In comparison to Archifon III, the major installation he produced with his artistic partner Tomáš Dvořák, Dan Gregor’s second spatial-optical encounter with the Mariendom comes across like a whimsical art historical footnote. Netykavka is a minimalist installation in which Gregor pays homage to avant-garde artist Anthony McCall by reconstructing McCall’s works that consist of beams of light—though not without expanding the works with an additional facet: Netykavka reacts to being touched by installation visitors.

As different as the Ars Electronica Center and Linz’s St. Mary’s Cathedral may be in every imaginable respect, they’ll have something in common during Ars Electronica 2014: festivalgoers will be able to employ the façades of both buildings as projection surfaces.

Living Architecture

Archifon III, an audiovisual and architectural installation by Tomáš Dvořák and Dan Gregor, turns Mariendom’s windows and walls into a virtual musical instrument. It can be played with laser pointers, which activate acoustic and optical elements mounted at various stops on the façade. Suddenly, the church’s stone walls seem to come alive, to react like a resonating body.

Read more about this on our Ars Electronica Blog!