The grand finale of the elaborate Opening Parcours is the official opening event of the 2014 Ars Electronica Festival, a not so ceremonious and rather more playful-sensorial form of entertainment in St. Mary’s Cathedral and on the plaza in front of it. Magistratsmusik Linz leads off with a rendition of Mysteries of Antartika. Archifon III and OscFluctuation then transform the huge façade of Austria’s largest church into an audiovisual playground for festivalgoers. Leading-edge media art from Taiwan is represented in the form of Smashing Karaoke vs.Brass Band and Long Live. An unprecedented augmented reality experience is offered by Mirage, and a new wrinkle has even been added to the playbook of the church’s venerable Rudigierorgel: harmonious visualizations accompanying the musical artistry of cathedral organist Wolfgang Kreuzhuber.

Program

8:30 PM
Mysteries of Antarctica
Magistratsmusik Linz (AT)
Domplatz

8:40 PM
Smashing Karaoke vs. Brass Band
Dawang Huang (TW)
Domplatz

9 PM
Archifon III
Tomáš Dvořák (CZ), Dan Gregor (CZ)
Domplatz

9 PM
OscFluctuation
Robert Praxmarer (At), Gerlinde Emsenhuber (At), Robert Sommeregger (AT), Steven Stojanovic (AT), Thomas Wagner (AT)
Domplatz

9:15 PM-9:45 PM
Mirage
Grinder-man (JP)
Mariendom

9:45 PM-10 PM
Long Live
Jui-Chung Yao (TW)
Mariendom

from 10 PM
Rudigierorgel visualized
Wolfgang Kreuzhuber (AT), Ars Electronica (AT)
Mariendom

Read more about this on our Ars Electronica Blog!

FRI September 5, 2014, 7 PM
Brucknerhaus, Großer Saal

An evening with the crème de la crème of the digital arts – a highlight of the 2014 Ars Electronica Gala will be the ceremony at which the Golden Nica statuettes are bestowed upon the Prix Ars Electronica prizewinners.
Please note that due to the limited seats you will need a separate invitation or a seat reservation of the Gala.

A fitting follow-up to the Electronic Theatre performances is the OK Night lineup. Kicking things off on the OK platz are WANDL (AT) live and DJ Martin Klein (AT).

After 11 PM Zanshin (Affine Records / AT) and Johann Destroy (Radio Diffusion, Compost Records / AT) will perform in Solaris. Markus Reindl (AT) is the curator of this high-variety show. The visual design is the work of Das Gegenlicht (Backlab /AT).

We say: If you’re gonna stage an awards ceremony, then do it right! The 2014 winners in the Prix Ars Electronica’s category for young people won’t be receiving only trophies and certificates. For the first time this year, they’ll also be immortalized on a Walk of Fame.

On the Walk of Fame

Excellent work is being singled out for recognition with a Golden Nica, two Awards of Distinction, Merchandise Prizes in the u10 and u14 age groups, and Honorary Mentions. The grand prize goes to Sarah Oos (AT) for Femme Chanel – Emma Fenchel. The runners-up are Richard Sadek (AT) for (e)motion-mirror and Jonas Bodingbauer (AT) for Smart Clock.