Gamestage@Ars Electronica

And the Daemon replied, “I am Memory, and am wise in lore of the past (…)“

Remix sound collage of phase shifts and oscillations modeled after a nightly sleep cycle. During sleep, different frequencies vary in the low spectrum. Consciousness slides from the relaxed waking state down into the deepest subconscious layers (1 Hz), which remain rationally unattainable and hidden. Between light sleep phase (alpha) and deep sleep (non-rem phase 3), REM phases (theta), various non-rem phases (delta) alternate with memorization sequencies (sigma). The subconscious of sleep is alive and mobile.

Pamela Neuwirth | notton.at

In the current edition of ARS Radio we are focusing on the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Maria Pfeifer, a senior curator and a researcher at Futurelab, tells us more about this artistic-scientific think tank and a studio-lab and its role in the European Digital Art and Science Network. Additionally to tha, we will hear  also a short interview with Irish media artist Aoife van Linden Tol. She is a recipient of a residency at the European Space Agency (ESA) and Ars Electronica Futurelab. She reveals her experiences after the performance of Star Storm at the Ars Electronica Festival 2017.

Music (CC): Silence

The main idea of the Ars Electronica´s European Digital Art and Science Network is to draw a bow between micro- and macro-cosmos of science and digital arts. The catalog The Practice of Art and Science, which was published this year, is offering exactly the insights into this Network, scientific and artistic issues, and scientific research practices in which artists and scientists have been involved.
We talked about the catalog with Andreas J. Hirsch, who coedited it together with Gerfried Stocker. Andreas J. Hirsch is art curator, writer and artistic photographer.

Next to the interview, we are serving also a short audio glipse into the panel discussion “From Encounter to Collaboration – A Quantum Shift in Art & Science?” with Victoria Vesna und Jurij Krpan.
Victoria Vesna is an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci center at the School of the Arts and California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI).
Jurij Krpan is the Art Director of the Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Kapelica Gallery is a space dedicated to artists whose work does not fit into other gallery spaces of Slovenia’s capital. The Gallery is also one of seven European cultural partners in The European Digiatal Art and Science network.

Music (CC): Muddy Wires

„European Digital Art and Science Network“ is the title of launched initiative by Ars Electronica, which aims to combine scientific topics with creative and innovative approaches to digital art. Art&Science project enables to the artists to get engaged in the scientific work at ESA, ESO or CERN, which are scientific mentoring institutions, and are representing Europe’s peak in scientific research. The Ars Electronica Futurelab is providing state-of-the-art technical production possibilities in a trans disciplinary discourse. And in the end, seven European cultural partners (Center for the promotion of science, RS – DIG Gallery, SK – Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation, ES – Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova, SI – GV Art, UK – Laboral, ES – Science Gallery, IE) are representing strong and various European cultural- and artistic positions. All these institutions are consisting a big manifold called „European Digital Art and Science Network“.

In the first edition of ARS Radio we are presenting two artists-in-residence within the 2016 art&science@ESA Open Call – Irish media artist Aoife van Linden Tol with her spectacular explosive performance called Star Storm, and American kinetic artist and roboticist Sarah Petkus with her inventive project: The Wandering Artist.

Besides the Ars Electronica Futurelab, ESO and CERN, also seven European cultural partners are consisting a big manifold called „European Digital Art and Science Network“. These are: GV Art from United Kingdom, Center for the promotion of science from Serbia, Science Gallery from Ireland, Kapelica Gallery from Slovenia, DIG Gallery from Slovakia, Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation and LABoral, both from Spain. Mentioned partners are representing diverse European cultural- and artistic positions. At the network meeting at this year´s Ars Electronica Festival they gave a short descriptions of their work, and future plans within the art & science network. With some of them we recorded as well an interview.

Robert Devčić, founder and director of the GV Art, spoke in the behalf of this UK’s leading contemporary art gallery, which aims to explore and acknowledge the inter-relationship between art and science. Lale Eric Dobrivoje from the Serbian Centre for the promotion of science explained Center´s role in the European Digital Art and Science. The center is only few years old but it´s already actively engaged in bringing science community closer to a larger public, also international. Among others, we interviewed Ian Brunswick, programme manager of the Science Gallery (Dublin, Ireland). He explained the aim of the art & science network. Jurij Krpan from the Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana, Slovenia) as well shared some thoughts about art & science collaboration and its aim. Richard Kitta, artistic director of DIG Gallery from Slovakia, presented works, which are exhibited in DIG Gallery, and discussed their position in the network. Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation is an independent public-private organization, its director José Carlos Arnal described their projects at the network meeting. For the end, Lucía García Rodríguez, Managing Director of LABoral, concluded the meeting by explaining LABoral´s role, and plans for the future collaborations in the „European Digital Art and Science Network“.

