The culmination of the under [my] control market day at Arkade is an oversized round-table at which 20 experts in various disciplines will gather for an alfresco public discussion. Their topic: whether there are technologies that can protect us from excessive media consumption, or whether other strategies are needed to deal with changed media usage patterns.

Sober Assessment

In going about this, there’s place neither for panicky scaremongering nor glorification of high-tech possibilities. What this calls for are dispassionate scrutiny and an objective appraisal of whether a danger even exists. If that’s indeed the case, then this panel will deliver practical solutions for use in everyday life—for instance, an app that enables families to see how much time a youngster is actually spending online as a step towards establishing mutually agreed-upon limits.

Panelists: Jörg Hofstätter (Ovos / AT), Clemens Kaltenberger (Red Cross / AT), Dominik Koller (u19 / AT), Dominik Landwehr (cultural event producer – pop and new media / CH), Markus Luger (Otelo / AT), Gerhard Nussbaum (Kompetenznetzwerk KI-I/ AT), Michael Seemann (author / DE), Daniel Seitz (mediale pfade / DE), David Witzeneder (Neront / AT), et al.

Whether as a result of e-mails, photos, videos, documents, shopping carts or search engine queries, regardless of what forms digital data take—the cloud in the Web with its growing number of incessantly running servers sucks it all up like a sponge that is inviolable and has unlimited capacity. Buttoned up and well cooled, thousands of servers assembled in highsecurity zones worldwide do their job 24/7. But like other material objects, these things as well can be physically destroyed. This installation by Stefan Tiefengraber carries on a long tradition of self-destroying machines, and turns over control of the demolition to installation visitors. In response to each click on the www.ugsd.net website (that happens to be located on precisely this server), two of the six hammers mounted atop the server’s housing deliver a vigorous blow to it—and keep it up until the server is out of commission.

At the Sunday breakfast, Future Innovators Summit participants from all Working Groups will meet at the Arkadenhof.

At the Saturday breakfast, Working Groups E and F will present their current projects to the assembled Future Innovators Summit participants and festivalgoers.

The Saturday Lunchbox will be a very special Mentor Session. The illustrious guests include Joachim Sauter (DE) of Art+Com, Golan Levin (US) of Carnegie Mellon University and Hiroshi Ishii (JP/US), who’ll make their experience available to benefit young Summit participants.

Experienced professionals meet young innovators, answer questions, give suggestions and feedback as well as insights into their own work. On Thursday, Robert Madelin (UK/BE), director general of DG Connect of the European Commission will take a seat at the table to report on the Commission’s programs and strategies.

The Future Innovators Summit begins on Thursday with the first communal breakfast in Arkadenhof. The members of Working Groups A and B will present their projects and ideas.

Learn to be a Machine | DistantObject #1 is an abstract system of obedience and manipulation. The video installation features a representation of the artist himself, who has provided a means for the audience to interact with the system. By scrolling a trackball, the audience can manipulate the direction of the artist’s eyes. Blinking and facial expressions are generated randomly.The work explores the power relation between humans and machines.

Shadowgram brings out visitors’ own creativity. Silhouette images reveal an entire world of thinking about current issues. With playful ease, opinions materialize into a real picture.

A video camera, a large illuminated panel, image analysis software and a vinyl cutter go into producing a silhouette of a person or an object, which is then printed out as a sticker that, together with a speech balloon, is applied to a picture, board or map. Visitors can then write their personal thoughts and opinions about topical issues in the speech balloon. The sum of all silhouettes and accompanying speech balloons speak loud and clear about current opinions and trends.

How can humankind arrive at an eminently livable future? Which pioneers are already blazing trails in that direction and can make it accessible to all? These questions are being posed by the 2014 Ars Electronica Festival, and there’ll be no shortage of potential answers to them either!

Delivering Energy

Thus, the C in the festival theme also stands for catalysts, the agents necessary to provide energy and trigger a reaction that gets change underway—not only in chemistry experiments; in processes of social renewal too. Since time immemorial, art has been a superb catalyst. It can impart energy to an idea without exhausting itself.

Making the World a Better Place

Artists as catalysts of change: the 2014 Ars Electronica Festival will address this fascinating concept as well. How art can be applied will be showcased in the Change Gallery arrayed in and around the Arkade shopping center. These best-practice examples of how technical and social innovations can make life better have been designed to impart the courage to get started with some much-needed change. The mix also includes an interesting assortment of media art from around the world.