Ars Electronica Channel – Program
All times are given in Central European Summer Time (CEST / UTC+2).WED September 8, 2021
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 2021 WELCOME
12:00 – 14:00 CESTThe first session of the Ars Electronica Festival Channel welcomes you and the online community, providing an overview of the festival program, introducing the key protagonists and celebrating the start of the five days festival, in Linz and around the world. The key theme the session evolves around is Soil and we are introducing you to our first studio guests: masharu (NL/RU), who presents her project The Museum of Edible Earth, that won an award of distinction in the Prix Ars Electronica as well as to a special interview with a Michelin Star Chef from Taiwan, that creates culinary dishes with soil, together with our Festival Garden in Taipei/Formosa.
FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
14:30 – 16:30 CESTIn FUTURE PERSPECTIVES we focus on the topic of education and our Experts of the Future, kids and youngsters from around the world in the age between 5-12 years, that tell us how they imagine their planet to look like. Education in the 21st century is being discussed by the pilot program centred around the Festival University, a do-tank that brings 100 students from 40 different countries to Linz. Their role is to explore how change in our society can be initiated and what it takes to transform our world. Followed by Kat Austen (AU), who tells us more about their project she is developing in the frame of the Studiotopica residency.
FESTIVAL WARM UP
17:00 – 18:30 CESTHow can the special festival atmosphere be created? We invite dear friends, collaborators and festival partners as well as you, the audiences to join us in a “gathering of friends”. Share with us your favourite festival memory, greet the protagonists that that you are not able to meet in person this year and exchange your fave festival tune and drink. We look forward to hearing your stories and how you prep yourself for the festival days.
THU September 9, 2021
SUSTAINABLE / MANUFACTURING
11:30 – 13:30 CESTWe kick off the day with a short recap and a look out into the upcoming highlights in our Breakfast session with Martin Honzik (AT), Veronika Liebl (AT) and Christl Baur (DE). Within the STARTS Day you are encountering Anastasia Pistofidou (GR), who introduces us to Remix El Barrio. Food Waste Biomaterial Makers, the winner of the STARTS Prize for their innovative collaborations and learn more about the STARTS initiative.
ROBOTINITY / FUTURE
14:00 – 16:00 CESTThis special day is also dedicated to the Ars Electronica Futurelab as they are celebrating their 25th anniversary and Horst Hörtner (AT) joins us to celebrate with us while introducing the Alchemists of the Future and their celebratory program. Martina Mara (AT), a former futurelab member and now professor for Robopsychology visits us in the studio to introduce her latest project Demystify AI alongside the collaborative research project Cobot with the Futurelab that premieres live in the Deep Space.
CoBot Studio, LIT Robopsychology Lab, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (AT), Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Universität Salzburg (AT), JOANNEUM RESEARCH – ROBOTICS (AT), Polycular OG (AT), Österr. Forschungsinstitut für Artificial Intelligence OFAI (AT), Blue Danube Robotics GmbH (AT), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT), Credit: Robert Bauernhansl
POLICY / CITIZEN SCIENCE
16:30 – 18:30 CESTThe highlight of the day is a Keynote Conversation between Kate Crawford (AU) and Gerfried Stocker (AT) discussing the Atlas of AI and Kate’s newest research. Following this, we will introduce you to some of our partner gardens most interesting community projects.
Keynote Conversations, Credits: Ars Electronica - Robert Bauernhansl, Cath Muscat
WATER / LIFE / BALANCE
19:00 – 21:00Kasia Molga joins us in the studio to introduce her project How to make an Ocean?, which she developed during the EMAP residency followed by a conversation with Territorial Agency about their STARTS Prize winning project Oceans in Transformation.
How to Make an Ocean, Kasia Molga (UK/PL), Credit: Malgorzata Siwiec
FRI September 10, 2021
DIGITAL / HUMANITY
11:30 – 13:30We kick off the day with a short recap and a look out into the upcoming highlights in our Breakfast session with Martin Honzik (AT), Veronika Liebl (AT) and Christl Baur (DE). This festival day is dedicated to the topic A New Digital Deal, highlighting a collaboration with the Branch Magazine, the winner of this year’s Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity. The editors Michelle Thorne (US) and Chris Adams (UK) will join us live to tell us more about their dream of a sustainable and just internet for all and how we can realise this. The two hours close with another guest, Glacier Kwong (HK), a digital rights activist and who’s research focuses on data protection, surveillance in Hong Kong and China.
Branch Magazine / Climate Action Tech. Cover Illustration: Gica Tam
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
14:00 – 16:00The second Keynote Conversation will host the legendary Joe Davis (US) in conversation with Gerfried Stocker (AT). Joe Davis presents his latest project Baitul Ma’mur: House of Angels, developed in collaboration with Sarah Khan (PK). Their project is to keep 2.417 quintillion angels on the head of a pin.
Joe Davis (US), Credit: Joe Davis.
TRANSFORMATION / GENDER / IDENTITY
16:30 – 18:00The afternoon is dedicated to the topic of Transformation and Diversity highlighting a wonderful artist and guest in our studio: Adriana Knouf (US), who presents her project TX1, honoured with the award of distinction in the Prix Ars Electronica. Afterwards we will dig deeper into the topic through artistic practice by artists such as Jake Elwes (UK) and Veneta Androva (BG).
