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Welcome to Planet B
A different life is possible — but how?
Highlights of Ars Electronica 2022
From September 7-11, in Linz, Austria
(Linz, Sept. 6, 2022) In a world beset by crises, it is becoming clear that we will not save ourselves by escaping to virtual worlds or another planet. If we wish to avoid sliding into a super-disaster here on earth, we need to tackle radical changes. The dried-up rivers and persistent droughts that Europe has experienced this summer are just a taste of what we are heading for. Because even if we manage to quickly and massively reduce our CO2 emissions, summers like this will remain the new normal for a very long time. The climate and ecology of planet Earth work on different time horizons. So things will certainly get worse.
But the steps we take now — or don’t take — will determine how bad things get and how much — or how little — time we have to learn to deal with the consequences, and their consequences in turn. What is beyond dispute is that the challenge is daunting: by 2050, we must reduce coal use by 95 percent, oil use by 60 percent, and gas use by 45 percent. These figures alone leave no doubt that a little more efficiency here and a little more conservation there are completely pointless. The biggest and most important innovation project of the 21st century has to be ourselves — our view of ourselves and the world, our interaction with one another, our attitude toward other living beings and nature.
“Welcome to Planet B — A different life is possible! But How?” is the title of Ars Electronica 2022, and it invites us to conduct a thought experiment: Assuming we had already reached our destination and had successfully evolved, what would our lives look like then? And what paths would have led us to that future? Together with some 1,000 artists, scientists, designers, developers, entrepreneurs, activists and young people from all parts of the world, Ars Electronica is still convinced that we can do it, and that art and science can make a significant contribution. The proof is in the many works, initiatives and prototypes on display in exhibitions such as the CyberArts Show, the S+T+ARTS Prize Exhibition and the JKU LIT@ArsElectronica Exhibition.
CyberArts Exhibition
The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the world’s most important competitions for media art. This year alone, 2338 works from 88 countries were submitted. A hand-picked selection of them will be on display at the Ars Electronica Festival’s CyberArts exhibition. Here you can see all the projects that were awarded a Golden Nica by the Prix Ars Electronica’s distinguished jury. In addition, a separate exhibition area will be devoted to the life’s work of Laurie Anderson (US), who will be honored with a Golden Nica as a “Visionary Pioneer of Media Art”. The CyberArts exhibition can be seen from September 7 to 11 in “Kepler’s Garden” (Uni-Center).
1
Bowl and Blade / Laurie Anderson (US)
Visionary Pioneers of Media Art: Goldene Nica
Laurie Anderson (US) was named Visionary Pioneer of Media Art at the Prix Ars Electronica 2022. She is represented in the CyberArts Exhibition with her work “Bowl and Blade”. In “Bowl and Blade” from 1996, voices wander through a glass tube and create vibrations in a Tibetan prayer bowl. The bowl rotates on a circular saw, representing the concept of circularity and the images Tibetans use when talking about how to overcome delusion. The current version, realized by Gerold Hofstadler of Ars Electronica, contains a combination of voice and ambient music.
2
Bi0film.net: Resist like bacteria / Jung Hsu (TW), Natalia Rivera (CO)
Interactive Art +: Goldene Nica
In late 2019 and early 2020, border closures and lockdowns brought protest movements around the globe to an abrupt end. In many places, therefore, the pandemic-related restrictions spurred the development of alternative and creative forms of civil resistance; “Bi0film.net” is a best-practice example. The initiative is inspired by bacteria and their amazing ability to communicate with each other, to react quickly and flexibly to changing circumstances, and to act in a self-organized way. “Bi0film.net” adapts the yellow umbrella — a symbol of the Hong Kong movement — into a parabolic WiFi antenna. Henceforth, such an umbrella not only protects from rain, but also serves primarily to communicate with others. The umbrella functions as an antenna for a mini-server, repeater or router and at the same time forms a nomadic network that accompanies demonstrators moving through the streets. On the way, this network organically connects and disconnects. All participants of a demonstration can join the virtual “Bi0film” to chat with each other, exchange files and save them.
