European Platform for Digital Humanism 

With its Linz location, Ars Electronica is not only situated at the geographical heart of Europe, but also positions itself as a hub of European cultural intersection as partner institution in numerous collaborative EU-supported projects.

These international collaborations with other institutions and organisations in the cultural and creative sector inspire and facilitate exciting alliances between artists, researchers and industry representatives in multidisciplinary projects, all in the spirit of a united Europe.  

The development and implementation of European cultural cooperation projects under Creative Europe, Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ have become a cornerstone of Ars Electronica’s engagement with the sector. In these collaborative approaches, we see ourselves as a European Platform for Digital Humanism, a space for conversation and reflection to foster and showcase the outcomes of artistic engagement with science, technology, and society.  

Ars Electronica’s efforts focus on exchange within the sector on the one hand, and the discourse between the sector and society as equals on the other. Critical artistic discourse on technologies, societal discussion through transdisciplinary cultures, and the cultural and creative industries’ reflection on their digital futures in the context of the Next Renaissance movement and beyond: these are the focus points of our perspective on how Digital Humanism can lead more-than-human societies into a liveable future. 

The Next Renaissance

The world stands on the cusp of a rare opportunity to shift our systems and way of thinking, planning and acting dramatically, as a mood is emerging that transformation is possible. The solutions are in the air and renewal is possible. Perhaps a rebirth – a Next Renaissance, where we harness our collective imagination and intelligence and work across different forms of knowledge. Here we can rethink how to organize our economy on different principles and base our society beyond mere self-interest, as well as–importantly–redefine our relationship to nature given the dangers of climate collapse.

Initiated by EIT Culture & Creativity, The Next Renaissance is a movement and a platform that aims to promote the need to dramatically reassess our ethics, values and priorities in addressing the major problems of our times. The creative and cultural sectors, and especially the blending of scientific, technological, cultural and artistic knowledge, can be a catalytic driver to both imagine possible futures and to help make them happen. To tap into the great potential of the sector for the evolution of human societies, we need to provide infrastructures and support systems that facilitate and accommodate radical new paths of thinking, both to artists and industries.

Ars Electronica participates in two large-scale initiatives of the European Commission that are in line with The Next Renaissance’s belief that innovation and cross-innovation by culture and creativity is the key to the future of Europe. The STARTS Initiative and EIT Culture & Creativity provide frameworks within which a paradigm shift in how we think, plan and act becomes possible. EIT Culture & Creativity’s flagship initiative The Next Renaissance provides an umbrella for these two approaches.

S+T+ARTS Initiative 

The climate crisis is no longer a prediction of a distant future but increasingly a reality of our time. Undoubtedly, we need to rethink our economies, societies, modes of inhabitation, and our relation to the planet. For this, instead of off-the-shelf solutions, we need multi-layered, trans-disciplinary approaches to innovation.

STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission designed to create a space of dialogue and collaboration between Science+Technology+Arts. It gives artists a voice in innovation processes. Through various STARTS pillars, the STARTS Academies, STARTS Lighthouse, STARTS Residencies, the STARTS Prize and the numerous Regional STARTS Centres, the initiative address the need to approach innovation differently and look for radically new ways to tackle the challenges we face. Artists can be catalysts for change and imagine solutions that have the boldness our challenges demand.

Ars Electronica has been part of this important initiative from the very beginning, hosting the STARTS Prize since its inception in 2016. The Grand Prize of the European Commission Honoring Innovation in Technology, Industry and Society Stimulated by the Arts highlights people and projects that have the potential to make a sustainable positive impact on Europe’s economic, technological, social and ecological future. The competition seeks projects at the nexus of science, technology and the arts and celebrates visions and achievements at the interface between innovation and creation. In 2024, the Prize will be awarded in a special category: the STARTS Prize for African artists and institutions, to single out for recognition innovative projects that have what it takes to make a significant impact on economic and social innovation.

Within the STARTS4Africa project, European structures experienced with STARTS approaches will partner with change-makers in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as existing Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) to push for innovation on a regional level. This is to be facilitated by the involvement of local and international artists with regional stakeholders. In addition to the STARTS Africa prize, this will also be achieved through a Residency program. At this year’s Ars Electronica Festival, the network will be introduced.

