I am a big fan of Ars Electronica. I’ve spoken there several times and have had the privilege of participating in their jury process. This year’s theme is “Seamless surveillance panopticon - or freedom of expression? This year’s Ars Electronica Festival delves into what the public and private spheres have come to mean and the interrelationship that now exists between them.”

This year’s festival is “going public” too before the backdrop of our (involuntary) digital transparency and the (voluntary) relinquishment of our privacy. “We are very intentionally running this “public sphere risk” because this step—going public, going into the public realm—is the only logical and consistent way to approach GOODBYE PRIVACY,” said Ars Electronica Artistic Director Gerfried Stocker. In going about this, urban spaces and infrastructure serve not only as a stage but also as a medium that blends with artistic interventions and, in turn, becomes a message. The epicenter of this “infiltration” is Marienstraße, a street that seems to be a dead zone in the middle of downtown Linz. The prevalence of vacant retail spaces here strongly evokes the atmosphere of a stage set and makes pedestrians feel like they’re walking past the artificial buildings of a virtual city. Ars Electronica will put these premises to use and transform Marienstraße into Second City, into the portal between reality and artificiality. What will be staged here during the week of September 5-11 is not some sort of urban renewal program; rather, this initiative has a strictly transient, virtual character. It is real artificiality and, conversely, artificial reality. The festival’s traditional propagation is thus endowed with a new quality—not just out into the city but throughout the cityscape.

I am a big fan of Ars Electronica. I’ve spoken there several times and have had the privilege of participating in their jury process. This year’s theme is “Seamless surveillance panopticon - or freedom of expression? This year’s Ars Electronica Festival delves into what the public and private spheres have come to mean and the [...]