Central Europe: September 11 1998

Ars Electronica @ Linz

The Ars Electronica festival is a long running (dates back to the 70's) art exposition which focuses on the mixture of electronics and art. The theme for 1998's festival was "InfoWar" which ostensibly meant it would investigate modern information warfare through an artists sensibilities. Many of the works didn't really seem to fit the theme very well to me however.

I'll try to describe a few of my favorites here (note: not the proper titles):

• The Music & Dance Wall: This was an 4 by ~10 array of wooden crates, assembled into a wall by connecting the crates vertically and horizontally to each other through thick metal spring coils. I would estimate that it was about 8 feet tall and about 40 feet wide. The crates contained computer controlled oscillating motors which would set them bouncing up and down and left and right along the springs. The motions of the crates and springs created a surprisingly soothing mechanical percussive sound.
  
  The crates contained different objects which would give them distinctive musical qualities. The computer could set one crate in motion and it would affect its neighbors, but then the computer could also initiate counter-actions or complementary actions in the neighboring crates. A musical piece was thus orchestrated and it was fascinating to follow it both visually and aurally. The action would flow from one far end of the wall to the other, and competing musical threads would dance apart, feint towards each other and then ultimately merge or one would destroy the other. I could have sat in front of this wall all day!
• The Security Wall: This one was not so artistic to me, but it was great fun. A solid wall was set up with barbed-wire and video cameras posted along the top of it. Video monitors were set into the wall displaying the view of the video cameras. The cameras would lock in on the heads of people walking in front of the wall and follow them, keeping the head centered in the video display. Once a lock was made on a viewer's head, the monitor would display military-style targetting graphical overlays and then simulate a gun burst through audible and graphical cues. It was a hoot trying to dodge back and forth to shake the cameras and hearing the constatnt rat-a-tat-tat of fake gunfire. It was nearly impossible to shake loose the video lock once it grabbed you.
• Suspense Machine: Another participatory work (but not really interactive) was a setup consisting of a 12 foot tall structure which suspended a rather heavy looking large video monitor so that the screen faced the floor. The idea was for you to lie on the floor looking up at the video screen which would be hauled up and allowed to free fall towards your face until it was stopped by some rubber bands which would let it bounce up and down for awhile. It was actually less interesting than it sounds. The audio/video was your typical art-school crap. I really only mention it here because I thought they could have improved it by making the video an image of the particpant lying underneath the contraption. Just let them watch it bouncing up and down for a bit, but then using some image manipulation tricks make it seem that the structure was breaking apart and the monitor was crashing down. Accompany this with some audible effects and new mechanical motions from the structure. Maybe it's just me, but that would have been more entertaining and I think it would have even fit the InfoWar theme better.

There were many other exhibits at the festival. It covered two buildings and also included an outdoor exhibit area. I hope to return for future festivals since Eva said this one was not one of the better ones.

We spent most of the day at the festival; that night there was a big outdoors event down by the river which was open to the whole city but sponsored by Ars Electronica. It was an audio/visual experience sort of thing with music piped in over loudspeakers and a laser show projected over the Danube river onto humungous screens. It was in 3-D too! Everyone was given polarized 3-D glasses. There were thousands of people there. It was so crowded that Eva and I lost each other for a bit on the way to the river. We started to get on a streetcar but then she stopped for some reason. I was already on and didn't realize that she wasn't with me until the train was moving. She had gotten on a different car though and found me in the crowded train before we got to the river. Eva said these events are very popular and the whole city will turn out and it sure seemed like it. The show was pretty good, but it was so crowded we had problems seeing, especially little Eva but I pulled an empty beer keg over for her to stand on. After it was over we took the streetcar back to the hotel and fell asleep promptly.