3
Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β / Ory Yoshifuji / Ory Lab (JP)
Digital Communities: Golden Nica
Visitors to the “Avatar Robot Café” are served remotely. Users can apply as waiters via the “Avatar Guild” recruitment agency and then serve their customers using robots such as “OriHime” and “OriHime-D” without having to be on site. In an innovative way, the “Dawn Avatar Robot Café” wants to explore and show what technological aids are needed so that people who have limited mobility due to mental or physical illnesses or impairments can better participate in working or social life.
4
Being / Rashaad Newsome (US)
Computer Animation: Goldene Nica
“Being” combines machine learning, game engines, 3D animation and scripted responses. This complex mishmash is visualized as a CG avatar that is trans in every sense of the word. “Being” was first presented at the solo exhibition “Be Real,” shown at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in 2019, which explored human agency, “blackness,” and new identities in radical ways. “Being” functioned not merely as an interactive exhibit, but as a tour guide. It used breaks to dance freshly and happily to the 1977 queer anthem “Be Real” or to recite texts by Paulo Freire, bell hooks or Michel Foucault. Three years have passed since then and “Being” has long since left the role of tour guide behind. Today “Being” works as an artist and teacher and helps people to critically question their lives.
5
Sleep Study / Tega Brain (AU), Sam Lavigne (US)
Interactive Art +: Award
In their “Sleep Study,” Tega Brain (AU) and Sam Lavigne (US) conceive sleep deprivation and climate crisis as two products of the same capitalist system in which regeneration counts for nothing. “Sleep Study” includes an installation and a smartphone app. The former invites people to sleep and dream; participants can make themselves comfortable on couches, and acoustic sleep aids help them to fall asleep. Along the way, they also learn all kinds of interesting facts about the ecological and social potential of sleep. The app, in turn, is designed to help users find their individual sleep rhythm and slowly increase the average duration of their sleep over the course of three years. Until they finally reach the stage of “total sleep,” which lasts a full 24 hours at a stretch. Underlying the Sleep Study project is a body of research that links our average sleep duration to GDP, and GDP to our CO2 emissions.
6
Absence / Marc Hericher (FR)
Computer Animation: Award
In “Absence” Marc Hericher (FR) asks himself how to deal with the problem of homelessness, a problem that comes up at regular intervals in public discourse but gets worse from year to year. In the animated film, a homeless old man collapses on the street while all the other people just walk past him. But then the media appear on the scene, turn everything upside down, and a grotesque, absurd media event with the homeless man at the center takes its course….
7
Anxious Body / Yoriko Mizushiri (JP)
Computer Animation: Award
“Anxious Body” is a surreal video about bodies transforming, different surfaces and textures touching and separating in slow motion. All of this is cautiously lit and done in muted shades of pink and gray. The hand-drawn animation by Yoriko Mizushiri (JP) picks up on tiny gestures and moments of our daily lives and lets us look deep into the abysses of our unconscious.
8
Ad Hominem / Alex Verhaest (BE)
Computer Animation: Recognition
“Ad Hominem” is an interactive philosophical adventure film in which players assume the role of the ancient revolutionary “Change.” Four characters in the game confront “Change” with questions representing four utopian ideas. He has to answer all the questions and in the end it turns out that “Change” is not wanted.
9
Unless / Deborah Joyce Holman (CH/GB), Yara Dulac Gisler (CH)
Computer Animation: Unless
“Unless” is a fictional documentary that explores a borderland created by the interactions of the five protagonists. At the center is the figure of the “trickster” who knows how to navigate an oppressive hegemonic system without appropriating its truths and values.
10
Strong Hair / Yatreda (ET)
Digital Communities: Award
In Ethiopia, the way people wear their hair is often much more than a mere question of style. Over thousands of years, hairstyles have evolved to express very specific things — they indicate tribal affiliations or social status. However; in the midst of a digital and global world, this cultural distinctiveness of Ethiopia is increasingly beginning to erode. With their project “Strong Hair,” the artists’ collective Yatreda (ET) wants to draw attention to the tradition and its imminent disappearance. The artists have created a collection of 100 portraits that highlight the diversity and expressiveness of Ethiopian hair styles. Each person was captured with a homemade 360-degree rotating camera and then minted as a non-fungible token on the Ethereum blockchain. Via NFTs, the goal is to ensure that this Ethiopian cultural tradition is preserved and — hopefully — revived beyond traditional physical media.
