Ars Electronica 2019: Media Artists Present Their Work at World’s Largest Media Art Festival
The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will be represented at the renowned »Ars Electronica« Media Arts Festival in Linz from 5 – 9 September 2019. Under the motto »We are not alone!«, the university is presenting a wide range of media art works, including exhibitions, panels, and a showcase. Students, instructors, and alumni are involved and the »Bauhaus100« Centenary acts as an impressive example of how diverse the work and research is and how interdisciplinary the art, design, and technology is at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
The venues for the international festival are spread across the city of Linz. Works presented by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar can be found at various institutions: the »Shared Habitats« themed exhibition will be on display at the Kunstuniversität Linz, while the Postcity – the festival’s main venue located next to Linz’s main station – and the Ars Electronica Center play host to individuals from the university and their respective exhibitions.
Scientific-Artistic Panels Open the Festival
The panel »We are not alone!« will take place on the opening day of the festival as a conceptual starting point on Thursday, 5 September 2019. The brainchild of Prof. Ursula Damm, the panel addresses contemporary teaching conditions within the context of the Bauhaus tradition in addition to the influences of technology and the resulting social implications. Instructors from various disciplines will discuss approaches that have emerged from the intermingling of art, technology, and theory at art academies. The panel focusses on the manifestations of new beginnings and visions 100 years after the original Bauhaus. The panel is made up of Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt, Prof. Dr. Lasse Scherffig, Jun.-Prof. Alexandra Toland, Prof. Dr. Georg Trogemann, and Dr. Yvonne Volkart.
In a second panel led by Jun.-Prof. Alexandra Toland, the concept of the algorithm will be critically and practically brought into question. The panel, titled »slow algorithms and the hazards of standardization«, is made up of Ph.D art students Vanessa Farfán, Gabriel S. Moses, and Theresa Schubert.
Shared Habitats – Exhibit on Human Relationships with their Environment
The »Shared Habitats« exhibition was originally produced with the MO Museum Vilnius and curated together by Ursula Damm and Ugnė Paberžytė. The exhibition investigates technology’s influence on sociocultural processes and encourages encounters between humans and other beings. The 15 digital, biological, and interactive pieces focus on the role of organisms within their environment, the effects humans have on their living spaces, interactions between human and non-human beings, and the relationships between humans and machines. The exhibition has been expanded upon at the Kunstuniversität Linz with works by Julian Chollet, Ursula Damm, Maria Degand and Leon-Etienne Kühr, Maike Alisha Effenberg, Mindaugas Gapševičius, Jan Georg Glöckner, Kristian Gohlke and Christian Wiegert, Rico Graupner, Stephan Isermann, Sebastian Kaye, Michael Markert, Freya Probst, Homero Ruiz, Maria Antonia Schmidt, Theresa Schubert, and Alexandra Toland. Rico Graupner will also be performing a concert on human and animal coexistence as an acoustic experience.
Extensive Individual Art Works in the Ars Electronica Festival Main Exhibition
At the festival’s main venue, Postcity, additional works from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s Digital Bauhaus Lab, the Professorship of Interaction Design, and the Professorship of Experimental Radio can be viewed, experienced and heard. The main exhibition, curated by festival management, features installations by Jörg Brinkmann Timm Burkhardt, Max Kullmann, The Center for Haptic Audio Interation Research (CHAIR), Rachel Smith, Hannes Waldschütz, and Moritz Wehrmann.
In addition to this, an Experimental Radio showcase offers visitors the opportunity to experience prominent audio pieces from the university at a headphone station. Visitors can also participate in artist Tommy Neuwirth’s daily performance, »Das Netzwerk für ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen« (»The Network for an Unconditional Basic Income«). Artistic audio pieces include those from: Susanne Altmann, Julius Baars, Konrad Behr, Laura Anh Thu Dang, Jan Glöckner, Grit Lieder, Eleftherios Krysalis, Johann Mittmann, Janine Müller, Severin Schenkel, Markus Westphal, Anton Worch, Christina Baron, Jason Langheim, Grit Lieder, Doreen Smolensky, Regine Elbers, Christoph Höfferl, Rafael Jové, Fabian Hapich, Stefanie Heim, Nils Lauterbach, Mara May, Ludwig Müller, Maximilian Netter, Josephine Prkno, Christopher Schön, Vivien Schütz, Söhnke Sofar, Andreas Stosch, and Benjamin Voßler.
»We are not alone!« – On Being Present at the Ars Electronica Festival
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, Ursula Damm, professor of Media Environments in the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s Faculty of Art and Design has launched the presence of her University at Ars Electronica under the motto »We are not alone!«: The title is meant as a reminder that we as humans are not alone on earth, and that we need to broaden our perspectives on the ecosphere and our notions of animals and plants. At the same time, we need to realize that technology is not a passive tool, but rather something that can be used to manipulate as a creative participant in making predictions, decisions, and not just generating suggestions, but also putting said suggestions into action«. More than 50 instructors, students, and alumni from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar are involved in presenting at the Ars Electronica, most of whom are from the fields of media art, interaction design, experimental radio and sound art, and artistic research.
About Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica has been accompanying, anticipating, and analysing the digital revolution and its origins, successes, and corruptions since 1979. The cultural and social significance of new technological and scientific developments have always been at the forefront of this festival for art, technology, and society. This year, Ars Electronica is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the motto »Out of the Box – die Midlife Crisis der Digitalen Revolution« (»Out of the Box – The Midlife Crisis of the Digital Revolution«) and is once again focussing on artistically and scientifically measuring digital reality, its future, and our means for action.
Ars Electronica-Festival 2019
5 to 9 September 2019
POSTCITY Linz, Austria
https://ars.electronica.art/outofthebox
For further information, please contact Prof. Ursula Damm at ursula.damm[at]uni-weimar.de or Theresa Schubert from the organizational team at theresa.schubert[at]gmail.com.
The Ars Electronica Festival presence is supported by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Bauhaus100 foundation and the Kreativfonds.
