Thinking outside the box at the Festival Ars Electronica

When it blinks, squeaks and beeps, it is time for Art. Electronic art. The Festival Ars Electronica in the Austrian city of Linz hosts top-notch artists and scientists, who deal with the future of our world and our society. If you could not make it in 2017, take a look around with us. In their Light Barrier series, a team of Korean and British artists creates holographs in the fog, three-dimensional structures consisting only of light. In this year’s award-winning performance, they tell an abstract story of the circle of life from birth to death and rebirth. Giving birth to art One artist from South Korea wants to bring you back into the womb. Through tiny speakers pressed to your body he wants you to feel the sounds of your surrounding, an experience said to be close to what a baby hears in its mother’s body. Sometimes machines learns from humans. This organ is like a parrot, it attempts to repeat the sounds and phrases its human master teaches it. Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of Ars Electronica, says: “Art forces us to think outside the box, to question whether what industry tells us is possible with technology is really all we can do, or whether we can do other things. “It is not the task of art to explain technology, but one’s ability of art is to help us understand the importance and consequences of technology. “And maybe it helps us to become more self-confident in the way we approach this technological developments.” Robot, doing nothing This reminds us of robots being a danger to the society and the world, like the renegade computer in the movie series Terminator. But there are other types of robots. With slow movements and meditative shapes created out of strings spanned through the room, we are reminded of doing nothing from time to time. Mariendom The festival Ars Electronica traditionally occupies multiple spaces in the city of Linz. One of the most impressive is the Mariendom, a cathedral in the city centre. This year it hosted an immersive performance of light, video art and drones created by two Taiwanese artists. L‘Enfant With images from their show “L‘Enfant”: https://www.aec.at/ai/en/lenfant/ we say good bye and look forward to next year‘s festival, showing us the future of our world and society through today’s art.