11
Families For Freedom / Amina Khoulani (SY)
Digital Communities: Award
“Families for Freedom” is a women-led movement working for the release of all Syrians who have been arbitrarily detained. “Families for Freedom” has 250 members in Syria, the United Kingdom, Germany Turkey and Lebanon. In all their activities, such as digital campaigns or meetings with high-ranking decision-makers, Families for Freedom wants to mobilize as broad a public as possible and thus put pressure on those responsible to comply with their demands: Torture and ill-treatment must be stopped immediately, a list of all detainees including information on their current location and status must be published, and representatives of human rights groups must be granted immediate access to detention facilities.
12
Atomfa (and other stories) / Joanna Wright (GB)
Digital Communities: Recognition
Atomfa is a long-term interactive documentary that addresses memories, questions, and images surrounding the final days of a nuclear power plant in Wales. Over sixty years ago, the nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd in North Wales was built and is now being dismantled by the descendants of those who built it as part of a long-term process. The project has unique access to archival material and benefits from the cooperation of various communities surrounding the power plant.
13
Flyerservice Hahn / Zentrum für politische Schönheit (DE)
Digital Communities: Recognition
In the German super-election year of 2021, the “Center for Political Beauty” (DE) founded “Flyerservice Hahn”, a non-existent company without a real business address, commercial register entry or tax number. The fictitious company offered to take over the distribution of flyers for all AfD organizations. 85 local, district and state associations of the AfD took advantage of the offer and delivered their flyers to a nationwide network of logistics centers of the “world market leader of non-distribution.” Five million AfD flyers ended up in the warehouse of Flyerservice Hahn and were processed into toilet paper.
14
Sisyphus / Kachi Chan (HK)
Digital Communities: Recognition
“Sisyphus” is an art installation with several small robots that build up brick arches and one large robot that tears them down again. Based on the figure from Greek mythology, Sisyphus is a commentary on the current socio-political climate in which systems of authority and resistance are constantly clashing.
15
Total Refusal / pseudo-marxist media guerilla (AT)
Digital Communitis: Recognition
The collective “Total Refusal” is concerned with computer games and questions the actual gameplay and predetermined goals that computer gamers must achieve. The open worlds of computer games serve the collective Total Refusal as a setting for documentary-style tours that lead through the back streets of dystopian cities, take a closer look at local architecture, or analyze the tasks of non-player characters. Total Refusal questions the visions and social structures presented in the games.
15/1
Red Redemption / Total Refusal: Adrian Haim (AT), Leonhard Müllner (AT), Robin Klengel (AT) in Zusammenarbeit mit Susanna Flock (AT) und Jona Kleinlein (DE)
Digital Communities: Recognition
Based on New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century, St. Denis is the capital of the well-known video game “Red Dead Redemption 2”. The city is populated on the one hand by workers who toil in factories or eke out an existence in their poor shacks and on the other hand by well-off citizens who read newspapers in their well-tended gardens, stroll through the city or visit the theater. As part of a city tour, “Total Refusal” analyzes profit and surplus value, capital and accumulation in the mass medium of video games.
15/2
Hardly Working / Total Refusal: Robin Klengel (AT), Leonhard Müllner (AT), Susanna Flock (AT), Michael Stumpf (AT)
Digital Communities: Recognition
NPCs, or non-player characters, populate computer game worlds to give them an appearance of normalcy. The main characters in this film are a laundress, a stableman, a street sweeper, and a handyman who are observed doing their daily chores, performing the same tasks over and over again. They are digital Sisyphean machines who have no chance to break out of their activity loops. In the moments when the algorithm of their existence shows inconsistencies, the NPCs break out of the logic of total normality, show their own flaws and seem touchingly human. “Hardly Working” brings to the fore characters that usually take a back seat in video games: NPCs.