Residencies are also at the core of the Regional STARTS Centers implemented by STARTS in the City. The project aims at enhancing art-driven innovation at local level and human-centered technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, new digital media, smart cities, high performance computing, data science, or biotechnologies, that will be able to bring to the market products and services that have a positive ecological, societal, and ethical impact. Discussions of these topics will shape this year’s discursive Festival program.

CCI Thrive 

CCI Thrive — Bespoke Business Models and Innovative Practices of Cross-Sectoral Cultural and Creative Collaboration explores compelling solutions for small and medium-sized European Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) enterprises as a response to the obstacles that they are facing. How can cutting-edge digital technology support CCI in improving their international competitiveness? How does the fact that these technologies are all relying heavily on data affect the CCI sectors in keeping pace with the digital transition? Exchange of knowledge on these questions and joint efforts to achieve beneficial cross-sectoral solutions feeds into innovative business models. A data-driven workflow using intelligent tools and processes is developed in an experimental environment to demonstrate digital paths for the future of the sectors. The project’s core objective is to provide a sound body of knowledge to build sustainable, future oriented business models.

CCI Thrive reaches out to sectors throughout the CCI and involves a range of relevant experts. To onboard solutions, the project negotiates with many pan-European CCI platforms, registers and databases, as well as practitioners in various fields. The results consist of recommendations for cross-sectoral use, for example, sharing of data and tools providing the best sustainable support for the CCI, including micro companies and SMEs. CCI Thrive shows the value of cross-sectoral business models for the CCI that are innovative and viable along the value chain to make excellent use of data and digital technologies to improve their business and competitiveness. 

For the cultural sector, CCI Thrive focuses on non-financial, value driven business models. At this year’s Ars Electronica, experts discuss existing approaches of cultural institutions to societal, environmental and educational value creation and work on recommendations for both practitioners and policy makers to shape the future of the cultural value creation in a data-driven world.

More-than-Planet 

To envision a sustainable future requires a new perspective—a planetary perspective. This change in viewpoint is needed so that we can grasp the complexities of our ecosystem Earth. More-than-Planet (MtP) addresses a crisis of planetary imaginary by exploring how transdisciplinary cultures can contribute to the way people understand and envision our environment on a planetary level.

More-than-Planet continues Ars Electronica’s mission to contribute to European cultural-environmental literacy. Through a ‘comparative planetary imaginary’, the project aims to empower European research, innovation, and cultural communities with novel insights, skills, tools, and concrete use-cases. These can then be implemented within each of their respective domains. These imaginaries will be developed through transdisciplinary, collaborative and art-driven innovation approaches that utilize critical and creative tools to address our environmental emergencies.

More-than-Planet aims to have long-term impact by developing a pathway toward the framework of European Cultural Outer-Space Activities (ECOSA) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. Such a framework will serve as a mutual agreement between stakeholders on collaborating in the long run. It builds on decades of individual efforts by many artists, scientists and cultural organizations who have enabled artistic production in the context of outer space, with space technologies, or even in outer space itself. This includes previous projects undertaken at Ars Electronica such as SpaceEU. The resulting projects are disseminated as novel environmental narratives at the Ars Electronica Festival, and across other cultural and public spaces, including specific critical zones.

IMPETUS

Citizen Science continues to gain momentum, assuming an increasingly pivotal role in researcher and innovator engagement with society. Citizen Science can demonstrate the potential of transdisciplinary cultures, and how methods of co-creation and co-design can bring together diverse communities and engage a variety of stakeholders, while creating, sharing and incorporating divergent forms of knowledge and approaches to knowledge creation.

IMPETUS is a project that showcases how Citizen Science contributes significantly to crucial societal issues such as digital literacy, data justice and participatory governance. Citizen Science heightens trust in scientific expertise, augments critical thinking skills, and creates a robust defense against misinformation. IMPETUS is committed to reinforcing and enhancing the European Citizen Science ecosystem by extending financial aid and strategic support to Citizen Science initiatives throughout Europe.