Links:
www.gvart.co.uk
www.cpn.rs
dublin.sciencegallery.com
www.kapelica.org
diggallery.sk
www.fundacionzcc.org
www.laboralcentrodearte.org

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The series of five art & science radio broadcasts are supported by Ars Electronica, and produced with the intention to follow the European Digital Art and Science Network.

Microphone: Sarah Praschak and Jerneja Zavec

In the 4th art & science radio broadcast you  will hear parts of the symposium „Future Mobility – A Challenge for Art and Science“, which took place during the Ars Electronica Festival 2015.

How will the City of the future look like and how should our living enviroments develop? One thing at least is clear: Mobility will be one of the major issues in this regard. For one thing different types of mobility, and on the other hand also movement itself. ‚Cause in the end mobility is nothing more or less then movement. In the Symposium „future mobility, a challenge for art & science“ during the ars electronica festival on Friday, the 4th September, the questions went from „how will the car of the future look like?“ to „how do we get people to move back to the villages“ or „how should the post refugee city look like“?

There are so many directions of research, concerning the individual and the public mobility and the question, how they should be organized in the future.

You’ll hear parts of the symposium in this radioshow, the speakers were:

Alexander Mankowsky (DE, Mercedes/ futurologist)

Marina Mara (AT, Ars Electronica Future Lab/ ropopsychology)

Shunji Yamanaka (JP, technical designer and professor in the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies/ University of Tokyo) & Takayuki Furuta (JP, leader of the robot development program of Japan Science and Technology Agency)

Hiroshi Ishii (JP/US, MIT Media Lab)

Ou Ning (CN, artist/ He lives in the village of Bishan, where he founded the Bishan commune in the year in 2011, which works as an intellectual circle for the revival of the rural areas in China)

Killian Kleinschmidt (DE, formerly Camp Manager UNHCR)

Microphone & Creator: Sarah Praschak

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is next to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) second scientific mentoring institutions in the European Digital Art and Science Network. CERN is European research organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. At CERN is also place for art, namely the programme Arts@CERN, whose flagship programme is Collide@CERN Artists Residency Award. The artist duo Semiconductor is a recipient of the latter. The English artist duo consisting of Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerdhardt started the residency just in the beginning of October 2015. This one will last for two months at CERN, and later on they will spend a month at the Ars Electronica Futurelab. We have talked to Joe Gerdhardt after his lecture at Ars Electronica Festival 2015. It was premature to discuss the residency, so he shared some words about Semiconductor´s previous works and projects with us.

With what exactly did the English artist duo convince the jury, explained the Director of Arts@CERN Mónica Bello, one of the members of the Collide@CERN Ars Electronica jury. She also held a lecture about the CERN´s engagement with the art in the Prix Forum titled Art & Science Round Table at this year´s Ars Electronica Festival. Contributing guest and her colleague from CERN, Michael Doser, discussed the collaborations of art and science, a chaos and a mess in the research process, and why organisations as CERN should look for a crazy and visionary projects with a high likelihood of failing.

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The series of five art & science radio broadcasts are supported by Ars Electronica, and produced with the intention to follow the European Digital Art and Science Network.

Microphone: Sarah Praschak and Jerneja Zavec

The basis of the European Digital Art and Science Network is a big manifold network consisting of two scientific mentoring institutions (CERN and ESO), the Ars Electronica Futurelab, and seven European cultural partners.

European Southern Observatory (ESO), one of the two scientific institutions in the network, is intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. With the headquarters in Germany, it operates three observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor.

María Ignacia Edwards, an artist from Santiago – Chile, was awarded with the residency exactly at the ESO in Chile, where she came up with the idea about “Mobile Instrument”. The second part of her residency she spent at the Ars Electronica Futurelab in Austria, where the mentioned work was exhibited. We interviewed Maria Ignacia Edwards at the Ars Electronica Festival 2015, after she gave a lecture about her experiences at the ESO observatories La Silla and ALMA, and at the Ars Electronica Futurelab. We talked about her recent and current works, her experiences in art & science, and how she sees the interaction between those two.

Maria Ignacia Edwards worked at the ESO close to Fernando Comerón, he is namely the ESO’s Representative in Chile. He took part in the Prix Forum titled Art & Science Round Table as well within this year´s festival. Fernando Comerón introduced ESO and its work, and explained why astronomy has a privileged position.

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The series of five art & science radio broadcasts are supported by Ars Electronica, and produced with the intention to follow the European Digital Art and Science Network.

Microphone: Sarah Praschak and Jerneja Zavec

art & science project enables to the artists to get engaged in the scientific work at ESO or CERN, which are two scientific mentoring institutions, and are representing Europe’s peak in scientific research. The Ars Electronica Futurelab is providing state-of-the-art technical production possibilities in a trans disciplinary discourse. And in the end, seven European cultural partners (Center for the promotion of science, RS – DIG Gallery, SK – Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation, ES – Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova, SI – GV Art, UK – Laboral, ES – Science Gallery, IE) are representing strong and various European cultural- and artistic positions. All these institutions are consisting a big manifold called „European Digital Art and Science Network“.

