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Ars Electronica 2003 was a Smash Hit
This year’s Ars Electronica got an enthusiastic reception from record crowds, as Linz once again became the focal point of attention in the international media art scene. "CODE – The Language of Our Time" was the theme that brought artists, theoreticians and scientists from all over the world to Linz this week to discuss the growing influence software is exerting upon all facets of life. The public events staged in connection with this year’s Ars Electronica were also big draws. All venues could boast excellent attendance. The highlight performances, "Messa di Voce" and "Principles of Indeterminism," were sellouts. The Ars Electronica audience—highly critical as a rule—gave "Messa di Voce" standing ovations. Several of the event venues were filled to absolute capacity and audiences remained captivated until the last note—at "Principles of Indeterminism," for instance, even after midnight there was still a full house in the Brucknerhaus’ Main Auditorium. According to Gerfried Stocker: "This success makes it clear that there is lively interest in media art among increasingly broad segments of the general public as well." And the evening presentations were not the only events to attract big crowds; there was excellent attendance at the symposia as well. Discussion participants included prominent practitioners of media art like Richard Kriesche and Casey Reas, influential personalities from the software industry such as Adobe founder John Warnock and Marc Canter, the founder of Macromedia, as well as theoreticians like Howard Rheingold and Pierre Lévy. Diversity also characterized symposium audiences, although the organizers were particularly pleased by the strong interest shown by students representing many different universities. Bottom line: the symposia succeeded in making an extremely abstruse topic comprehensible and its relevance to many different realms of our society eminently clear. The Prix Ars Electronica awards ceremony held in the Austrian Broadcasting Company’s Upper Austria Regional Studio at which the Golden Nica prizes were presented to the winners also attracted especially strong interest, due in part to a new record of 2,714 submissions. Exhibitions in the Brucknerhaus, the O.K. Center for Contemporary Art and the Ars Electronica Center, the University of Art in Linz as well as in various public spaces also proved to be major attractions. About 30,000 visitors, 434 participants and 491 journalists representing a total of 35 countries as well as a multitude of projects carried out together with partner universities or developed in collaboration with guest curators underscore Ars Electronica’s international status. There is also considerable institutional interest being shown in many of the works of media art exhibited in conjunction with Ars Electronica—tours to China, Argentina, the U.S. and Great Britain are now in the offing. | |
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12.9.2003 Wolfgang Bednarzek |
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© Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, info@aec.at | |||||||||