Exhibition Tent LINZ CHANGES 2013, Spring

LINZ CHANGES looks behind the scenes at what makes the city tick. Twelve interactive installations provide fascinating facts about what goes into this city and what comes out. The focal-point themes are social life, culture, residential living, leisure, health, sports, nature, infrastructure, the future and international relations.

12 interactive scenarios on 700 m2 exhibition space
…constitute a unique parcours through Linz. The setting of this presentation of Linz is a 20×37-meter pavilion, a striking venue designed by ANY:TIME. On the exterior, a 6½-meter-tall cube is completely surrounded by a strip of artificial turf, a green band meant to symbolize the successful environmental protection measures that have so tremendously enhanced the quality of life in Linz. On both sides of the entrance, this façade seems to have been rolled away to open up a view of the mirrored metal interior. This material transition from green artificial turf to polished metal alludes to the numerous layers on which the so-called “Linz System” is based. Plus, it reflects each individual visitor, who thus becomes a part of the whole.

Linz from Above
As soon as visitors step inside, they get a one-of-a-kind look at Linz—a high-definition, 150-m2 print spread out across the floor showing the entire city from a bird’s-eye view.

1. We Are Linz
“We Are Linz” was inspired by a beloved children’s book. A picture is taken of every visitor inside an illuminated photography cube. Then a computer divides each image into three horizontal segments—head, trunk and legs—and displays them on a projection screen. But here, they’re randomly combined with segments from other installation visitors to create a seemingly infinite series of variations.

2. (In)Sights
This installation takes visitors on a fascinating excursion into Linz’s past. Postcards featuring pictures of Linz in bygone days are arrayed on an interactive table that also displays the contemporary view corresponding to each historical image. Old and new perspectives create interesting contrasts and bring out the city’s tremendously dynamic development. Some older guests will recall the Linz of their childhood; the city’s younger residents will be able to discover elements of the cityscape that seem familiar and strange at the same time.

3. Finger Marathon
The Finger Marathon invites visitors to test their sports abilities. 1 to 4 perople can run a section of the marathon distance with their fingers.

4. Linz in Numbers
Linz in Numbers presents different facts about the city and the work of “Unternehmensgruppe Linz” (UGL). The slide shows displayed on the screens can be selected by topic: Future Linz, Social Aspects, Life, Education, Traffic, Infrastructure, Health, Sports & Leisure, Culture. The visitors can skim through the facts, according to their interests.

5. Panorama
An extremely high-definition panorama wall measuring about 16 meters in length invites visitors to embark on a most extraordinary tour of Linz. This trip around town literally takes in the entire area within the city limits. At every destination you choose, you can zoom right in and examine the minutest details. This installation lives on as Gigapixel Viewer.

6. Linz as a City of Culture
Linz used to be strictly an industrial town, but it’s made quite a name for itself as a capital of culture in recent decades. “Linz as a City of Culture” is a visualization of this trend. Installation visitors get an overview of this town’s cultural diversity and enjoy a few behind-the-scenes glimpses as well.

7. Linz Makes Music
“Linz Makes Music” is another installation spotlighting cultural life here. The featured attraction is real-time interaction between music and video. “Linz Makes Music” produces audiovisual musical animation and interactive musical toys. This installation is based upon “The Sancho Plan”, an award-winning collective from the UK.

8. SimLinz
SimLinz is an interactive data pool that interlinks historical and contemporary city maps, statistics and photos. The result is a graphic depiction of the city’s utilities & transportation networks—electrical conduits, district heating pipes, public transit lines and much more.

9. Energy Missions
A responsible handling and an efficient use of our available energy is a key factor for our future quality of life. The installation “Energy Missions” at the “Linz Changes” tent conveys in a playful way how each one of us can save energy and money in addition to reducing environmental impact. Energy saving tips are communicated in the form of energy missions connected to power saving, heating, and mobility, which are carried out by the participants.

10. Linz. Together. Life.
The project IMPORT/EXPORT introduces employees of the City of Linz and its municipal services and enterprises with a migration background in the form of video portraits.

11. Futuristic Linz – Shadowgram
There is probably no other city in Austria where a focus on the future exerts a more powerful influence on political and cultural life than in Linz. “Shadowgram” spotlights Linzers’ plans, hopes and aspirations for the future. First of all, each visitor poses behind a wall of light and is photographed—the result is a shadow image showing a human silhouette. This shot is then printed out as a miniature sticker that is applied to a map of Linz. There, it is augmented by a speech balloon in which the individual depicted can make a statement expressing what’s on his/her mind.

12. Workshop
At first glance, “SWITCH” seems to be a conventional picture rendered on an array of parallel slats. But a tiny sensor inside its frame registers any sounds or movements in the vicinity and, as if by magic, flips the slats to reveal a different image on their reverse side. Installation visitors can also attend a workshop to learn how to make these pictures themselves.

Project Credits (Solutions):: Chris Bruckmayr, Cecile Bucher, Stefan Fuchs, My Trinh Gardiner, Yvonne Hauser, Barbara Hinterleitner, Christoph Hofbauer, Martina Karrer, Petros Kataras, Fadil Kujundžić, Kathrin Meyer, Harald Moser, Benjamin Olsen, Andreas Pramböck, Gerald Priewasser, Roland Reiter, Vanessa Schauer, Markus Wipplinger, Claus Zweythurm

Foto Credits: rubra, Florian Voggeneder, Martin Hieslmair, Robertba, ANY:TIME Architekten

The LINZ CHANGES exhibition is being produced jointly by the City of Linz and its municipal services & enterprises: local government agencies, the utilities, the general hospital, the senior center, the concert hall, Ars Electronica, the real estate development corporation, the information & communications technology provider, the Tobacco Processing Plant development corporation, the security patrol, the municipal housing authority, the Design Center management company, the local light railway and the airport. The exhibition’s interactive installations were created by the Ars Electronica Futurelab; the exhibition architecture is the work of ANY:TIME, a Linz firm; Messemanagement Linz GmbH set up the exhibition tent.