Gerfried Stocker, the artistic director of Ars Electronica, introduced latter network at the Ars Electronica press conference. As well as on the guided press tour through the „Elements of Art and Sciences“ exhibition in Ars Electronica Center.

Some of the present artists, whose work are still exhibited in AEC, explained the main idea behind these. One of them was María Ignacia Edwards, an artist from Santiago (Chile), who was awarded with the residency at European Southern Observatory (ESO). She presented her work “Mobile Instrument”. Nick Ervinck, as he stated, is promoting new architecture with his work „Viunap“, a 3D print of one absurd building initially presented as 2D wallpaper. And Kepler´s Dream, a work by Ann-Katrin Krenz and Michael Burk, is an aesthetical investigation, which exploring projection technologies and 3D printed computationally created content, emphasized Michael Burk.

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The series of five art & science radio broadcasts are supported by Ars Electronica, and produced with the intention to follow the European Digital Art and Science Network.

Microphone: Sarah Praschak and Jerneja Zavec

• Claudia Schmölders über das Archivieren von Stimmen
• Sowie kritische Anmerkungen an das technikverliebte ARS-Festival

In der dritten Session widmet sich das Symposium der Kultur- und Technologiegeschichte von Aufzeichnungs- und Erinnerungsapparaten. Die Kulturwissenschaftlerin Claudia Schmölders berichtet von ihrer eindrucksvollen Untersuchung des Vorkommens, bzw. Fehlens der weiblichen Stimme in den historischen Tonarchiven. Der Medienphilosoph Frank Hartmann führt uns zurück in die Frühgeschichte der Informationsgesellschaft, zum fantastische Lebenswerk von Paul Otlet dessen Prototyp einer universellen Bibliothek oft auch als das erste Internet bezeichnet wird. Michael Buckland, Professor Emeritus der UC Berkeley, bringt uns mit Emanuel Goldberg einen weiteren faszinierenden Pionier der modernen Informationsverarbeitung in Erinnerung. Und Hiroshi Ishiguro, der Star unter den japanischen Roboterforschern, katapultiert uns zurück in die Gegenwart, in der er mit seinen Robotern und Androiden die Erinnerung an einen außergewöhnlichen japanischen Schauspieler für die Zukunft erhalten will.

Zur Kritik am Ars Electronica Festival

Panel 1 und 2 des gleichnamigen Symposiums „Total Recall – the Evolution of Memory“ kam mit naturwissenschaftlichen Beiträgen aus der Hirnforschung, der Biologie und Genforschung aus. Nur im dritten und letzten Teil finden sich auch Vertreter_innen aus den Geisteswissenschaften.

Armin Medosch hat dies auch wunderbar in einem Artikel der aktuellen (September) Versorgerin: „Von Total Recall zur digitalen Demenz – Ars Electronica 2013“ formuliert. „Teil der ungebrochenen Tradition der Ars Electronica ist es, naturwissenschaftlichen Begriffe auf kulturelle und gesellschaftliche Felder zu übertragen.“  Sehr einfach formuliert werden also mit Naturwissenschaften wie Gentechnik oder Biologie kulturelle Phänomene erklärt.

Panel 3 beschäftigt sich also mit der Kultur- und Technologiegeschichte von Aufzeichnungs- und Erinnerungsapparaten und ein bisschen bleibt die Vermutung haften das es vergessen wurde zu fragen wer den diese Maschinen erfunden hat, wer sie bedient und vor allem welche Normierungen bereits in die Entwicklung mit eingeschrieben wurden. Und zur Biologie selbst diese „reale, objektive“ Biologie wurde von Menschen und nur von Menschen „normalisierend“ definiert.

Abweichungen vom Design sind ein Fehler im System?, der behoben werden muss? Im Computerzeitalter wird de-bugged. (Doch selbst da ist seit Microsoft allen klar das „bugs“ einfach zum Programm gehören). Der/die Kammerjäger_in kommt? Was wenn sich Menschen nicht an ihr „natürliches Design/Programm“ halten? In Linz ist das schon auch ein eher prekärer Gedanke.

Herausgegriffen deshalb der Beitrag von Dr.in Claudia Schmölders über die Archivierung der Sprechstimme, genauer gesagt der weiblichen Sprechstimme. Sie erklärt sehr gut die Zusammenhänge warum weibliche Stimmen so wenig von Aufzeichnungs- und Erinnerungsapparaten aufgezeichnet wurden…

Moderation /Redaktion: Roswitha Kröll