15/3
Featherfall / Total Refusal: Robin Klengel (AT), Leonhard Müllner (AT)
Digital Communities: Recognition
The video installation “Featherfall” is based on research in online forums in which video gamers exchange their dream experiences. It becomes clear how close the dream world and the game world can come to each other in the psyche of the users and what feedback can arise between the two alternative realities.
16
The Eternal Return, pre-Hispanic Interactions / Cristhian Avila (PE)
Interactive Art +: Distinction
The sound installation acoustically revives the time of pre-Hispanic Peru. Ancient musical instruments such as pipes or flutes, which were discovered during archaeological excavations or borrowed from various collections around the world, were scanned and made from clay-like material using 3D printing. Sensors are used to determine various wind parameters, while Arduino is used to control pneumatic systems whose valves open or close accordingly. The result is a unique sound that bears witness to days long gone.
17
Another Moon / Kimchi and Chips (KR)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“Another Moon” is a large-scale outdoor “apparition” that creates a technically sophisticated floating globe of light in the sky. During the day, 40 towers collect solar energy and project it back into the sky in the form of light at night, so that there, as the rays closely overlap, a three-dimensional shape is created that forms a second moon.
18
Behind Shirley / Ibiye Camp (GB)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“Behind Shirley” deconstructs the colonial narratives in the development of facial recognition systems. The project reveals that dark skin is not just ignored today, but was already disregarded in the age of chemical photography: “Shirley cards” used to be used as a standardized reference for color balance in skin tones. These cards usually showed a single Caucasian woman in light-colored clothing and colored square blocks of blue, green, and red. With darker skin, therefore, the chemicals always resulted in distorted reds, yellows and browns. It was not until furniture and chocolate manufacturers complained that different wood grains and types of chocolate could not be recognized well that the process was developed further. However, even today’s facial recognition systems regularly fail to recognize people with dark skin. The reason is simple: AI systems are trained with data sets that reflect our society and thus our prejudices.
19
Brave New Commons / Masaki Fujihata (JP)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
At the heart of “Brave New Commons” are Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs. In contrast to an open auction with ascending prices, the price of an artwork is determined by dividing a price set by the artists by the number of buyers. A higher number of buyers therefore leads to a lower price. Since digital data does not distinguish between original and duplicate, several people can own the same artwork, creating a form of “distributed ownership” that differs from what some call “co-ownership”.
20
BLACKTRANSARCHIVE.COM / WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT / Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (GB)
Interactive Art +: Anerkennung
“BLACKTRANSARCHIVE.COM”, also known as “WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT”, is an archive built and designed by and for black trans people. The project, culminating in a 3D animated play, preserves the stories of black trans people and creates a space where their existence cannot be ignored. The piece, co-developed with artists Ebun Sodipo, Tobi Adebajo, Jacob V Joyce and others, was put together from the ground up by a team of black trans people who used their own experiences as the basis for its development.
21
Morphecore / Daito Manabe + Shingo Oono + MIKIKO
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“morphecore” was an experimental lecture-performance that explored new possibilities for performance at the intersection of neuroscience and dance. Using fMRI and brain decoding technology, body postures were reconstructed from the activity of the visual cortex to create a choreography. This was further manipulated to test a range of physical variables: from the effects of gravity to muscle elasticity and joint rotation. This was done to explore what types of dance might emerge beyond real-world constraints. The results were presented in a video that culminated in a dance performance by an avatar of Daito Manabe (JP) which became increasingly abstract as the physical limits of the human body were transcended.
22
NoSearchBar / Erik Anton Reinhardt (DE)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
When we search online, we don’t just find answers. We also reveal valuable information about our interests and motivations, feeding gigantic databases that in turn form the basis for recommendation systems. Anticipating our behavior by analyzing our searches for information, is at the core of Google’s business model. However, search tools systematically disregard or include information, giving more importance to some information than others. Search engines are thus not only a technical feat, they also imply political and social exclusions that limit our ability to find what is right. “NoSearchBar” is a Chrome extension that removes the search function from websites and makes us think critically about our dependence on text-based search queries. At the same time, it helps us regain our curiosity and find information through mechanisms other than search.
