I'm back... Ars Electronica- what it was like!

Wednesday 9th September 2009

Blog Category: Ars Electronica

So I'm back from Linz and had an amazing time!

The group of 15 artists and programmers met in Leeds on Friday morning and travelled to Austria together. They were a fab bunch of people and over the coming days I got to know them and the work they make.

Linz itself is beautiful. Its very flat and so loads of people cycle everywhere. There are some really big arts buildings next to the Danube river which light up in the evening and look very pretty! The Ars Electronica Center is one of these- its a big new building that is designed for light shows and projections- the façade is glass panels and 40,000 LEDs are inbuilt.

The festival programme was massive and we we're all really 'full up' on arts (and austrian dumplings) by the end of the trip!

Some highlights for me were:

Meeting a 'Geminoid' a robot based exactly on a real person. It was really quite strange talking and making eye contact with something so real and unreal at the same time.

Cycling round the city at night on a bike being given instructions on Sat Nav to find other peoples hidden stories in a show by Blast Theory.

Kazuhiko Hachiya's beautiful and romantic use of technology.

Paul DeMarinis, ‘Rain Dance’- you put an umbrella under artificial rain and it plays you a tune.

Back at 'The Gap' we're planning our next phase of work and getting ready to rock for our actors and students who will be back in a few weeks time (its quiet without you guys)!

Over and out,

Rio x

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