Ars Electronica Festival 2013
*IL(L) Machine* – Ars Campus Israel
Linz Art University / September 5-9
(Linz, August 12, 2013) A Campus exhibition highlights the Ars Electronica Festival program once again this year. The innovative tweak for 2013: the spotlight won’t be on a single college but rather on the art school network of a whole country. “IL(L) Machine – Ars Campus Israel” presents works by undergrads at Israel’s 10 leading academic institutions including schools in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ramat Gan: Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Hamidrasha Art School of Beit Ber College, Holon Institute of Technology, Kibbutzim College of Art & Education, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, the Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya, Musrara School, the Neri Bloomfield School of Design and Education, Hadassah Academic College, and Technion – The Israel Institute of Technology. The show is initiated and directed by Lila Chitayat and curated by Yael Eylat Van-Essen.
*IL(L) Machine*
The exhibition’s theme is technology and how it increasingly pervades everyday life. The point of departure of these artistic reflections is the fact that new technologies have long since become mediators between us and our surroundings. We use technologies to communicate with the world and to experience it; they are omnipresent and indispensible. At the same time, though, we’re increasingly troubled by the actual or purported impact this incessant use of technology is having on our emotional makeup, our interpersonal relations, and the construction of our identities. *IL(L) Machine* considers this from two perspectives.
The Power of Algorithms
On one hand, technology is an instrument and tool that offers us a chance to consider the world and ourselves in completely new ways and, in doing so, make groundbreaking realizations and even create new views of the world and of humankind. Technology enables us to gain insights into psychological, social and political phenomena that cast a new light on the reality of both the past and the present, and make it possible to decode our world anew.
The Reality of Machines
The second approach brings out the fact that machines aren’t just helpful appliances; they also considerably determine our cultural and social reality. As such, they can trigger the formation of new relationships of power and structures of control in newly emerging spatial and temporal dimensions.
A Vibrant Young Art Scene with a Local and a Global Focus
Plus, *IL(L) Machine* is showcasing a new generation of artists who are critically scrutinizing our—and their own—relationships to technology. Particularly in Israel, a country essentially characterized by dynamic, innovative high-tech industries, by an identity burdened with much historical baggage and by ongoing political conflicts, an encounter of this sort evokes a wide array of perspectives. This exhibition also reflects the current conflict in Israeli art, which has to address very complex local themes while simultaneously endeavoring to take part in the global discourse.
Total Recall – The Evolution of Memory
This year’s Ars Electronica Festival is set for September 5-9 in Linz. The 2013 theme is TOTAL RECALL – The Evolution of Memory. The festival program includes, as always, a diversified lineup of symposia, exhibitions, performances, interventions and concerts. Details will be posted over the coming weeks to https://ars.electronica.art/totalrecall/en/. Plus, thought-provoking background info and interviews with participating artists and scientists will be made available on the festival blog at https://ars.electronica.art/aeblog/en/.
press release: Ars Electronica Festival 2013: *IL(L) Machine* – Ars Campus Israel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/9263071444/
Western meditations / Ron Erlih / Bezalel Academy of Art and Design / Printversion / Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/9265590075/
Ayooni / Dor Zlekha Levy / Midrasha School of Art / Printversion Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/9268364622/
“The House of the Un-happy” Lila Chitayat, Alon Chitayat, Shalom Amira HIT- Holon Institute of Technology, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design / Printversion / Album
