Ars Electronica explores humanity between AI and art history

The Ars Electronica festival brings art, technology and society together under the theme “Negotiating Humanity,” asking what it means to be human in a world rapidly changing through artificial intelligence and new technologies, ORF reports.

The award-winning projects are the focus at the Lentos art museum. The works show how artists are responding to major social, ecological and technological changes, often raising questions without simple answers.

German artist Agnes Meyer-Brandis received the Grand Prize for Innovative Collaboration for her project “Office for Tree Migration”. The interdisciplinary art and research project examines the migration of trees and plants through different climate zones. Technology is treated not only as a tool but also as a subject of artistic exploration.

Young artists take the stage

The festival is also showcasing a new generation of artists. At the campus exhibition at the University of Art and Design Linz, students and young artists from different countries present installations, digital experiments and interactive projects. The exhibition turns the university into a place for exchange and encounters, while highlighting different perspectives on the present.

Visitors become part of the artwork

The relationship between people and technology is at the centre of “Hello Worlds!” at the Ars Electronica Center. The new exhibition invites visitors not only to look at art but also to interact with it, with artificial intelligence serving as a counterpart.

The project “Corpus Corax” uses generative AI and data from the Konrad Lorenz Research Center at the University of Vienna to explore bird behaviour. An experimental system attempts to translate the calls of ravens in real time. Visitors can observe how digital systems respond to people and consider how technology changes the way they see themselves.

Hieronymus Bosch in a new dimension

At the Deep Space 8K, works by Hieronymus Bosch are presented in giant gigapixel resolution. The level of detail allows visitors to immerse themselves in the paintings and discover details that would be difficult to see in a conventional viewing. The presentation brings together the art of a master of the 15th and 16th centuries with modern digital imaging technology.

Across the award-winning works at the Lentos, the projects by young artists at the University of Art and Design, “Hello Worlds!” and the digital Bosch images, Ars Electronica examines what it means to be human amid the profound changes of the 21st century. The festival also explores how art can make the present visible and help people think about the future.

Ars Electronica Center marks 30 years

The Ars Electronica Center, described as the “Museum of the Future”, opened on September 2, 1996, and is marking its 30th anniversary this year. A large celebration is scheduled for September 8, one day before the festival begins, with a robot parade and the cutting of an anniversary cake among the planned events.

The centre was initiated by Hannes Leopoldseder, an Austrian journalist, broadcasting pioneer and then regional director of ORF Upper Austria. As a co-founder of the Ars Electronica festival and creator of the Prix Ars Electronica, he commissioned the project study in 1992 that ultimately led to the centre’s opening in Linz in 1996.

The Ars Electronica Center now houses interactive exhibitions, testing rooms, a media archive and the Futurelab development laboratory across 6,500 square metres. More than 200 people work there.