The XBlade Allstarts get Radical is one of the world’s fastest drone racing teams. During the festival, they’ll transform the Train Hall of the POSTCITY into an aerial racing arena. This futuristic spatial spectacle featuring flying objects traveling at up to 140 km/h blows away the boundary between speed sport and artistic performance. At Ars Electronica Opening and at the Big Concert Night, the drones will also play an imposing role.

FRI September 9, 2016

SAT September 10, 2016

SUN September 11, 2016

The Spaxels: From Pilot Project in Linz to World Record with Intel

Since the summer of 2012, an Ars Electronica Futurelab crew has been working on how to put aloft a large group of LED-studded quadcopters that autonomously execute preprogrammed formations. All of the many experts who were initially invited to collaborate on this project took a pass: an undertaking of these dimensions—and one to be implemented outdoors, no less—was said to be impossible to pull off in the allotted timeframe. Nevertheless, the Futurelab staffers were bound and determined, and their perseverance paid off. In September 2012 at the Linzer Klangwolke, a multimedia extravaganza spanning the Danube, a group of 50 illuminated drones ascended and formed a huge eye in the night sky. This one-of-a-kind performance created a worldwide sensation, and it wasn’t long before the first prominent client came calling. In conjunction with the promotional campaign preceding the premiere of “Star Trek – Into Darkness,” Paramount booked the Linz-based drone swarm to perform its aerial artistry immediately adjacent to London’s high-profile landmark, the Tower Bridge. By this point at the very latest, the Spaxels Project had taken off. There followed airborne performances in Bergen, Norway (International Bergen Festival, 2013), Ljubljana, Slovenia (Ljubljana Festival, 2013), Brisbane, Australia (QUT Robotronica Event 2013), Umea, Sweden (official opening celebration of the 2014 European Capital of Culture), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (official opening celebration of the 2014 Islamic Capital of Culture), Hannover (official celebration of the 25th anniversary of German unification, 2014), Dubai (The UAE’s National Day festivities in 2014) and Linz (2015 Eurovision Song Contest). These commercial appearances made it possible to finance the ongoing enhancement and tweaking of the spaxels. Then, in autumn 2014, the Ars Electronica Futurelab received mail from Intel for something they called Drone 100. And the rest is history.