Ars Electronica, Gerfried Stocker
New Ars Electronica Centre, designed by Architekt DI Andreas Treusch, Source: TREUSCH architecture - OLN Visualisierung
Skyfest: a pyrotechnic world balloon sculpture by Catalan artists with the performance ‘alchemy of life’, Source Rubra
Moon ride: cyclists in Linz’s main square provide energy to the balloon to glow like a moon. Source Rubra
Beach beasts: environmentally-powered public art in the main square of Linz by Dutch artist Theo
Ars Electronica
Gerfried Stocker describes a unique organisation in Linz which unites global creativity
The Austrian city of Linz has changed dramatically in recent decades; what has emerged is a modern urban centre with a flourishing economy and a city where the quality of life is exceptional. As Austria’s third largest city, the Linz Metropolitan Area is the hub of a thriving regional economy with the number of jobs in Linz exceeding the city’s population. Here, technology, industry and high ecological standards are no contradiction, making it one of Austria’s most environmentally-friendly communities with green spaces making up 60 per cent of the city. Linking industry, culture and nature will play an essential role in Linz’s programme as European Capital of Culture in 2009.
Ars Electronica, a platform celebrating the interface of art, technology and society, has been running in the city since 1979, and its vitality remains undiminished. Ars Electronica’s uniqueness has continued in that period so that it now represents a comprehensive home for techno-cultural phenomena. In pursuing this mission, its radius of activities ranges from providing a setting for philosophical-theoretical discussions involving international experts, to actively fostering media art projects and collaborating on joint ventures with private sector associates.
Through the Museum of the Future, Ars Electronica reaches audiences of all age groups and social strata, and has also become a significant source of inspiration in the cultural and economic change underway in its home city of Linz, Austria. As a result, Linz has come to epitomise a model municipality whose approach to the future is not just about commerce and industry, but primarily a cultural responsibility. This demonstrates the social relevance of artistic work and also serves as a prototype for urban renewal and cultural policy development options that go beyond traditionalism and tourism. Ars Electronica’s interdisciplinary nature, openness to new trends and confrontation with visions of the future have always had one key focus: their impact on our society. Therefore, regardless of the techno-imagery and machinery available, people are ultimately the centre of attention, whether as artists, workers, managers, consumers, beneficiaries, users, victims and, above all, creators and appliers of new technologies.
Four divisions of Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica consists of four divisions: an avant-garde annual festival; a competition honouring outstanding work in this field; a museum with an educational mission; and a media art lab with artistic competence available for research and development and industrial applications.
The Ars Electronica Festival
The Ars Electronica Festival is characterised by the interdisciplinary collaboration between artists, network nomads, theoreticians, technologists, legal scholars; it is an open gathering of experts from all over the world with a highly diverse audience. Staged annually since 1979, this internationally renowned week-long event provides an intense setting for the artistic and scientific consideration of social and cultural phenomena that are the upshot of the technological transformations of our world. In the form of symposia, exhibitions, performances and interventions, the festival line-up takes these inquiries beyond the realm of traditional conference spaces and cultural venues, out into the cityscape and the public realm.
The Prix Ars Electronica
Since its founding in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has been the world’s foremost competition in cyber-arts and a showcase of artistic excellence and innovation. From internationally renowned artists and Oscar prize winners to up-and-coming young pioneers — a wide spectrum of creativity is represented among the thousands of entries received each year. As the competition is staged annually with a global audience and diversely themed submissions, the Prix Ars Electronica Archive is now able to exhibit the openness and diversity of media art and provide detailed insights into its development (see www.aec.at/en/archives).
The Ars Electronica Centre
Since opening its doors in 1996, the Ars Electronica Centre has become a prototype of the ‘museum of the future’. It targets broad-based audiences using interactive forms of mediation, virtual reality, digital networks and state-of-the-art media. Themes at the nexus of media art, high tech and social developments are typical of its innovative exhibits. The installations presented display great diversity but have one thing in common - implementing innovative, intuitive human-computer interaction that incorporates the user’s body and senses. Based on hands-on involvement, these prototypes emancipate the user from being a passive observer to an active participant. The aim is to deliver personal experiences of new technologies and virtual spaces.
A new and expanded Ars Electronica Centre will open in 2009. Immediately adjacent to the existing facility, a second multi-level structure is now under construction. Both will ultimately be wrapped in a backlit glass shell, so that the end result will be a unified whole, and forming a new highlight in Linz’s cityscape and a counterpart to the Lentos Museum of Art on the opposite bank of the Danube. On the east side of the building will be an attractive plaza for public events with tiered seating. New labs and workshops for the Ars Electronica Futurelab will be located directly beneath the plaza. With exhibition halls and further space, it will be twice the size of the old facility. While construction work is in progress, the Museum of the Future is occupying a temporary location in the centre of Linz.
The Ars Electronica Futurelab
The Ars Electronica Futurelab is a new form of media art laboratory in which artistic and technological innovation are mutually inspiring. The staff includes experts from a wide variety of fields; their approach to assignments is characterised by interdisciplinarity and international networking. The broad spectrum of the Futurelab’s activities includes the conception and realisation of exhibition projects and artistic installations, as well as joint ventures with partners in academia and the private sector.
The Ars Electronica experiment confirms that Linz is a ‘creative city’, as its leaders have had the foresight to offer public support to a venture initiated by artists. It has been encouraged to evolve into an essential part of Linz’s cultural life, with which its citizens now identify.
Gerfried Stocker is Artistic Director of Ars Electronica Projects.
