As last year, the festival is being staged in a hybrid fashion. While the team in Linz is preparing a festival in the “traditional” sense, hundreds of partners in Ars Electronica’s international garden network are also joining forces synchronously and in parallel to create the Symphony of Absence. This title stands for a very special place in Kepler’s garden in Linz: the Keplerhall. It is dedicated exclusively to the contributions and programs of all those partners who run their own festival gardens and are unable to come to Linz. A place that will be shaped by hundreds of music stands and empty chairs, as if the musicians of an orchestra were on break and the sheet music might transform into living telematic windows into the world of the festival network. Each individual orchestra seat evokes the wonderful cultural diversity of this community that has such a formative impact on the transformation of our city during the festival. All together, they form a symphonic kaleidoscope of people worldwide with a similar attitude, who see themselves as global citizens and convey a common worldview that is nourished by our diversity and formed collectively.
Symphony of Absence, Credit: Ars Electronica - Martin Hieslmair