TX-1, tranxxeno lab / Adriana Knouf (US), Credit: tranxxeno lab / Adriana Knouf
PRIX AWARDS CEREMONY LIVE STREAM
18:00The award ceremony is a chance to see all of this year’s award-winning works and winners together. The Golden Nica winners of the Prix Ars Electronica in four categories, the two Grand Prizes of the STARTS Prize, and two new prizes, the Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity and the Isao Tomita Special Prize winners, will take the stage both onsite and online. The award ceremony will be streamed on the Ars Electronica Channel.
Credit: vog.photo
SAT September 11, 2021
DIGITAL ECONOMY / ECOLOGY x AI
10:30 – 12:30We kick off the day with a short recap and a look out into the upcoming highlights in our Breakfast session with Martin Honzik (AT), Veronika Liebl (AT) and Christl Baur (DE). This festival day is dedicated to the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab and we can already tell you that it is a day packed with exciting talks on the topics of AI x Civil Society or AI x Feudalism. Today’s guest is Å pela PetriÄ (SI), who will join us in the studio to present her work P’LAI and dice with it into the sphere of Life Art and digital Ecology. Afterwards, Pia Mancini (IT) and Andres Colmenares (CO/ES) tell us about their thoughts on the future of the internet.
Hybrid Forms Lab, PL’AI, KERSNIKOVA Spela Petric PLAY, Credit: Hana Josic
DATA SCIENCE x AI
13:00 – 15:00The project by Kyriaki Goni, ArtScience residency artist in collaboration with the Deutsche Telekom, introduces her project Not Allowed for Algorithmic Audiences and talks with Laura Welzenbach (AT) about automated voice systems and their relationship with humans. In the second half, the Laokoon Gruppe (DE) present their Data-Doppelgänger experiment Made to Measure.
MIXED REALITIES
15:30 – 17:30This episode is dedicated to many examples of how mixed realities and virtual encounters can happen in a dual festival through connections via artistic projects and prototypes. Golden Nica winner in the Prix Ars Electronica category Computer Animation, Guangli Liu (CN), joins us live at the study accompanied by jury member Helen Starr (TT) to dive deep into the awarded project When a Sea Sends Forth A Forest.
When the Sea Sends Forth a Forest, Credit: Guangli LIU (CN)
SATURDAY NIGHT LINE
18:00 – 20:00The evening session brings another highlight, a Keynote Conversation with Francesca Bria (IT), the president of the Italian National Innovation Fund and Gerfried Stocker, Artistic Director Ars Electronica (AT). To start the night, the 24h Rave might be the right format. It provides a stage for international artists and invites the entire festival community to spend a common night and day around the planet overcoming social, political, and spatial boundaries through electronic music.
SUN September 12, 2021
PAREIDOLIA / FACES IN CLOUDS
10:30 – 12:30We kick off the day with a short recap and a look out into the upcoming highlights in our Breakfast session with Martin Honzik (AT), Veronika Liebl (AT) and Christl Baur (DE). Today’s program is highlighting the Prix Ars Electronica and the fantastic projects that have been awarded. But first we pay a tribute to the incredible Joachim Sauter, who sadly passed away only recently. Gerfried Stocker (AT) and Jussi Ängeslevä (FI) will recall their favourite memories and talk about Joachim’s impact on the world of media art and beyond. In the second part of the session we find out what Pareidolia means through the work of Sarah Petkus (US) and Mark J. Koch (US), Ars Electronica’s AIlab residents.
Moon Rabbit, Sarah Petkus (US), Mark J. Koch (US), Credits: Sarah Petkus (US), Mark J. Koch (US)
SOUND ART x AI
13:00 – 15:00The first guest of this session, Maurice Jones, Artistic Director of MUTEK.JP in Tokyo and Head of Market at MUTEK Montréal, will present about the 22nd edition of MUTEK Montréal. One of the collaborative panel discussions within Ars Electronica Garden Montréal is centered around AI x Music: The Question of Autonomy and Human Intention in Art & AI. Furthermore, the topic of Sound Art will highlight divers project that have been awarded in this year’s Prix Ars Electronica in the category Digital Musics & Sound Art. As guests we welcome Rashin Fahandej, who speaks about her work A Father’s Lullaby. Golden Nica winner in the mentioned category, Alexander Schubert (DE) joins us afterwards to introduce the winning work Convergence in conversation with juror Cedrik Fermont (CD/BE/DE).
ART THINKING
15:30 – 17:30The festival, on its last day, is deliberately focusing once again on the artists, their thinking and, above all, their actions. How can the thinking and methods of art contribute to innovation and change in very different areas of our society? Joseph Paradiso (US), the director of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT Media Lab in conversation with Gerfried Stocker (AT), invites us to discuss Art Thinking, followed by a Keynote Conversation between author and journalist Amy Whitaker (US), and Gerfried Stocker (AT).
Keynote Conversations, Credits: Ars Electronica - Robert Bauernhansl, Sheiva Rezvani
FESTIVAL CLOSING – CALL TO ACTION
18:00 – 20:00Even if the festival slowly comes to an end, the Call to Action continues. In the last five days, we have witnessed, heard, and collected ideas, visions and suggestions of how to fix’ the digital world and how to create change and within our society and through ourselves and we need to act now. The final session of the Festival Channel will once more Call to Action before we end this year’s event with the big concert night, in collaboration with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz.
Big Concert Night, Credit: tom mesic
