Ars Electronica Festival 2012: THE BIG PICTURE – New Concepts for a New World

THE 2012 ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL
The Big Picture – New Concepts for a New World
August 30 to September 3, 2012, Linz

(Linz, September 3, 2012) “The Big Picture – New Concepts for a New World” was the theme of the 2012 Ars Electronica Festival. In the “Big Pictures” that went on display, the viewfinder was focused on wide-angle images that capture the world that’s coming to be, pictures that do justice to globalization and network linkages, that depict the way our world is increasingly growing together and simultaneously drifting apart. The festival was assembling models that can serve as paragons and best-practice examples from art and science, that offer inspirational demonstrations of how an open-minded way of looking at a larger whole not only reveals more of it but also brings totally new insights to light. Once again, scientists, scholars and artists from all over the world convened in Linz to present their projects and theories and put them up for discussion. In Ars Electronica’s signature style, this discourse proceeded beyond classic artistic venues and conference spaces to also establish a substantial presence in the public sphere.

The Highlights of the 2012 Festival

Among the don’t-miss events at this year’s festival were: The Big Picture Symposium at the Brucknerhaus, which was accompanied by its own exhibition and cinema; the CyberArts show at the OK, the annual showcase of the best and most interesting submissions to the Prix Ars Electronica; the Big Evening Concert in the Lentos, Donaupark and Brucknerhaus that was celebrating its 10th anniversary; and a special Ars Electronica Music Day in the Brucknerhaus and Donaupark dedicated exclusively to electronic music. Together with the Brucknerhaus, Ars Electronica was also producing this year’s voestalpine Klangwolke. This “Cloud in the Web” told the story of the networking of our world and played out as the work of a collective artistic personality. Leading up to and during the 2012 voestalpine Klangwolke, the accent was on interactivity and audience participation. The results that people throughout the region were creating — illuminated letters and one-minute sounds bites and tracks known as soundcloudminiatures — played starring roles during the voestalpine Klangwolke in downtown Linz’s Donaupark.

Ars Electronica Festival 2012: A Wrap-Up

Attendance at this year’s A rs Electronica Festival was 65,000, and an audience of 90,000 enjoyed the voestalpine Klangwolke produced jointly with the Brucknerhaus. Almost 500 artists, scientists and scholars from 40 countries contributed their views and perspectives, speeches and installations, performances and interventions to this year’s festival. More than 152 different offerings were staged by u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD’s 52 associates and 430 media outlet representatives from 33 countries reported from Linz.

Photo:

Logo Ars Electronica Festival 2012 / Andreas Jalsovec / Printversion

Photos on the Ars Electronica Festival can be found here.

Blog-entries on the Ars Electronica Festival offer further information on the topic.

Press Releases

Ars Electronica Festival 2012 – A Wrap-Up / PDF
Press Release from September 3, 2012

New Ars Electronica Archive Online / PDF
Press Release from August 31, 2012

Seiko Mikami: Featured Artist 2012 / PDF
Press Release from August 30, 2012

CyberArts 2012 / PDF
Press Release from August 30, 2012

Interface Cultures – Interface Cuisine 2012 / PDF
Press Release from August 30, 2012

Soundstudies – Lebensräume 2012 / PDF
Press Release from August 30, 2012

u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD 2012 / PDF
Press Release from August 29, 2012

voestalpine Klangwolke – The Cloud in the Net / PDF
Press Release from August 27, 2012