Theme Exhibition Live Guided Tour I: Dataspheres Observed
Martin Honzik, Christl Baur

The digital world includes everything around us, even that which we do not see. As technology evolves, we are led to question what is real and the line between biological and virtual, emotional and logical, right and wrong becomes more blurred.

Theme Exhibition Live Guided Tour II: Enabling Digital Empowerment
Martin Honzik, Karla Spiluttini

Phones and computers are no longer mere devices but extensions of ourselves, used in everyday life. Who gets to decide how these tools are used? Technology can expose truths, enlightening and empowering us towards a more sustainable digital future.

Prix Forum

The Prix Forum is an open discussion between the top three winners of Prix Ars Electronica 2021 and the jury.

CyberArts 2021

The CyberArts exhibition will showcase award-winning media artworks from the 2021 Prix Ars Electronica and thus provide an insight into current developments and trends in the digital age.

“On Art & AI” Conference, Day 2
Hiba Ali (US, CA, PK) Bill Balaskas (GR) Lauren F. Klein (US) Mushon Zer-Aviv (IL) Erinma Ochu (UK) Joana Moll (ES) Memo Akten (TR) Prodromos Tsiavos (GR) Stop LAPD Spying Coalition (US)

On Art & AI is a two-day conference exploring how artists engage critically, conceptually and artistically with discourses around artificial intelligence, creativity, intelligence, labour and ethics.

“On Art & AI” Conference, Day 1
Morehshin Allahyari (US) Sarah Allen (UK) Stephanie Dinkins (US) Suzanne Kite (US) Melanie Lenz (UK) Jonas Lund (SE) Irini Mirena Papadimitriou (UK) Anna Ridler (UK) Tamiko Thiel (US)

On Art & AI is a two-day conference exploring how artists engage critically, conceptually and artistically with discourses around artificial intelligence, creativity, intelligence, labour and ethics.

Theme Exhibition: Digital && Life

This year’s Ars Electronica Festival theme exhibition is dealing with the many different forms the relationship between the digital and all scales of life can assume. The artworks demonstrate the links technologies evolve to living things from the tiniest microbial organisms to the methods of examining our bodies and even shows the potential to facilitate the creation of life itself.

Gigapixel 3D Scan of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
Emilien Leonhardt / HIROX EUROPE - JYFEL​

Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring is known worldwide, but only a few people have seen its individual pigments. Discover the biggest microscopic gigapixel scan of a work of art, ever, to see the master's techniques! Explore the micro-panorama of the full painting captured by state-of-the-art Hirox 3D microscopes, with a custom XYZ stand at a resolution so high you can print it the size of a building, and true color 3D modeling as if you were holding the painting in your hands!

Gigapixel 3D Scan of Picasso’s “GUERNICA ”
Reina Sofia, Spanish Embassy

In collaboration with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Madrid, Ars Electronica, with the kind support of the Spanish Embassy in Vienna, will present a gigapixel image of Picasso's famous masterpiece, GUERNICA, as well as sketches created by photographers at the Reina Sofía.

The Zizi Show - Enter the World of Deep Fake Drag Cabaret
Jake Elwes (UK)

Drag Queens, Drag Kings, Drag Things and Artificial Intelligence…Enter into the world of The Zizi Show (2020), a deepfake drag cabaret, a virtual online stage hosting a groundbreaking new show with a twist. It features acts that have been constructed using deepfake technology, learning how to do drag by watching a diverse group of human performers. The Zizi Show dissects one of the dominant myths about AI: the notion that 'an AI' is a thing we might mistake for a person.