Ars Electronica 2010: Vids

Here are some of the videos that I took during my time at Ars Electronica. It has been a fabulous experience and once again, I would like to thank Anna Douglas, Steve Manthorp and Jason Hall for this. Check out the Tweets too.

Asimo – walking and kicking
Asimo is made by Honda and the company regards it as the world’s most advanced humanoid robot.

Ryoichi Kurokawa – 5 Horizons – installation – Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica 2010 recipient for digital musics, sound and art.

“The term ‘rheo’ means river or stream; this work translates spatial and temporal transitions into audiovisual motion. A kind of landscape emerges ‘under observation’, a space in which sound movement, position and the relationship between the self and sound can be rediscovered. Kurokawa masterfully combines the language of electro-acoustic music with the idiom of the art video: he approaches sound using the strategy of an architect, while applying musical parameters to creating a video.”

Joichi Ito at Ars Electronica Festival 2010

Klangwolke – fireworks by the Danube

Thanks to @ravonski for taking this video

More Ars Electronica 2010

Continuing on some of the cool things at Ars Electronica 2010…

AirDrawn – it’s an application allowing artists to do 3D drawings. The virtual paintbrush allows you to move the cursor on the screen and on the side of the screen is another screen that allows you to email the image.

There were quite a few panel sessions that took place over the past few days. I went to one about humans and robots living in harmony. I had not realised how much we are using robots at the moment, although I can see how if we ever, as a society, became dependent on these machines, there are some ethical issues that will come to the fore. For example, futurologists predict that robots will be used to care for our children. There is already a talking Hello Kitty robot that some high-powered mums use to keep their young ones company…

There were regular sessions at Deep Space showing some impressive 3D projections. I was in awe with the digitised version of The Last Supper as well as the projections of the Mayan ruins and outer space.

Technology, media and art combined

There is definitely a lot to absorb at Ars Electronica. Just hearing about what Futurelab did and does, already blew my mind. There were some interesting exhibitions from various artists from around the world. Some are quite obscure but some really did inspire me to think more outside the box.

The animation festival was one of my favourites. I loved Mobile, The Lady and the Reaper and Canadian Arev Manoukian’s Nuit Blanche.

Robots had a fair exposure during the festival. The main star was Honda’s Asimo, who moderated the Gala, where we saw all the Prix Ars Electronica Prize winners.

Here he is in action over at Deep Space:

These past few days have been quite overwhelming. Lots to see and lots to do. It was nice to be opened up to an event with different concepts featured and truly combining media, art and technology.

Futurelab

Yesterday morning, a group of us went to the ARS Electronica Futurelab and met with its Director, Horst Hortner, and its Director of Interactive Exhibition, Kathrin Meyer. We had a really good insight as to what Futurelab is all about. It was interesting to see the ARS Electronica timeline too, which started as a festival for art, technology and society in 1979. Since then it has grown so much and now have Prix ARS Electronica (international competition for cyberarts); ARS Electronica Center (museum of the future); ARS Electronica Futurelab (lab for future innovations); Ludwig Boltzmann Research Institute (for media art residents and digital archive) as well as other branches in other cities in the world.

The Futurelab acts like a think tank, an R&D department, an atelier-lab for ARS Electronica. It is made up of an interdisciplinary team of artists, software engineers, designers, physicists, architects, biologists, mathematicians, sociologists, civil engineers, media planners, game developers, graphic designers, writers working on the future of the nexus of art, technology and society.

Their main research is all about interaction dramaturgy i.e. designing the process of interaction including the interactive environment. Its fields of activties contain five R&D groups: interactive exhibitions group; architecture; media performances and events; research and innovation group; and creation group and interactive exhibitions.

Here’s Horst talking about Futurelab Media Performances and Events.

Listen!

They’ve got some really brilliant projects and am really looking forward to finding out more.

Austrian delight

Enjoying Linz so far. Am here for the ARS Electronica Festival. The theme this year is ‘Repair – ready to pull the lifeline’, which this year is mainly taking place at Tabakfabrik Linz. Many thanks to Anna Douglas, Steve Manthorp and Jason Hall for this DCD-sponsored opportunity.

It’s quite overwhelming and it reminded me of my first year at South by Southwest. There’s so much on offer – music, installations, Futurelab, Brainlab, Robot-Ism, OK Cyber Arts, Facades, IC… am sure I will be able to differentiate these and the other activities too, so watch this space.

It’s great to see such a good turnout from the Midlands and from different sectors too. I’m very much excited about what we take away from this experience.

I’m also looking forward to exploring a bit of Haupstrasse – I heard that there is a nice bakery somewhere and a place that sells Frankfurters and saurkraut… however, after tomorrow’s Future Lab, I will be heading to Thumb Fu. I will post a video and all will be revealed.