23
Siempre se tienen 19 años en un rincón del corazón / Du behältst 19 Jahre immer in einer Ecke deines Herzens / Gabriela Munguía (MX), Germán Pérez (AR)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
The “Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo”, now the cultural epicenter of Montevideo, served as a detention center for nearly 130 years. “Siempre se tiene 19 años en un rincón del corazón” (“You always keep 19 years in a corner of your heart”) aims to remind you of the building’s somber past: an installation consisting of two drawing machines writes various texts found in the former cells, becoming a memory machine that serves to restore the memory of a place.
24
Technologies of Hope & Fear: 100 Pandemic Technologies / Marek Tuszynski (PL), Stephanie Hankey (GB)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“Technologies of Hope & Fear” is an artistic archive of one hundred data-driven, machine-learning, and AI-powered technologies developed, marketed, and implemented to address the pandemic and ultimately help us “return to normal.” Whether attached to our bodies, installed in hospitals, schools, and train stations, suspended in the air, or reading information from social media, the project testifies not only to a revolution in environmental, biometric, mobility, and behavioral monitoring, but to an intelligence revolution enabled by the pandemic. The project creates a snapshot of the beginning of the pandemic. It is a curated artistic archive documenting how rapidly uses of data and information changed in response to the crisis, and documents pandemic-related transgressions between public and private spheres around the world.
25
The Zizi Show / Jake Elwes (GB)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“The Zizi Show” is a Deepfake drag cabaret, a virtual online stage where a show with a difference takes place. The show features acts developed in collaboration with the London drag community and using Deepfake technology. The bodies featured in the show were generated by neural networks trained on a community of drag artists. They were filmed creating training datasets in a London cabaret venue that was closed during COVID-19.
26
Voz Pública / Dora Bartilotti (MX)
Interactive Art +: Recognition
“Voz Pública” is a participatory artwork designed to amplify protests around violence against women in Latin America. Based on a commitment to creative activism, the project consists of three parts that work together. The first part is an online platform (www.vozpublica.cc) where women and non-binary people can anonymously share personal experiences. The second part is an electronic textile that gives voice to these stories through speech synthesizers and amplifies them so that they are physically present in public spaces. The third part consists of a series of artistic laboratories called “La Rebelión textil” (“The Textile Rebellion”). These laboratories are intended to be convivial spaces for reflection and knowledge exchange, as well as for the appropriation and collaborative design of electronic textiles based on the original prototype.
27
The Black Blanket / Mary Mayrhofer (AT)
Golden Nica u19-create your world
Mary Mayrhofer’s “the Black Blanket,” a stiffened textile object, is meant to symbolize the characteristics of depression so that those not affected can grasp them — both physically and mentally. Based on factors such as writing or color, depression is shown as a jet-black shell that cuts people off from the enjoyment of life. For her work, Mary Mayrhofer used a cotton blanket imprinted with a poem she wrote, which was created at an emotional low point for the artist. Under the blanket, there appears to be a human being whose outline has been formed with the help of a grid.
S+T+ARTS Prize Exhibition
What can — indeed, what must — we expect from contemporary innovation? Just being “new” and “profitable” is no longer enough for us today. In the 21st century, innovation can only be considered innovative if it adds economic, ecological and social value — not “or”, but “and.” The S+T+ARTS Prize exhibition shows that this is possible and, above all, how. What is presented here is not a pipe dream or wishful thinking, but projects and initiatives that have already been implemented and are running successfully. S+T+ARTS is derived from Science, Technology and Arts and is an initiative of the European Commission to promote projects that have the potential to contribute to sustainable economic and social development in Europe. The S+T+ARTS Prize exhibition can be seen from September 7 to 11 in “Kepler’s Garden” (Uni-Center).