The project offers innovative funding pathways for Citizen Science initiatives through the IMPETUS Accelerator Program. In addition, IMPETUS hosts the European Union Prize for Citizen Science on behalf of the European Commission. The purpose of this prize is to broaden the recognition and disciplinary engagement of Citizen Science by honoring collaborative and diverse approaches that empower civil society and citizens in the development of the future. At this year’s Festival, Ars Electronica awards the European Union Prize for Citizen Science for the very first time.

European Digital Deal

European Digital Deal continues Ars Electronica’s investigation into how the accelerated, yet at times unconsidered adoption of new technologies–such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and algorithmic processing–can alter or undermine democratic processes. Through various programmes, European Digital Deal establishes a new kind of public forum where cultural institutions, artists, researchers and educators gather to reflect on what a deal that safeguards democratic values in the digital realm might look like, and the role they can play in shaping it.

Twelve artist residencies are at the heart of this forum to instigate conversations about the misgivings, risks and potential futures of digital technologies. These range from the present ethical threats they pose as they intersect with the media and public administration to visions of sustainable and ethical technologies for the future. At this year’s Ars Electronica Festival, experts and artists will work together to formulate the challenges these residencies will tackle. The artists will take part in an exchange offering their critical, artistic interpretations at the same time as sharpening their understanding of the logic governing the development and use of digital technologies in a capacity-building program. Numerous other educational events, festivals and exhibitions will open these topics for public debate. Based on these discussions, European Digital Deal will share a roadmap shedding light on the next steps of the digital transformation – a transformation that, albeit inevitable, is also intentional and designed for the common good.

EMAP

The European Media Art Platform (EMAP) delves into the societal implications of technology, uniting diverse perspectives. Guided by the innovative and critical minds of artists, societal and ethical issues take center stage in the examination of the evolution of technology.

Initiated by werkleitz and co-funded by Creative Europe since 2018, EMAP is a consortium of fifteen leading European media art organizations specialized in Digital and Media Art, Bio Art and Robotic Art. EMAP members offer practitioners two-month residencies to undertake artistic research and critically examine technologies through their practices. EMAP also acts as a curatorial network that supports partners in selecting artists and works for their own festivals and exhibitions. In addition to production support for artists, EMAP provides an international platform to promote and disseminate the works of media artists. 

The residencies are based on intercultural and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange between the selected artists, host organizations, and various experts from science, arts and technology. These experts are involved to consult, support or train the artists. Events take place regularly across Europe and within the Ars Electronica Festival, showcasing the works developed in the residencies. These include solo exhibitions and group shows, on- and offline conferences and capacity building workshops to share knowledge. 

Realities in Transition 

Extended Reality (XR) cradles both Virtual and Augmented Reality and offers enthralling technological possibilities as envisioned through concepts like the Metaverse. However, this emerging technology also poses significant new social and cultural challenges. The digital skills required for XR stand to deepen societal inequalities by exacerbating an already widening digital divide; moreover, the blurred line between reality and the virtual that is inherent to XR can easily become a hotbed for spreading misinformation and fostering social detachment.

Realities in Transition (RiT) brings together an active and critically thinking community of XR artists and practitioners to respond to these challenges. The project aggregates existing initiatives to demonstrate XR as a common good. Through supporting the production and dissemination of alternative uses of XR in a residency program, RiT unveils new narrative structures and creative processes that can counter the prevailing vision for the technology shaped by Big Tech. Alongside the aggregation of existing initiatives to demonstrate XR as a common good, RiT also develops an educational program to bring sustainable change by disseminating skills and knowledge to future generations of XR creatives.

RiT adopts methodologies aligned with the values of the commons, such as horizontality, open-sourcing and peer-to-peer learning. The project aspires to energize the XR community within Europe, not only the cultural and creative sector, but also civil society, academia, industry and policymakers, offering a counter-narrative. At this year’s Ars Electronica Festival, RiT’s Critical XR Manifesto (CXRM) is presented to the public for the first time.