffe / Anne Duk Hee Jordan (DE), Pauline Doutreluingne (BE)

Unusual perspectives. Brakfesten / La Grande Bouffe is a macro film that zooms into a symbiotic ecosystem of a Swedish forest area. The film set: A public sculpture sculpted from dead elm trees that had to be felled due to widespread Dutch elm disease. The project arose from the desire not to see the emptiness left by the dead trees as an end point. Instead, Anne Duk Hee Jordan (DE) and Pauline Doutreluingne (BE) show the impressive ability of an ecosystem to regenerate and create new life from dead matter.

Project Credits. Directors Anne Duk Hee Jordan and Pauline Doutreluingne  / Sound Composer Midori Hirano / Video Editor Judy Landkammer / Animation Moana Vonstadl  / Camera Leif Eiranson, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Isak Mozard / Footage Research Pauline Doutreluingne / Commissioned by Public Art Agency Sweden / Produced by Public Art Agency Sweden in collaboration with Baltic Art Center / Curators Edi Muka, Helena Selder / Producer Anna Norberg / Film assistant/producer Isak Mozard / Funded through the More-than-Planet project. More-than-Planet is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.

Eco-Bot.Net 

Defending the Digital Environment /Barnaby Francis (GB), Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja (GB), Dale Vince (GB) 

Eco-Bot.Net is a cross-sectoral initiative launched during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in 2021 to uncover the extent of corporate greenwashing and climate disinformation on social media. Designed by Massive Attack artists Bill Posters and Rob Del Naja, and UN Ambassador Dale Vince, the project will be repeated in 2024 with new AI architecture in collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Human Centered Computing Department and Climate Litigation Lab.

Project Credits. This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

La Verdad (The Truth) / Cecilia Vilca (PE) 

La Verdad (The Truth) is an impossible confrontation, made possible by technology. Seized by the desire to acknowledge a human being’s individual pain over the effects of the armed conflict in Peru (1991), Cecilia Vilca’s audiovisual installation creates the voice of Peruvian right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori, generated with artificial intelligence, and teaches her to tell nothing but the truth. The result is a dialogue of the times configured by a guerrilla AI.

Project Credits. Original idea: Viewing Keiko Fujimori’s speeches. Audio and transcript cleaning: Cecilia Vilca. AI training was performed by Cecilia Vilca using a TensorFlow Implementation of DC-TTS by Kyubyong Park.  The video testimony by Liz Rojas Valdez was broadcast live and recorded on public television (Peru, 2002). Today it is available for viewing on CDI-LUM’s YouTube channel. This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

Sistema Cinco: Non-Human Determinations / Cristo Riffo (CL) 

Sistema Cinco explores interdependencies and relationships between microorganisms, contrasting nature’s molecular technologies with those created by man. In this way, live images of vectors in microbial samples are contrasted with drone mappings of large areas—and allow the viewer to find connections and similarities with the microcosms in terms of scale, form and shape.

Project Credits. The participation is the result of a collaboration between Ars Electronica and the Ministerío de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio and the Ministerío de Relaciones Exteriores | Gobierno de Chile. / Montreal Supporting Institution: EASTERN BLOC / Collaborators

dBlech /Daniel Haas (AT)  

Audible. Noticeable. Visible. Daniel Haas’ (AT) works focus on creating unique synesthetic experiences that alter perception by revealing what lies hidden. With dBlech he creates an audiovisual installation that generates, manipulates and reflects sound and light. The object combines several levels of human perception and merges with its surroundings until everything vibrates in harmony.

Project Credits. Funded by The University of Arts Linz and Linz Kultur / Artistic and technical support: Joachim Smetschka, Holunder Heiß, Cécile Bucher, Matthias Narzt, Enrique Tomas, Wolfgang Dorninger  

CEUX SANS QUI LA TERRE NE SERAIT PAS LA TERRE (Diejenigen, ohne die die Erde mehr die Erde wäre) / David Shongo (CD) 

A double gap. Inspired by the reflections of the ecologist Malcolm Ferdinand as well as by the words of the poet Aimé Césaire, the installation CEUX SANS QUI LA TERRE NE SERAIT PAS LA TERRE shows the effects of exploitative practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Artist David Shongo draws parallels between the ecological destruction and social ills in his country—in both cases triggered by unjust systems and human greed.

