Thursday, September 8th, 2016
A whole series of exhibition openings is scheduled for the first day of the festival. Among the most eagerly anticipated are CyberArts, the 2016 Prix Ars Electronica showcase at the OK Center for Contemporary Art, the Alchemists of our Time theme exhibition in POSTCITY, and RADICAL ATOMS at the Ars Electronica Center. This year’s Campus show features the outstanding work being done at Tsinghua University in Peking, one of China’s best institutions of higher education and a member of the prestigious C9 League. The first day culminates in POSTCITY with the Festival Opening and a jam-packed lineup of music, performances and visuals. The show kicks off at 9 PM.
Friday, September 9th, 2016
The Theme Symposia are today’s highlights. Renowned artists and scientists from all over the world will deliver speeches and take part in discussions about the festival theme. The morning session, “Radical Atoms – from Vision to Practice,” (Symposium I.I) features Hiroshi Ishii and his team. After lunch, Joe Davis, Siegfried Zielinski, Verena Kuni, Fumio Nanjo and Jim Gimzewski will elaborate on “The Alchemists of our Time.” Also set for Friday is the u19 Ceremony at which this year’s winners in the Prix Ars Electronica’s category for kids and young people receive their prizes and talk about their projects. And the cyberarts competition retains the spotlight Friday evening, when the Golden Nica statuettes are bestowed on the prizewinners at the Prix Ars Electronica Gala in the Brucknerhaus. Music fans and night owls will get their fill at the Nightline in POSTCITY.
Saturday, September 10th, 2016
The Saturday schedule gets underway in POSTCITY with a Helpers’ Conference focusing on volunteers and initiatives and their committed work on behalf of refugees. Meanwhile in another part of POSTCITY, an organic farmers’ market will be running throughout the day. Festivalgoers can purchase organic foodstuffs sustainably produced right here in Upper Austria. In the afternoon, the Future Innovators Summit will convene in POSTCITY to scrutinize new strategies for brainstorming and creative prototyping. Artists, designers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and social activists will concentrate their combined knowledge and skills on specific questions and possible answers. This year’s Prix Ars Electronica prizewinners are the stars of the Prix Forums at the OK Center for Contemporary Art, where Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud will present their “Can you hear me?” project, Stacco Troncoso the P2P Foundation, and Paul Feigelfeld his “Refugee Phrasebook.” Media art history buffs are especially looking forward to the appearance of Jasia Reichardt, this year’s Visionary Pioneer of Media Art. The prominent art critic and exhibition curator made headlines worldwide with the trailblazing Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition in 1968. Saturday evening, 100,000 people will gather in Linz’s riverside Donaupark between the LENTOS Art Museum and the Brucknerhaus for the Visualisierte Klangwolke (visualized cloud of sound). “River of Knowledge” is the theme of this year’s alfresco extravaganza celebrating the 50th anniversary of Johannes Kepler University. A killer opening act starts things off: DRONE 100, a spectacular show by the world’s largest quadcopter swarm. Since late 2015, Intel™ and the Ars Electronica Futurelab are the official world-record holders in the category Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Airborne Simultaneously. Following its debut in Sydney, Australia, this will be the second public appearance of the 100-drone swarm.
Sunday, September 11th 2016
The Mini Maker Faire Linz kicks off today in POSTCTY, where makers who love experimentation present their do-it-yourself projects. As always, the Maker Faire is a hands-on proving ground to take new stuff out for a spin. The offerings will be supplemented by speeches and workshops on many interesting topics: 3-D printing, Arduino, crafting, electronics, food, hacking, handicrafts, hardware, the internet of things, music, quadcopters, Raspberry Pi & Co., robots, science & research, steampunk and wearables. Sunday night is Big Concert Night, the festival’s musical highlight. Initiated in 2002 by Dennis Russell Davies, chief conductor of Linz’s Bruckner Orchestra, it’s conceived as an encounter of classical and electronic music and computer-generated visuals. The impressive venue of this year’s extraordinary concert is the huge Train Hall in POSTCITY. In addition to the Bruckner Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, the lineup includes FM Einheit, Arotin & Serghei, AGF and Sam Auinger & Hannes Strobl.
Monday, September 12th, 2016
Music Monday has become a festival tradition. A diverse program of speeches, presentations, performances, workshops and concerts provides insights into the sound projects and installations presented over the course of the festival. This year, the newly-constructed campus of Anton Bruckner Private University and its Sonic Lab is debuting as the venue of Music Monday, which is curated by Graz-based media artist and musicologist Werner Jauk.
