Hauptplatz, Brückenkopfgebäude Ost

Opening:
Thu 3.9.2009 3.30 PM

Opening hours:
Thu 3.9. -Tue 8.9. 10.00 AM – 7.00 PM

DIY Style Interaction Projects by Interface Cultures Student Projects at Ars Electronica 2009
Curated by Christa Sommerer (AT) & Laurent Mignonneau (AT)

Christa Sommerer, Laurent Mignonneau, Dietmar Offenhuber, Michaela Ortner, Varvara Guljajeva

This year’s student projects from the Interface Cultures study department show a variety of interactive projects and prototypes that have been developed in the past study year. Topics circle around interactive art, audio-visual installations, wearable technology projects, gaming interfaces, information visualization and conceptual works. Weibel states in 2008: “Artists, in the age of Youtube.com, Flickr.com, MySpace.com, and Second Life, lose their monopoly on creativity. Using contemporary media everyone can be artistically creative.”¹ In our department we can observe a strong movement in the direction of do-it-yourself (=DIY) style interface projects. Artists and designers here often engage in short-time collaborations and share their code and interface designs on the Internet with a peer community. We however also observe a trend towards more traditional notions of art where the idea is to create unique pieces of interactive art that convey a strong artistic and conceptual message. It is within this dichotomy of the totally open and the rather closed system that we have to see the works presented in this year’s student exhibition.

For the format of the exhibition organization we have chosen to use the metaphor of DIY all the way. Students not only manage their own projects but also collaboratively organize the exhibition design, the curational direction, the flyers, posters and promotional materials. As an exhibition theme, the topic of “The Royal Interface Culture Masquerade Ball” was chosen by the students. From red carpets to Victorian-style frames, white ‘theatre’ masks worn around the exhibition (= the ball) by the visitors, to evening wear worn by students. This year’s theme is to juxtapose modern technology with an old-style ball set-up to create a somewhat opulent atmosphere where new and old meet. Enter into a continuous masquerade only to be trapped by your desires. The main exhibition hall affords guests a place of respite during the festival, with lush tables and chairs and performances by artists throughout the day. This year’s theme is to juxtapose modern technology with an old-style ball set-up to create a somewhat opulent atmosphere where new and old meet.

The outcome of this exhibition is a learning process in itself. It should sensitize students to how complex it is to create scenarios for the presentation of interactive projects, which challenge the audience in areas such as art, scenography and interaction design. As hosts of The 1st Inaugural Royal Interface Culture Ball we invite you to experience opulent spaces, art, performance and anonymity.

¹ Peter Weibel, YOU_niverse, exhibition catalogue, Sevilla: “Bienal de Arte Contemporaneo de Sevilla”, “Fundacionbiacs”, 2008, 16-26

See all projects of The Royal Interface Culture Masquerade Ball