Day 5: The 2018 Ars Electronica Festival comes to an end

We've seen media art, marveled at performances, listened to lectures, talked to artists, programmed, crafted, hacked, danced and learned a lot - but even the biggest media art festival has to come to an end at some point. The best impressions of the fifth and last day can be found here.

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Five days full of a very comprehensive program, five days of exhibitions, performances, lectures, workshops and much more, five days of state of exception in the city of Linz – that’s five days at the 2018 Ars Electronica Festival. The last day of the festival was in no way inferior to the previous four – find out more in the best festival impressions from the last day here.

Feedback Cycles for Oscillographs / Guillaume Arsenault (CA) (Credit: vog.photo)

As is tradition, the last day of the Ars Electronica Festival was focused on music: On Music Monday, visitors could enjoy a variety of events centered on Sound Art.

Sonic Experiments: Showcase #3, 4×4 / Lukas Jakob Löcker (AT), Michael Mayr (AT) (Credit: vog.photo)

The beginning of the musical focus took place at the Anton Bruckner Private University above the rooftops of Linz, later the music lovers and sound fans went to several festival locations throughout the city…

in the rain / Yuki Anai (JP), Hideaki Takahashi (JP) (Credit: tom mesic)

…until, finally, they landed back at POSTCITY Linz.

Himatsubushi Trail – The Art of Time-Killing / Himatsubushi Research Team (JP) (Credit: vog.photo)

You could not only enjoy great views at the Anton Bruckner Private University – the Himatsubushi Café also offered vistas reaching as far as the Alps.

Break Time Experience, Break Experience 2: The Book / Yihyun Lim (US), Kacper Pietrzykowski (PL), Andrea Piccolo (IT), Patrik Dolo (IT), Stella Kim (US), Minh Dinh (VN) (Credit: vog.photo)

At the Himatsubushi Lab and Trail, everything revolved around time: The Japanese words Hima, free or empty time, and Tsubushi, to crush or kill something gently, served as inspiration for a philosophical examination of the topic.

Swarm Arena / NTT (JP), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT) (Credit: vog.photo)

While the presentation of Swarm Arena at the Open Futurelab had attracted many curious visitors during the past festival days,…

Swarm Arena / NTT (JP), Ars Electronica Futurelab (AT) (Credit: tom mesic)

…the team used the opportunity on the last day to give a little insight into the rest of their research and development.

Expanding Bodies in Expanded Realities / Julio Escudero (AR) (Credit: tom mesic)

The Fashion & Technology study program of Linz University of the Arts also presented its own works at the festival – the first graduate projects of the bachelor students.

EMO / Ping-Chieh Hsieh (TW), Jung-Tu (TW), Wimonwan Wichaikhamjorn (TH) (Credit: vog.photo)

Universities and students from all around the world could present their works and talk to each other at the big Campus Exhibition. Like for example EMO, which is a wearable that interrogates subconscious perception and conscious awareness.

The 4D Box – a holographic live stage / The Culture Yard (DK), Very Mainstream Studio & Very Theatre (TW), Noora Hannula & The Nordic Beasts (DK/FI), Carl Emil Carlsen (DK), Bjørn Svin (DK) (Credit: tom mesic)

Not only POSTCITY Linz was busy during the fifth festival day, but also the LENTOS Museum for Contemporary Art was open – here, the 4D Box was shown, a holographic stage for live performances.

„SAY_SUPERSTRINGS“ / dastrio (KR/DE), OUCHHH (TR) (Credit: vog.photo)

Speaking of live performances: Visitors to the Ars Electronica Center were once again invited to listen to the sound of dastrio and enjoy live visualizations by OUCHHH at Deep Space 8K .

Mishima / Maki Namekawa (JP) (Credit: tom mesic)

In the evening, Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies transformed the old train hall at POSTCITY into a top-class concert location for one last time.

Maki Namekawa (JP) and Dennis Russell Davies (US) (Credit: tom mesic)

At Piano Music Meets Digital Images, piano music played by up to four hands filled the room, while visualizations and light by Andreas Bitesnich and Cori O’Lan accompanied the music. A spectacular finale to a spectacular festival!

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