Once a year, Linz is the centre of computer culture. The Ars Electronica Festival, established in 1979 to provide an open meeting-place for artists, scientists and researchers, has since developed into a world-famous forum for the arts, technolgy and society. The 96 Festival was of particular significance, marking the inauguration of a new phase of the Ars Electronica project: Until then Ars Electronica has appeared as an annual highlight, concentrated into a few days duration, in the international calendar of events. The opening of the Ars Electronica Center in September 1996, not only marked an increase of activities, but equally an expansion in chronogical terms. In the form of the Center, Ars Electronica has now a permanent presence in the international context. Ars Electronica is organized by the Ars Electronica Center and the Austrian Broadcast Corporation (ORF), Upper Austria Regional Studio. Since its inception in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has been awarded annually by the ORF's Upper Austria Regional Studio within the framework of the Ars Electronica Festival. It is one of the most important prizes for the application of creativity and pioneering spirit in the field of digital media.

On the threshold of the year 2000, Ars Electronica - in accordance with our conception of our mission - will focus on the future. Ars Electronica 99 - entitled LifeScience - turns attention to the key technologies of the coming decades. Based upon the achievements of digital information technology, biotechnology and genetic engineering are bringing forth a new definition of our future. Life science, a term denoting a wide range of areas in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering and connoting a "science of life," very clearly expresses fundamental associations with cultural and philosophical questions and issues.

LifeScience Symposium September 5-6, 1999, Brucknerhaus Linz

Information technology - long the leading-edge technology which has pointed the way to the future - has become the decisive tool with which biology can forge ahead into truly new realms. In particular, it is genetic engineering - outfitted with the achievements of the Computer Age - in which new possibilities are opening up that deliver forceful thrusts against the limitations and taboos of our culture. Today, no other branch of science approaches it as a bearer of hope for the future and simultaneously as a center of controversy. The LifeScience Symposium turns attention to the new potential for dispute and the emerging zones of conflict at the interface of technology and society, focusing on the current scenarios of science and business revolving around the gene.

20 Years of Ars Electronica Symposium: September 4 and 9, 1999

Continually since 1979, Ars Electronica has been reflecting and analyzing the process of sociocultural transformation triggered by digital technologies. Ars Electronica's 20th anniversary is an appropriate occasion to carry out an archeological examination of the artistic and technical development of digital media, following two decades that have witnessed the emergence of a global Information Society that has long since become the determinative circumstance of our culture. The analytical recapitulation of this developmental process constitutes a focus of Ars Electronica 99. In connection with this anniversary, The MIT Press of Cambridge, MA is bringing out "Ars Electronica: Facing the Future. A Survey of Two Decades." Editor Tim Druckrey has selected 73 original texts that will now be republished in this volume-a compendium that impressively brings together in one work the past 20 years of Ars Electronica. This publication focuses on three main areas-history, theory and practice-which offer an opportunity to examine the wide-ranging activities and multifaceted creativity connected with the oldest and most renowned festival of art, technology and society. "Facing the Future" will be available in bookstores and at Ars Electronica beginning September 4.

April 20 is the starting date for the LifeScience net symposium that is being held as part of the preliminary activities leading up to the Festival symposium. As a platform supporting a global exchange of views and as a means to prepare and more precisely formulate opinions on the respective issues, this form of moderated network discussion has proved its worth in prior years. The moderator of this year's net symposium is Prof. Birgit Richard, a scholar in the field of media studies and art history in Frankfurt. The Ars Electronica 99 Advisory Board also includes Prof. Eduardo Kac (US), Dr. Georg Schöfbänker (Austria), and Ingrid Fischer, M.A. (Austria). Contributions to the discussion can be submitted in both German and English to: lifescience@aec.at On the festivalpage (http://www.aec.at/lifescience) you can also find an on-line magazine which has been designed by Oliver Frommel (Germany). This site is meant to accompany the LifeScience net symposium during the months prior to the actual Ars Electronica event in September and beyond. We will present material that is essential to the ongoing discussion. There are three major areas we found to be important in connection with LifeScience: technology, society and art. This won't be a scientific biological magazine; however, it is meant to be a serious forum for discussion about different aspects of LifeScience. The archive of the mailing list in plain format can be found on these pages too. Furthermore, we will integrate the best submissions to the mailing list into one of the areas of the magazine. We hope to provide a basis for wide-ranging discussions about Life Science as a key technology of tomorrow that concerns all of us.

Next update: May 29th 1999 Content: Prix Ars Electronica 99

The next announcement update will appear on May 29. It will focus on the winners of the Prix Ars Electronica 99. Conducted for the 13th time this year by the ORF's Upper Austria Regional Studio, the Prix Ars Electronica is the most highly regarded competition for digital media in the world. April 25 is the deadline for submissions to the categories of Digital Musics, Computer Animation/Visual Effects, Interactive Art and .net. More details as well as the official submission form are available at http://prixars.orf.at.

Ars Electronica 99:
Organization: Ars Electronica Center Linz und ORF - Upper Austrian Regional Studio
Co-organizers: Brucknerhaus Linz, O.K - Center for Contemporary Art
Sponsors & partners:
Creditanstalt, Digital/Compaq, Gericom, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Oesterreichische Brauunion, Oracle, Quelle, SGI, Siemens AG, Telekom Austria AG, Novartis.