[October 3rd 2005]


John Gerrard (IRL): The Ladder. This evocative installation tracks the outside environment and personifies the input in the voice of a virtual man on a ladder. He observes our world as we observe his, while the borders between virtual, physical and augmented space seem to dissolve. The user can adjust the framing of the scene by moving the screen. Photo: Thomas Petersen.


Impressions from Ars Electronica 2005

Artificial went to the Ars Electronica festival 2005 and brought back lots of impressions and photos. Here is a selection of works. For more info about the festival visit www.aec.at. Your editors Thomas Petersen and Kristine Ploug comment on a few of the art pieces shown at the festival. Design student Ditte Kilsgaard Moeller drew her impressions.


The Ars Electronica Center in Linz. Photo: Kristine Ploug


The audience at the Brucknerhaus, where most of the symposiums took place. www.aec.at: "Being at once global, continental and local, we are all global, but some of us are more global than others. The world implodes and societies remix." Drawing: Ditte Kilsgaard Moeller.


Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz where one of the works were shown. In the background you see the Ars Electronica Center. Photo: Kristine Ploug


Theo Jansen (NL): Strandbeest. An unusual choice for the Special Prize of the Jury in the Interactive Art category, but perhaps not as strange as it seems. Jansens magnificent creatures and physical algorithms offer an interesting perspective on the nature of digital art. Photo: Thomas Petersen.

Paul DeMarinis (US): Firebirds. Speeches by Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini & Roosevelt are transmitted on alternative speaker systems consisting of gas flames modulated by electrical signals. On top of this: the sounds of chirping birds ... Photo: Thomas Petersen.


Toshio Iwai & Yu Nishibori (Yamaha) (JP): Tenori-On. Tenori-On is a music maker. Made as a collaboration between Toshio Iwai and Yamaha. The so-called 'music instrument for the 21st century' lets you compose music easily. Great for all us gadget lovers! Photo from the Tenori-On website.


Pixelspace Conference about computer simulated human emotions. First speaker was Paolo Petta from Vienna University. Drawing: Ditte Kilsgaard Moeller

Ulf Langheinrich (DE/AT): Waveform B. In an attack on our senses, the artist explores the materiality of light and space in two symmetrical rooms. In the artist's words, the space is in 'constant oscillation'. Photo: Thomas Petersen.


Dirk Eijsbout (NL): Interface #4/TFT tennis V18. Play tennis using monitors that you move around to catch the ball. The left player is the male part of Artificial's editorial team. Photo: Kristine Ploug


Steve Heimbecker (CA): POD (Wind Array Cascade Machine). Sensors on a roof top somewhere in Montreal, Canada measure the wind's speed and direction and send the information to this sculpture. Photo: Kristine Ploug

artificiel (Alexandre Burton, Julien Roy, Jimmy Lakatos) (CA): condemned_bulbes. In this beautiful installation, the glowing of light bulbs is controlled by audio signals. Imagine hearing music coming from your own light bulbs at home. Photo: Thomas Petersen.

Sabrine Raaf (US): Translator II: Grower. A sensor measures the CO2 content in the air and draws a green vertical line - grass! - accordingly. Eventually, a full lawn is created, however, this photo is from the opening night! Photo: Kristine Ploug


The web and media symposium held on the 5 th . www.aec.at: "What drives forward the vision of a democratic, open Internet? How relevant is the freedom of code for social innovation? Forum participants will discuss the subversive power of digital tools such as 'Processing' (prizewinning project) and 'BitTorrent', a file-sharing protocol that is now responsible for the majority of P2P data traffic." Drawing: Ditte Kilsgaard Moeller.

Ditte Kilsgaard Moeller is a student at the Department of Interactive Media at Designskolen Kolding. You can contact her at dittekm at yahoo dot com.