Project Credits. Video: David Shongo / Photographies: David Shongo / Source of archives: Africauseum / Texts: David Shongo / Production: Studio 1960 / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

BROOD (The Second Body) /Dorota Gawęda (PL/CH), Eglė Kulbokaitė (LT/CH) 

In the form of a multi-channel video installation, BROOD (The Second Body) focuses on the strangeness of the world—a recurring motif in science and folk tales that serves as an interface for interaction with the environment. The artwork traces possibilities of being both oneself and others, depicting an aesthetic process that holds the potential for radically reshaping our world. Staged scenes, green screen footage, algorithmically generated sequences, and found footage flow together and discuss the potential for a radical post-humanist reshaping of our world.

Project Credits. The project has been produced in the frame of the ArTS Production Grant for Swiss Artists supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia / CERN, Collide Residency / BROOD (The Second Body) has been produced together with Justyna Chaberek and Oskar Pawełko (performance); Juliette Ruetz and Julian Hutcheson (SFX make-up); Fritz Schiffers (character development); Moritz Freudenberg (cinematography and postproduction); Robert Sampławski (light). 

What Remains /Iodine Dynamics–Arnaud Guillon (FR), Chun Lee (TW/UK), Dustin Long (US), Aymeric Mansoux (FR) and Marloes de Valk (NL)

A salvation of the world. What Remains is a 1985 8-bit game for the NES console that combines graphic novel and adventurous spirit. It translates real-life events from the 1980s, the decade in which discussions about the ozone hole, global warming, and the rise of neoliberalism were already underway, into an epic adventure. Based on real disinformation campaigns intended to delay regulatory measures, players experience the developments of the time up close and learn strategies that are still relevant today. Yet the world can still be saved!

Project Credits. What Remains is a project by Iodine Dynamics (Arnaud Guillon, Chun Lee, Dustin Long, Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk), 2018. / What Remains is made possible with support from Creative Industries Fund NL, Democracy & Media Foundation, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Akademie Schloss Solitude, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, WORM Pirate Bay, Then Try This, Varia, ESC Medien Kunst Labor and Hotel Mariakapel. Our server is kindly hosted by servus.at. / Presented with the kind support of Creative Industries Fund NL. 

Collectivize Facebook / Jonas Staal (NL), Jan Fermon (BE) 

Collectivize Facebook is a class action lawsuit aimed at enforcing legal recognition of Facebook as a public good owned and controlled by all of its users. The installation offers visitors the opportunity to read the indictment against Facebook in different languages ​​and to join the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff before it is submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Project Credits. Presented with the kind support of Creative Industries Fund NL.

HC SVNT DRACONES /Juliane Jaschnow (DE), Stefanie Schroeder (DE)   

The Latin text phrase “Hic sunt dracones” marked dangerous or unexplored areas on old nautical charts. These words also title the multi-channel installation HC SVNT DRACONES. It follows an online conference on the search process for a nuclear waste repository that does not yet exist and is to be closed for a million years—and deals with the question of how this future location will be marked. The art project is an offshoot of research for a partially three-dimensional film about warning signs, feedback loops, fluorescent flocks of birds, perpetual damage, insect VR cinema, geology and political systems.

Project Credits. This project is funded and presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. /  Additional funding by the German Federal Film Board FFA. / With the support of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour/ LocustVR, University of Konstanz. LocustVR is a combination of a locomotion compensator sphere for freely moving animals and a perspective correct virtual reality projection. 

The Effect of Cannonry on Thunderclouds /Juliane Jaschnow (DE), Stefanie Schroeder (DE) 

Metaphors as an instrument of control. The Effect of Cannonry on Thunderclouds takes the centuries-old tradition of weather shooting (cannon shots against thunderclouds) in Europe as a starting point to shed light on the phenomenon of the internet, television and press being inundated with weather similes. Through shitstorms, floods of data and waves of refugees, the social is imagined as an inevitable catastrophe, described using metaphors from nature. When asked how close manipulation and prognosis are, the artists respond with a film about the image of the storm—and the storm as an image.

