A selection of the works of the Prix Ars Electronica. Click here to see details about the exhibited works.

Six years have passed since [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grants was first awarded, so this would be a fitting occasion for Ars Electronica and voestalpine to devote an exhibition to these efforts. The mission has been to discover people who are taking original, innovative approaches to confronting the  facts & circumstance of this world, and are developing concepts that have what it takes to really make a difference.The exhibition spotlights work being done at the nexus of art, technology, design and science, and elaborate on the projects’ inherent assumptions as well as the social consequences they entail. It’s precisely this mixture of very creative people with wide-ranging skills and highly diverse backgrounds that promises to foster fascinating, inspiring encounters with topics and issues of great importance to our future, so to assure that these successful networking efforts don’t just loosen and completely unravel following the end of the Festival, Ars Electronica is launching a blog that will present the projects on exhibit as well as new and very promising approaches.

Click here to see details about the [the next idea] exhibition.

The medium of painting has a long tradition, and many critical reflections upon the contemporary relevance of the medium have been written. The percentage for renewal is rather small. Very small. Ironically, nanotechnology deals with the very “small” and it is within this fairly new scientific field that inspiration may lie for the arts, ready to be unfold and researched. The creation of the darkest nano engineered painting in the world, created in collaboration with the Rice University and Prof. Pulickel, entitled “Hostage” will serve as a case study to explore the possible paradigm shift it can generate in the arts in general and more specific in the medium of painting. In order to pursue this sublime ideal and go beyond the luminal, the artist researched and used anti-sublime strategies, using scientific tools, methodologies and introduced them into his artistic praxis.

http://www.frederik-de-wilde.com

Thanks to: Nanomaterials Laboratory at Rice University, Houston (USA), SMARTbe, Flemish Ministry of Culture and the University Hasselt

SUN_D takes a radical new approach—one that doesn’t regard daylight as a problem but instead sees its tremendous potential. Jonas Burki considers sunlight and ambient light as a resource that’s natural, free and abundantly available, and builds sun monitors that adapt to natural lighting conditions.

http://www.sun-d.ch

“Open_Sailing” is a pioneering open-source architecture designing and building the first International Ocean Station. The diverse community of experts, from a wide range of disciplines, develop the technologies required to enable a human floating symbiotic life with the ocean. Current research projects include “Energy_Animal”, a floating sustainable electrical generator that creates power from waves, wind and sun; “Life_Cable”, a unified cable for any inhabited structure needs; and a fleet of oil collecting robots to aid the cleaning of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The “Open_Sailing” project aims to provide a stable infrastructure for ocean research, developing technologies that will impact our lives on land as well as the ocean.

http://www.opensailing.net

http://www.callmecat.com

http://www.frontlinesms.com

http://www.npflint.com

http://www.realtechsupport.org/new_works/mpp.html

http://www.eyecandycan.com