In the Ars Electronica Futurelab Academy, experts from Ars Electronica’s research laboratory mentor students working at the nexus of art, technology and society at eminent international partner universities, opening a field of creative exchange across cultures and disciplines.

Radically different

During the 2015 Futurelab Academy programme with the Empowerment Informatics PhD programme at Japan’s University of Tsukuba, a leading research university with a visionary focus in human-centred cybernetics, two student teams have produced experimental projects that envision radically different interpretations of a Post-City Kit:

An ultrasonic glove

IrukaTact by Aisen Caro Chacin (US) and Takeshi Oozu (JP) is a submersible haptic search glove inspired by dolphin (= iruka) echolocation that assists the location of sunken objects after a flood, translating ultrasonic range finding data to haptic feedback using a novel approach. Conceived as a kit for emergency situations, it is open-source and can be constructed using readily available materials and digital fabrication processes.

A mirroring tablet

idMirror by Maša Jazbec (SI) and Floris Erich (NL) is an artistic project that investigates how social networks and emerging mobile technologies have forever changed the perception of human identity. The piece uses tablet computers’ inherent resemblance of mirrors to play with this identity by turning the visitors’ faces into the objects of unexpected manipulation.

The Ars Electronica Center’s popular Kids’ Research Laboratory is a setting for what Albert Einstein called “the highest form of research”: play. At PostCity during the Ars Electronica Festival, the Kids’ Research Laboratory is operating a bigger-than-life-size play- & proving ground for up-and-coming explorers 4-8 years of age.

Play with the Elements

The spacious location features sandscapes, earth zones, watercourses and spots to toy with light and air. The watchwords: Discovering new stuff via trial & error. This is a site for digging, splashing, tossing, grinding and pitching in. Kids’ experiences with elementary materials like sand and water provide them with a fundamental understanding of volume and density, cause and effect.

Lab and Parents’ Corner

At the center of this wide-ranging playground is a laboratory where youngsters with an especially hearty appetite for knowledge can get a helping hand from Infotrainers to carry on their inquiries and get to the bottom of questions that arose during their playtime activities. In the Parents’ Corner, young and old can access media support in broadening their scientific horizon.