1
Antarctic Resolution / Giulia Foscari (IT), UNLESS
Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration
“Antarctic Resolution” aims to bring more attention to Antarctica as one of our few global commons and build advocacy for this single continent without a population. The message: protecting Antarctica is protecting our own species. The Antarctic Resolution, initiated by Giulia Foscari (IT), is a transnational and multidisciplinary collaborative project and was published as a 1000-page book to mark the bicentennial of the first recorded human landing on the continent. The declaration was written by 150 leading Antarctic experts and published by Lars Müller Verlag. The encyclopedic publication focuses on the scientific potential of the continent, its geopolitical significance and its extraordinary settlement model. The volume includes numerous scientific studies, photographic essays, data-driven infographics, maps, and architectural drawings.
2
Holly+ / Holly Herndon (US)
Grand Prize – Artistic Exploration
With “Holly+”, artist Holly Herndon (US) has created her digital twin, which anyone can use to make music. First you have to upload polyphonic audio data to a website, and right after that you get a version of it sung in Holly’s (Herndon’s) voice — the current version of “Holly+” even works in real time and can therefore be used for performances. “Holly+” is not just a new digital instrument, however; “Holly+” is a comprehensive art and research project that also focuses on economic aspects. Hundreds of people are part of the “Holly+ DAO” (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) and can have a say in what the instrument should and should not be used for. Any piece judged inappropriate can be rejected by the voting stewards. If a piece is approved and sold, the profits are split between the creators (50%), the DAO (40%), and Holly Herndon (US) herself (10%).
3
Cleaning Emotional Data / Elisa Giardina Papa (IT)
Honorary Mention STARTS PRIZE ‘22
“Cleaning Emotional Data” is a three-channel video installation dedicated to low-paid microworkers around the world. The tasks of these microworkers include labeling, annotating, and validating large amounts of data that make the functioning of AI systems possible in the first place. In 2019, the artist herself worked out of Palermo for several North American companies providing “clean data sets.” Her tasks included categorizing emotions, describing facial expressions, and taking self-portraits that were used to animate three-dimensional figures. The “Cleaning of Emotional Data” documents these micro-tasks while tracing a history of emotions that questions the methods and psychological theories underlying the mapping of facial expressions.
4
Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror / Forensic Architecture (GB)
Honorary Mention STARTS PRIZE ‘22
In “Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror” the artist collective “Forensic Architecture” (GB) focuses on the malware Pegasus, which was developed by the Israeli cyberweapons company NSO Group and is used worldwide against (human rights) activists and journalists. “Forensic Architecture” (GB) developed a navigable digital platform on which they tell the stories of people targeted with Pegasus in numerous videos. For their extensive research, they brought in filmmaker Laura Poitras (US), who conducted interviews with activists from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, India, Palestine, Rwanda, Mexico, and Togo. In addition, investigators from The Citizen Lab and Amnesty International, as well as whistleblower Edward Snowden (US) and musician Brian Eno (GB), were engaged to map the global landscape of cyber-surveillance today. With Digital Violence, Forensic Architecture (GB) has for the first time mapped NSO activity around the world, revealed new connections between digital and physical violence, and exposed the ways in which digital infection moves like contagion within networks and personal relationships.
5
The Plant Intelligence Plan / Tianyi Zhang (CN)
Honorary Mention STARTS PRIZE ‘22
With her project “The Plant Intelligence Plan,” Tianyi Zhang (CN) is dedicated to the intelligence of plants. She uses biotechnological tools and materials to restore the ecological relationships between commercially cultivated crops and animals. In her project she pleads for a careful and respectful treatment of plants and encourages not only better protection of the earthly ecosystem, but the construction of a new order of our civilization. The relationship between humans and ecology is to be reshaped from the ground up — Tianyi Zhang (CN)challenges us to overcome our anthropocentrism and henceforth to establish equal ecological relationships with all living beings and plants on this planet.