Project Credits. Produced in the framework of PMMC Lab, werkleitz Gesellschaft Halle (S.) / Funded by ESF–European Social Fund and MDM–Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. / This project is presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

Consensus Gentium / Karen Palmer (GB)

Experience privacy. Consensus Gentium is an interactive artwork for smartphones exploring surveillance and algorithmic bias in AI-driven facial recognition technology. The audience interacts via a smartphone with the narrative, which takes place in a near-future surveillance state and reveals the frightening potential of today’s surveillance technologies. Consensus Gentium stimulates the debate about privacy and algorithmic bias and exposes algorithmic bias in new technologies. Karen Palmer calls for an active spectator attitude in order to exhibit unconscious behaviors.

Project Credits. Executive Producers: Lizzie Franke and Kristin Irving (BFI) / Producers: Tom Millen, Thalia Mavros, Jackson Lapsley Scott, Tuyet Huynh / Technical Developers: Tom Shannon and Ahmed Buttar / Cinematographer: Anthony Gurner / Editor: Jack Foster / Production Designer: Tom Paris / Sound Designer: Gareth Fry / Music: Cesare Marchese, Colin Emmanuel / Principal Cast: Miriam Teak-Lee, Zachary Hing, Tolu Kingba / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

CHRONOLALIA  

Zu einer oszillierenden Wahrheit  /Klaus Spiess (AT), Emanuel Gollob (AT), Paul Gründorfer (AT), in Zusammenarbeit mit Jens Hauser (DE/FR) 

The truth wavers? CHRONOLALIA explores the ephemerality of truth across different time periods. Guided by the time-sensitive microbiota species, collected laboratory data, and artificial intelligence, visitors use whole-body vibration and an artificial voice machine to traverse internal, environmental, consumption, and cognition-driven timelines. A multi-perspective acoustic experience of time emerges.

Project Credits. Jürgen Ropp, Hans-Jürgen Hauptmann, Fonds zur Förderung wissenschaftlicher Forschung – FWF PEEK AR 687, Medizinische Universität Wien, Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Wien.

Melting–the show must go on! / Michel Winterberg (CH) 

About the stubbornness of our behavior. The installation Melting – the show must go on! refers to the enormous energy consumption and waste heat generation from the Internet, search queries on Google, ChatGPT, Bitcoin mining etc. The components used in the work come from computer cooling technology. Here, however, they are used to produce ice, which is then quickly thawed later. This dramatic process, which is based on nature, is projected as a video image and implemented aesthetically and acoustically through soundscapes.

Project Credits. Presented with the kind support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. 

More-than-Planet Lab /Waag Futurelab (NL), Northern Photographic Centre (FI), ART2M/Makery (FR), Leonardo/Olats (FR), Zavod Projekt Atol (SI), Ars Electronica (AT)  
What does it mean to have accurate information? The More-than-Planet Lab serves as a place for open discussion, designed to explore new perspectives and narratives to deepen understanding of the planet and raise collective awareness of pressing planetary issues. Active participation in workshops enables visitors to look at our planet from new perspectives.

Project Credits. This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

MEMESIS

Oracle Of The Anthropocene / Pamela Neuwirth (AT), Harald Purrer (AT), Simone Boria (GB/AT)

The useless machine? MEMESIS is an oracle in the age of automation that simulates the topic of AI and uses a reverse Turing test to provoke the question: are we already enough machines to deal with artificial intelligence? Visitors use MEMESIS to communicate with the oracle—but are irritated by the algorithm’s experimental setup and fail the test. The machine itself, which develops a supposed life of its own somewhere between utopia and dystopia, does.

Project Credits. Concept: Harald Purrer, Pamela Neuwirth. Video art: Simone Boria. Production: Gregor Hagmüller, Harald Purrer, Pamela Neuwirth / Production/Credits: Gregor Hagmüller (AT) is a mechatronics engineer and works at the company Fronius. / Ada Productions, Linz / Culture Association DH5, Linz / Net Culture Association servus.at, Linz.

I want to delete it all, but not now /Roos Groothuizen (NL)

I want to delete it all, but not now is an unsolvable game that discusses the data industry and the (im)possible escape from its structures. The installation is based on the popular escape room adventure, in which a group has to playfully escape from a specific themed room by solving puzzles. Only in the case of Roos Groothuizen’s installation there is no such thing as “escape”. The puzzles are endless and the space merges with the real world. The question arises how to escape anyway. And from what?

