Preface


'Karl Gerbel Karl Gerbel

Managing Director of LIVA

This festival entitled "Out of Control" differs greatly, in terms of subject matter, from all former and indeed from all coming festivals. The difference is that it asks the fundamental question as to whether technological development only has positive aspects, as the technocrats would have us believe.

It appears that this subject has hit a rather exposed nerve of the times, yet the reference to the scenario of violence in this year and to the role of electronics as a weapon has, by now, become futile.

Cultural history teaches us that artists have a particular sensorium for social repression and that they express criticism in an individual, work-related immanent way. In many cases they have proved to be incorruptible. We should listen to what they have to say even if it sounds provocative and offensive sometimes.

Ars Electronica '91 is not an aesthetically "beautiful" festival, but aims more at being aggressively, provocatively and critically disturbing. As art cannot compete with reality, it will also be highly theatrical and, hopefully, exciting.