6
UITSLOOT / Gijs Schalkx (NL)
Honorary Mention STARTS PRIZE ‘22
Why rely on big corporations and their promises to save the world when you can do it yourself? Dutchman Gijs Schalkx (NL) has considered how the internal combustion engine of vehicles can continue to exist in a future without fossil fuels. His result is the “Slootmotor,” which is powered by locally available energy sources obtained from ponds or roadside ditches with a few tools and DIY solutions: It’s methane gas, which is harmful to the environment, collected and used as an energy source before it is released into the atmosphere. “It may take eight hours to fill the tank to drive 20 kilometers — but those 20 kilometers are always the best of my life,” says Gijs Schalkx (NL).
7
Ent- / Libby Heaney (GB)
Nomination STARTS PRIZE ‘22
“Ent-” is the first artwork to use quantum computing. The 360-degree projection draws on sci-fi elements to create an emotional experience. “Ent-” is a reinterpretation of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Delights and, just like his masterpiece, is both a celebration of and a warning against desire. “Ent-” however, is about our desire for new technologies.
8
The Glass Room: Misinformation Community Edition / Tactical Tech (INT)
Nomination STARTS PRIZE ‘22
The “Glass Room: Misinformation” asks us to question our relationship with digital technologies. It creates a space to reflect, discuss and debate: What impact does technology have on our daily lives? How do we consume information? And how can we identify fake news and verify information? “The Glass Room: Misinformation Community Edition” is provided in an accessible, inspiring and creative format and can be implemented anywhere in the world.
9
Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System / Helena Nikonole (TR/RU), Lucy Ojomoko (RU)
Nomination STARTS PRIZE ‘22
The “Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System” modifies the human skin microbiome in such a way that it emits very specific odors in the event of an impending illness. Fever, for example, becomes a stimulus that causes modified skin microbiome bacteria to emit floral scents. From a medical perspective, “Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System” can be viewed as a method of diagnosis or self-diagnosis or prevention. However, it can also be considered a sensory system that is artificially created and natural at the same time, redefining our signaling systems and using our senses to encode and decode information on a biochemical level.
JKU LIT @ Ars Electronica Exhibition
Interweaving art and science in a sustainable way, striving for an open transfer of knowledge with society and promoting a concept of technology that puts people at the center — the collaboration between the Linz Institute of Technology, or LIT for short, and Ars Electronica is based on common concerns. This becomes visible in the exhibition that LIT is contributing to this year’s Ars Electronica.
1
Melody of Crisis/Joy / Gregor Pechmann (AT), Floria Rothkegel (AT), Markus Schedl (AT), Alexander Wallner (AT), Emilia Parada-Cabaleiro (ES), Vasco Fragoso (PT)
“Melody of Crisis/Joy” is an interdisciplinary project that aims to use AI systems in an artistic framework to raise our awareness of how global crisis events are communicated online. First, emotions expressed verbally are identified using sentiment analysis and speech emotion recognition, and then transformed into musical melodies. Recordings of different musicians conveying positive and negative emotions are used for the transformation. This data will in turn be used to train two machine learning models that will be able to set positive and negative statements to music as Melody of Crisis or Melody of Joy. Upon entering the installation, an interactive audiovisual map of the world will be presented where countries can be selected to hear the corresponding melodies and visitors will be asked to guess whether it is a melody of crisis or melody of joy. Subsequently, the real statement is played with subtitles.
2
Coexistence with the SARS-CoV-2 virus / Yoojin Oh (AT/KR), Sabina Hyoju Ahn (US/DE/KR), Myungin Lee (US/KR)
“Coexistence with the SARS-CoV-2 virus” attempts to translate the relationship between the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and human molecules into an interactive audiovisual simulation. Interaction data between the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and human cell proteins are measured using atomic force microscopy and translated into an interactive audiovisual installation and performance. The audience can control the behavior of the molecules and thus intuitively grasp the biological features.
3
Ars for Nons / Lea Luka Sikau (DE), Denisa Pubalova (CZ), Michael Artner (AT), Julia Wurm (AT)
“Ars for Nons” is an interactive installation not for humans, but for smartphones. Each phone gets its own white cube to not only “experience” an exhibition of sound, vibration and images, but to contribute to it at the same time. “Ars for Nons” deconstructs our usual perspective and questions our relationship with art.