Project Credits. With contributions from: Geert Lovink, Cyanne van den Houten, Derk Over, Isa van Weert, Remco Akkerman & Ruben Baart. / Commissioned by Tetem (Enschede, NL).  Presented with the kind support of Creative Industries Fund NL

The Great Offshore /RYBN.ORG (FR) 

Malta, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Bahamas—they all share a reputation as a tax haven. The Great Offshore is an investigation that delves deeply into the unfathomable phenomena of offshore finance. The artist collective RYBN.ORG collected documents, photographs, stories and diagrams from trips to the notorious tax havens and increasingly focused their observations on offshore infrastructures such as space mining, crypto currencies, or artificial islands. The result is a documentation of the emergence of a regime of liquid governance.

Project Credits. The Great Offshore has been produced since 2017 with the support of: DICRéAM, Espace multimédia Gantner, FNAGP, La Gaîté lyrique, H3K, Atelier Mondial; Eucida, Institut Français Les Collectifs, _V2, FIBER, Waag; CNAP, Éd. UV; M-Cult, EMAP/EMARE. / Collaborators: Wilfried Bartoli, Jean-François Blanquet, Marie Constant, DinahBird. / Algoffshore series belongs to the Espace multimedia Gantner collection. / This project is funded and presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. / With the kind support of Institut Français.  

Total Conversion /Sasha Litvintseva (GB), Beny Wagner (DE/US)   

A suggestion, a question, a method. Total Conversion is a 2-channel video installation; at the center of their overlapping narratives is the human body—and how it needs interaction with the world to sustain its life. What already begins with the supply of energy through food goes into larger contexts: metamorphosis and decay, Eucharist and epigenetics, philosophy of matter and imperial conquest, industrialization and annihilation.

Project Credits. This work was realized within the framework of the European Media Art Platform residency program at IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] with support of the Creative Europe Culture program of the European Union. Supported by Queen Mary University of London, University of Southampton, South-West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. This project is funded and presented in the context of the EMAP project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Prompt Battle Training Station /Sebastian Schmieg (DE) 

Ready for the future of prompt battles? Prompt Battle Training Station is a spin-off of the original Prompt Battle game that challenges contestants to choose prompts for an AI application that produce the most effective output. Here, participants can demonstrate their skills as “prompt engineers”. Who knows about the magical spells that make artificial intelligence create the best images, text, videos, or pieces of music?

Project Credits. Prompt Battle Format developed by Florian A. Schmidt & Sebastian Schmieg with the design students at HTW Dresden: Bernadette Geiger, Ella Zickerick, Emily Krause, Levi Stein, Lina Schwarzenberg, Robert Hellwig / Moderation: Yidi Tsao 

Oculos Super Ignes Vigilantes Volavimus /Spektr Z (SI) 

(Sensor Polygon for Electromagnetism, Communication, Technology, Research & Sensing) 

Spektr Z is a hybrid mobile laboratory that was set up in 2022—during the Great Fire in Karst/Slovenia. It is equipped with modules and devices for remote sensing as well as systems for receiving and processing sensor data. The artistic project Oculus Super Ignes Vigilantes Volavimus presents different layers of data collected by the laboratory during the fires in the Karst and allows visitors to freely navigate and manipulate these data layers.

Project Credits. Production: Projekt Atol Institute within the konS ≡ Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art / Partners 2022: C-ASTRAL, Institute for forest management of Slovenia, Slovenian Armed Forces, GOZDIS – Forestry institute of Slovenia IOS – Institute for ecology and sensors, Civil Defense corps of Slovenia, Triglav National Park, Center of Excellence SPACE-SI, ZRC SAZU – Remote sensing section / Production of the work is supported by the Republic of Slovenia (MK) and Republic & the European Regional Development Fund of the EU / Special support: C-ASTRAL / This project is presented in the context of the More-than-Planet project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 

AIxxNOSOGRAPHIES / Špela Petrič (SI), Studio Teratope (NL) 

AIxxNOSOGRAPHIES is a participatory art-research project that explores medical AI to critically contextualize the current complexities of healthcare transformation we are presently witnessing. Through hybrid artistic methods such as performative ethnography, AI infrastructure mapping and video documentation, the project invites the general public to experience and better understand the use of medical AI in healthcare. A guided tour of new infrastructure and automation.

Project Credits. Concept and execution: Špela Petrič / Maps & research: Janita Chen & Réon Córdova / Design: Miha Turšič / Video: Rob van Pelt / Performer: Ira Brand / Co-organised by: Sustainable AI Lab Bonn and ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands / Special thanks: University Hospital Bonn and University Medical Center Groningen / This artwork was created with support of the Creative Industries Fund (NL) and during the ArtScience Residency, enabled by the partnership of Ars Electronica and Deutsche Telekom and with the support the Sustainable AI Lab of the University Bonn. 

Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird /Vladan Joler (RS), Felix Stalder (CH), Gordan Savičić (AT) 

From the current state of a rescue project. Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird examines the environment that is being created to enable the northern bald ibis, a migratory bird classified as “Critically Endangered”, to roam wild again in Europe. A graphic shows which factors are related to each other and influence whether the northern bald ibis becomes native again. The preparation addresses the connections between the social, technological, informational and ecological elements that make up the anthropogenic ecosystem in order to be able to achieve the goal—at the earliest in 2028.

Project Credits. Presented with the kind support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.   

HIDDEN ORDERS_Microstructural Machine / Hsun Hsiang Hsu (TW) 

Hsun Hsiang Hsu deals in a variety of ways with different materials, their properties and potential. HIDDEN ORDERS_Microstructural Machine goes back to the Nobel Prize winner William Lawrence Bragg, who received an award for the experimental model of the Bubble Raft in 1947. In HIDDEN ORDERS, this early observation of surface structures is supplemented with a dynamic microstructure machine in real time. This drawing engine uses the properties of crystalline structures to create a miniature landscape. It attempts to strike a balance between natural materials and human control. Attention is drawn to the hidden orders of nature.

Project Credits. The project was developed and presented with the kind support of the University of the Arts Bremen as part of the Digital Media Master’s program (DE)

Fluvial Dialects / Miha Godec (SI) 

Water as a medium in a meditative space: Fluvial Dialects is a series of three kinetic sound installations that invite visitors to follow the sound of water as it is purified, condensed, and distilled in futuristic containers. Godec complements the context of media art with natural sounds, stylizes them in an artificial environment, and raises awareness of the global water shortage.

Project Credits. Author: Miha Godec / Technical and development support: David Drolc, Laren Polič Zdravič, Matic Potočnik, Simon Streljaj / Consultants: Robertina Šebjanič, Rene Rusjan / Producer: Artevida Institute / Supported by: School of Arts University of Nova Gorica, Ministry of Culture Slovenia, Municipality of Ljubljana / Special thanks: The Projekt Atol Institute, PiNA, Zavod Kersnikova, BioTehna, Vivarium, Osmo/za, UR Institute, Interactive Technology Institute MITI, MAST / Presented with the kind suport of University of Nova Gorica School of Arts (SI)

STATEMENT

“Wer die Magie der Ars Electronica spüren will, darf diese Ausstellung nicht versäumen. Denn es sind solche Orte und Kunstprojekte, die noch Jahre in Erinnerung bleiben und von denen man begeistert erzählt. Die große Ausstellung in den Katakomben der POSTCITY ist definitiv ein Highlight des diesjährigen Festivals. Während des Kalten Krieges als Schutz vor der Apokalypse errichtet, verwandelt sich der Bunker der POSTCITY während des Festivals in einen magischen Raum. Hier erforschen Künstler*innen den Wandel unseres Denkens, unserer Beziehungen, unserer Sprache und unserer Sicht auf die Welt. Die Themenausstellung der Ars Electronica lädt zu einer fesselnden und inspirierenden Reise ein. Ein Gang durch die Bunkeranlagen, der uns dazu anregt, darüber nachzudenken, wie wir die Welt erkunden und zu verstehen versuchen – und welche Rolle dabei Medien und Technologie spielen.”

Doris Lang-Mayerhofer, Kulturstadträtin und Beiratsvorsitzende von Ars Electronica

Microfluidic Oracle Chip & Autopoesis Answering Machine (MOC&AAM) / Agnes Meyer-Brandis (DE)

Credit: Agnes Meyer-Brandis

StellaVerde – Inspirational prototype of precision garden as a possible scenario for sustainable food production / Gregor Krpič (SI), Simon Gmajner (SI), dr. Jan Babič (SI), dr. Marko Jamšek (SI), Gal Sajko (Jožef Stefan Institute) (SI)

Credit: Matjaž Rušt and Katja Goljat

ORGAN OF RADICAL CARE: UNA MATRIZ COLABORATIVA / Charlotte Jarvis (GB), Dr. Patricia Saragüeta (AR)

Credit: Charlotte Jarvis