Approaching media art that revitalized an Austrian city once in decline.
Linz is Austria’s third-largest city after Vienna and Graz. The city has a humble area of 96km2 and a small population of 200 thousand, but the streets of Linz become packed with passersby every September. Media art and performances using cutting-edge technology can be viewed not only at local museums, but also schools, hotels, churches, shopping malls, and any other venue around. Behind the surge of energy that attracts 85 thousand tourists is the Ars Electronica Festival, a thrilling affair that has been held every year since 1979, and the world’s largest media art festival.
The Ars Electronica institute began with the eponymous festival, and now, with its own museum and laboratory, it is one of the biggest names in the field of media art. Their Artistic Director, Gerfried Stocker, will be traveling to Japan to be a keynote speaker at ICF 2016.
Linz is situated 150km west of Vienna along the banks of the Danube River. The forefront industrial city had its first age of prosperity with the post-industrial revolution textile industry, and later the steel industry. Rising concerns about air and environment pollution led to the steel and chemical industries seeing a depression that would hamper Linz’s vitality between 1970 and 1980. Unemployment rates grew steadily, turning the once thriving city into a gray and hollow shell of its former self.
Standing out amongst a number of attempts over the decade to brighten the spirit of the people and breathe new life into the city was the idea to develop Linz’s cultural level. Linz’s belief was that culture was one of the keys in revamping a modern industrial city into one with its eyes set on the future. Soon after, Ars Electronica began their operation.
After launching in 1979 with the Ars Electronica Festival, the institute followed up in 1989 with the Prix Ars Electronica, an international competition the likes of which the world had yet to experience. They continued to expand their influence in the industry over the years with the Ars Electronic Center museum and Futurelab research center, both opening in 1996. Today, Ars Electronic has grown to be the most distinguished figure in the media arts scene. Influential artists from Japan have participated in festival and competition alike, such as Daito Manabe of Rhizomatiks, animation artist Daisuke Tsutsumi, and media artist Yoichi Ochiai, who were awarded the prize in 2016. Amongst the list of past Japanese award winners and attendees include names such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Toshio Iwai, Sputniko!, Masaki Fujihata, Ryoiji Ikeda, Yasunao Tone, Astro Twin / Cosmos, Masahiro Miwa, Exonemo, Ryoichi Kurokawa, and many more.
Stocker: the man behind the wheel at Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica focused on unique pieces of art and the artists accompanying them that made use of technology during a time where computers were not yet commonplace and the very term “media art” was foreign to most people. Their 35-year long all-encompassing venture has been an immense accomplishment, bringing up the number of events held across the city to over 400. Today, it is impossible to talk about media art without also mentioning Ars Electronic and Linz.
The institute also plays their hand at fostering possibility with Futurelab. This think tank brings together companies of all sizes with various educational institutions and official bodies for industrial development and research. One such example is the 2015 virtual driving simulator monitor Virtual Engineering Terminal (VET) that Futurelab developed together with AUDI in 2015. VET boasted a level of quality that far surpassed similar simulations, and met critical acclaim at motor shows in Las Vegas and Shanghai. This is thanks to their use of cutting edge technology combined with an intuitive interface to provide ease of access for all userbases. Futurelab is a pioneer in using art and technology for the betterment of society.
Linz, restored to its former glory, was designated as the European Capital of Culture in 2009 and entered into UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in 2014, further enhancing the city’s global recognition. By also lowering unemployment rates, Linz has evolved from its previous status as a mere conventional industrial city, and it owes this growth to Ars Electronica.
Stocker, a media artist himself, was born in 1964. He founded x-space in 1991, and produced numerous pieces of installation art and performances that incorporated interaction and robotics. After taking up his post as Artistic Director at Ars Electronica in 1995, Stocker has feverishly spearheaded his teams towards success, and these efforts led to the creation of both Ars Electronica Center and Futurelab.
What vision does Stocker have of the future of art, people, the city, and the relationship between them? Many of us highly anticipate his speech at ICF 2016.
The world’s cities are energized by art
Many other cities across the globe have also turned to the arts as their ticket to rise to prominence.
Bristol, a west England city, has a long history as a trading port. The city is like an English Silicon Valley, known for the locality’s unique nature. Many famous artists were born here, such as Rob Smith of Massive Attack, and the world-famous artist with a secret identity, Banksy.
Bristol’s liveliness in recent years is owed to the founding of Watershed Media Centre in 1982. The venue, housing movie theater, café, and more, has worked hand in hand on projects with over 100 artists, scientists and engineers to lay down a variety networks.
Watershed was brought into the spotlight in 2002 together with their Playable City project. The innovation platform’s vision is to transform cities into a futuristic place for non-typical exchange by using play as a medium, promoting powerful relationships between person and person, and person and city. Its main concept involves a creative approach where things found around cities are used to create entertaining works for their residents. The project was a smash hit - in the initial year, over 200 applicants worldwide tried their hand at winning the Playable City Award. Art surfaces within the city and connects people with each other. The Playable City project has the potential to aid in developing any of the world’s cities. For all we know, Bristol could be the origin of a revolution that will take the world by storm.
Much like how La Machine took an abandoned shipyard in the declining French town of Nantes and transformed it into a park that would grow to become one of France’s leading tourist attractions, how Art Biennale’s success spurred South Korea onto the path of becoming a center for Asian culture, and how the city cooperates with artists to manage cultural facilities in Helsinki, arts and culture are starting to be used as the solution for developing cities the world over. The cities listed above only prove that art and cultural assets are the key to crafting our future.
More culture in TOKYO?!
Taking a look at Tokyo from the arts and culture angle, where does it stand compared to the rest of the world? Since 2008, The Institute for Urban Strategies has continued to publish their annual Global Power City Index (GPCI), which we can use an indicator.
This index takes 40 major cities and grades them on 70 indicators within six measures on power (Economy, Research & Development, Cultural Interaction, Livability, Environment, and Accessibility). In last year's index, Tokyo ranked 4th behind London, New York, and Paris. 5th was Singapore, followed by Seoul, Hong Kong, and other Asian cities. Tokyo has guarded this position since 2008, but breaking down the score received reveals that while the city was graded highly for Economy and Research & Development, it trails behind every city ranked higher than it when it comes to Cultural Interaction.
As it stands, even though Tokyo receives a higher score each year, it fails to compete against other cities in areas such as the number of museums, creative environments, and opportunities to interact with culture, history, and tradition. This is but one cause that is holding Tokyo back as a global city.
Meeting this problem head-on and turning the city's weaknesses into its strengths may be the key in further improving Tokyo as a city.
Gerfried Stocker
Artistic Director, Ars Electronica
Gerfried Stocker is a media artist and telecommunications engineer. In 1991, he founded x-space, a team formed to carry out interdisciplinary projects, which went on to produce numerous installations and performances featuring elements of interaction, robotics and telecommunications. Since 1995, Gerfried Stocker has been artistic director of Ars Electronica. In 1995-96, he headed the crew of artists and technicians that developed the Ars Electronica Center’s pioneering new exhibition strategies and set up the facility’s in-house R&D department, the Ars Electronica Futurelab. He has been chiefly responsible for conceiving and implementing the series of international exhibitions that Ars Electronica has staged since 2004, and, beginning in 2005, for the planning and thematic repositioning of the new, expanded Ars Electronica Center.