4
Black Holes of Popularity / A.B.Melchiorre (IT), O.Lesota (RU), M.Schedl (AT), F.Schubert (AT), M.Moscati (IT), D.Penz (AT), E. Dobetsberger (AT), J.Usorac (BA), A.Hausberger (AT), S.Pile (RU), A.Ebner (AT)
Popular song titles enjoy a great deal of attention on music platforms. This attention is due in no small part to the fact that algorithms constantly recommend these songs and thus constantly increase their popularity. Very few, very popular titles outshine less popular titles, whose authors find it increasingly difficult to reach their audience at all. In the allegorical musical universe of “Black Holes of Popularity”, planets, stars and comets stand for music titles of different genres. The most popular titles, however, appear as black holes that threaten to swallow up the other cosmic bodies, leaving nothing behind. Only the visitors’ intervention can change the fate of the cosmic bodies and save them from disappearing into the black holes.
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BODIE:S / Lisa Caligagan (AT), Paracetamol Collective (AT)
The labeling of public toilets reflects the ideals of our society. This fact is the starting point of the installation “BODIE:S”, with which Lisa Caligagan and “Paracetamol Collective” (both AT) address the underrepresentation of other body shapes and identities. The installation is triggered by human interaction and uses an algorithm to create unique pictograms composed of very simple basic geometric shapes. The animation is first displayed on a three-part screen and then stickers are printed out, which can and should now be used to “rename” public spaces.
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I Hear Future Voices / Nives Meloni (CH), Julian Pixel Schmiederer (AT)
“I Hear Future Voices” questions the impact of AI-based voice assistance systems on our lives. Drawing on scientific research, the installation offers an artistic insight into our everyday use of these systems and what problems and consequences come with them. “I Hear Future Voices” asks what human-centered AI really means.
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Re-wasted / Martin Reiter (AT), Jörg Fischer (AT), Johannes Braumann (AT), Florian Nimmervoll (AT)
“Re-wasted” is a recycling journey through the life cycle of plastic. The starting point is the garbage yard, where different types of plastics are first identified and selected for recycling. After passing through a shredder, mixer and extruder, the recycled material is finally ready for further processing. With the help of manual injection molding machines, visitors can now produce small components themselves.
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Spin-Wave Voices / Santa Pile (AT), Martin Gasser (AT), Christina Humer (AT), Silvan David Peter (AT), Andreas Ney (AT), Verena Ney (AT)
“Spin waves” make it possible to replace the transmission of electronic charges in logic devices. Information processing can thus take place faster and more efficiently. The installation “Spin-Wave Voices” in turn makes it possible to feel and interact with this technology. With a simple pedal operation, micromagnetic simulations of the real structure of spin waves are visualized and made to sound. Because they are extremely fast and small in reality, the waves are slowed down and magnified billions of times in the installation.
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Transforming Sound and Material / Mark Hlawitschka (DE), Moritz Simon Geist (DE)
“Planet B” was the last resort for mankind. The first trees were planted when water was still scarce, raw materials were now obtained through reaction processes in bubble columns. The old noisy steel world was a thing of the past, the production now integrated into nature, with a soundscape reminiscent of an underwater world. Constantly changing conditions, such as the availability of sunlight, required flexible plants with adaptive geometries. In addition, changes in transmission paths played an important role: they often led to delays in signal processing, just as in music transmission… Dive into the future and play.
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Bi0film.net: Resist like bacteria / Jung Hsu (TW), Natalia Rivera (CO) / photo: Jung Hsu (TW) print version / photo album
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Laurie Anderson (US) / photo: Tim Knox / Printversion / photo album
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Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β / Ory Yoshifuji (JP) / photo: MIYOGRAPHY / print version / photo album
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Holly+ / Holly Herndon (US) / photo: Andrés Mañón / printversion / photo album
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Coexistence with the SARS-CoV-2 virus / Yoojin Oh (AT/KR), Sabina Hyoju Ahn (US/DE/KR), Myungin Lee (US/KR) / photo: Myungin Lee, Sabina Hyoju Ahn, Yoojin Oh / printversion / photo album
