Ars Electronica Festival 98
INFOWAR - information. macht. krieg.
7. - 12.9.1998
Linz, Austria

Presse - Information
7. - 12.9.98

Ars Electronica, one of the world's most highly-acclaimed festivals at the interface of art, technology and society, has been presented annually since 1979.

Over the last several years, the central focus of Ars Electronica has shifted from individual technical innovations and the latest computer technologies to the festival's on-going, intensive confrontation with the socio-cultural effects of the information society. The real results of a globalized, informed world constitute the centerpoint of the festival's activities and considerations. Commentary on these developments is not only of a technical nature, but rather primarily from a social and political perspective.

INFOWAR - information.macht.krieg
INFOWAR, the title of this year's festival, places the strategies of data-supported wars - from the Gulf Conflict to the skirmishes of cyberguerillas - into the focal point of artistic as well as theoretical and scientific interest, to thereby shed light on the internal logic of the information society in connection with war.

Numerous events, installations, network projects, performances and a symposium make up the festival's program to confront and deal with this subject.

Symposium INFOWAR
September 8 - 9, 1998 New weapons systems and military strategies will not exclusively occupy the middle point of these discussions. The aim is to elaborate on "information as a strategic weapon," the power of the media as political power, the new potential hot spots of conflict and new images of ãenemy" in an information society characterized by global economic and financial markets. But this also has to do with hacker myths, cryptography, electronic bugging operations, and the serious concerns regarding national security versus private citizens' fears of the complete loss of the right of privacy.

This symposium will deploy works of art and artistic responsibility as methods for coming to terms with these issues and achieving increased sensibility toward them.

Knowledge is Power
An old saying regards war "as the father of all things"; it can also be said that nowhere does this saying have more validity than with respect to modern information and communication technology. The development of the computer as well as of the internet have been the result of military research. What implications and consequences do the military origins of these technologies have for their civilian implementation? Which forms of war does the information society bring in its train; which conflicts and which front lines are inherent in it? Information as the decisive economic as well as cultural resource of our modern society shifts military considerations into the cross hairs of our sights. Will the global information infrastructure become the "battlefield of the future"? These questions do not concern the military field alone; rather, they also massively influence the civilian economy and civil society.

Computer-Aided Warfare
The fundamental objective of "information warfare"¬the conduct of war supported by information technology, such as the methods tested to a certain extent in a Beta-version primarily during the Gulf War in 1991¬is the "enhancement of effectiveness in battle" of conventional methods of warfare through the deployment of modern information and computer technology. Precise, remote-controlled guided missiles accurately hit selected targets; highly specialized radar systems indicate exactly and in advance the losses and gains to be expected; body sensors in the cybersuits of the soldiers themselves transmit via satellite a wounded man's survival chances to an officer safely stationed far from the field of battle; live pictures sent from spy satellites appear directly on the data glasses of a tank crew ... and ultimately, perhaps even warring robots transforming one another into piles of twisted metal, automatically, without the need for human beings...?

The War to Win the Net
In the next phase of cyberwarfare, the information structure itself is the strategic goal of warlike aggression. Destruction of an enemy's information centers and communication systems could bring about the total collapse of its armed forces. Like the saboteurs of the past, viruses could now be used to infect a foe's information infrastructure and thus completely paralyze it. Similarly, the very economic foundations of a nation would suffer devastating consequences from the precision destruction of data banks and processing centers used by government agencies as well as banks, insurance companies, telecommunications providers, etc.

The War Within the Net
The new worldwide data networks also open up a new theater of warfare: the information infrastructure itself becomes a battlefield. This vision has triggered the outbreak of a widespread and unprecedented hysteria, and provides an additional dimension to efforts to achieve state control over media. There is immense fear of anonymous hackers, cyberterrorists and network guerrillas who have become the partisans of the internet, capable of striking fear into the hearts of multinational corporations and national governments alike. Is the open and decentralized structure of the internet - developed by the US military and conceived as a way to safeguard its own channels of communication against hostile strikes - now proving to be a high-tech, network-linked state's most vulnerable point of attack, or has the myth of the internet's inscrutability and purported uncontrollability been placed into circulation - possibly even intentionally - in order to, on one hand, justify measures of control and regimentation, and to secure funding for this new defense industry on the other?

Warfare in the Next Millennium
Ars Electronica 98 also examines the future of weapons technologies and military strategies, addresses the issue of where new conflicts could potentially flare up, and raises the question of who are the perpetrators and victims-the winners and losers of these cyberwars.

What role can be assigned to the increasingly powerful monopolies in the media and the computer industry?

Should the state be permitted to exercise control over private communications, or does the individual have a legitimate right to communicate using unbreakable codes? (cryptography vs. privacy)

Is the testing of nuclear weapons by means of supercomputer simulation a violation of international agreements?

Experts will confront real and fictional scenarios, and will discuss concrete consequences. Did anyone ever really entertain the illusion that the wars of the future would not be bloody ones because they would be virtual? The shift of the potential points of conflict from the external borders of nation-states to the interior of society extending all the way to social, ethnic and religious fronts can be viewed as a central challenge of the Information Society.

Due to the complexity of the subject-going far beyond the purview of art and information technology-scientists and experts from a number of different fields have been invited to attend the Ars Electronica 98 symposium and to act as scientific advisors. The German media theoretician Prof. Friedrich A. Kittler, the Dutch network specialist Geert Lovink and the Austrian armaments expert Dr. Georg Schöfbänker, senior researcher at the PEACE Center, Burg Schlaining, will make their knowledge and expertise available, and submit their views for discussion.

Network Symposium
In contrast to programs in the past, this year's symposium in the World Wide Web will proceed in a more multilayered fashion. For the first time, the network discussion will be conducted in other languages in addition to English. A number of different individuals will act as moderator. An "Info Weapons" contest has been conceived to elicit a wide array of contributions which do not exclusively concern themselves with the theoretical, discursive level of the symposium's issues and thus expand the range of this process of confrontation. Beginning in early April, anyone - anywhere in the world - who is interested in taking part can submit his/her contributions and follow the discussion. Address contributions to: infowar@aec.at

Brucknerhaus
Along with the previous years' venues-the Ars Electronica Center, ORF, OK and Posthof¬the Brucknerhaus will be the focus of activities in conjunction with the 1998 Festival, a step in the direction of closer collaboration among the cultural institutions lining the banks of the Danube. In light of Ars Electronica's long history of cooperation with the LIVA, and the integration of the festival as a program feature during the "European Month of Culture," this year's Ars Electronica constitutes yet another milestone on the way to its establishment as one of the city's key institutions and its identification with Linz.

Service for Young Visitors
An innovative feature recently introduced for visitors to this year's Ars Electronica is the possibility of booking moderately-priced accommodations directly through the festival office. This has been conceived primarily for the benefit of younger participants, such as the great many students visiting from Eastern Europe, in order to enable them to spend the entire week of Ars Electronica in Linz.

infowar/netsymposium abrufbar. Darüber hinaus wird eine umfassende Materialsammlung aufgebaut und über Web zugänglich gemacht.

Presseinformation:

Ars Electronica Festival Hauptstraße 2 4040 Linz Austria

Maria Falkinger T: ++43.732.7272Ð16 F: ++43.732.7272Ð2 maria@aec.at

Gabriele Hofer T: ++43.732.7272Ð780 F: ++43.732.7272Ð77 gabriele@aec.at