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Ars Electronica 99
LifeScience
September 4-9, 1999
Linz, Austria
http://www.aec.at/lifescience
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Ars Electronica 99 - 1st announcement
CONTENTS
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0. Introduction
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1.1 What is Ars Electronica?
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1.2 What is this year's Festival theme?
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1.3 20 years of Ars Electronica
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1.4 Ars Electronica Net Symposium
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Next update: May 29th 1999
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0. Introduction
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are also available on our homepage. Please check
http://www.aec.at/lifescience. This is an English-only version; you can
find the text in German on our website too.
1.1 What is Ars Electronica?
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Once a year, Linz is the centre of computer culture. The Ars Electronica
Festival, established in 1979 to provide an open meeting-place for
artists, scientists and researchers, has since developed into a
world-famous forum for the arts, technolgy and society.
The 96 Festival was of particular significance, marking the inauguration
of a new phase of the Ars Electronica project: Until then Ars Electronica
has appeared as an annual highlight, concentrated into a few days
duration, in the international calendar of events. The opening of the Ars
Electronica Center in September 1996, not only marked an increase of
activities, but equally an expansion in chronogical terms. In the form of
the Center, Ars Electronica has now a permanent presence in the
international context. Ars Electronica is organized by the Ars Electronica
Center and the Austrian Broadcast Corporation (ORF), Upper Austria
Regional Studio.
Since its inception in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has been awarded
annually by the ORF's Upper Austria Regional Studio within the framework
of the Ars Electronica Festival. It is one of the most important prizes
for the application of creativity and pioneering spirit in the field of
digital media.
1.2 What is this year's Festival theme?
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On the threshold of the year 2000, Ars Electronica - in accordance with
our conception of our mission - will focus on the future. Ars Electronica
99 - entitled LifeScience - turns attention to the key technologies of the
coming decades. Based upon the achievements of digital information
technology, biotechnology and genetic engineering are bringing forth a new
definition of our future. Life science, a term denoting a wide range of
areas in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering and connoting
a "science of life," very clearly expresses fundamental associations with
cultural and philosophical questions and issues.
LifeScience Symposium
September 5-6, 1999, Brucknerhaus Linz
Information technology - long the leading-edge technology which has
pointed the way to the future - has become the decisive tool with which
biology can forge ahead into truly new realms. In particular, it is
genetic engineering - outfitted with the achievements of the Computer Age
- in which new possibilities are opening up that deliver forceful thrusts
against the limitations and taboos of our culture. Today, no other branch
of science approaches it as a bearer of hope for the future and
simultaneously as a center of controversy. The LifeScience Symposium turns
attention to the new potential for dispute and the emerging zones of
conflict at the interface of technology and society, focusing on the
current scenarios of science and business revolving around the gene.
1.3 20 Years of Ars Electronica
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20 Years of Ars Electronica
Symposium: September 4 and 9, 1999
Continually since 1979, Ars Electronica has been reflecting and analyzing
the process of sociocultural transformation triggered by digital
technologies. Ars Electronica's 20th anniversary is an appropriate
occasion to carry out an archeological examination of the artistic and
technical development of digital media, following two decades that have
witnessed the emergence of a global Information Society that has long
since become the determinative circumstance of our culture. The analytical
recapitulation of this developmental process constitutes a focus of Ars
Electronica 99.
In connection with this anniversary, The MIT Press of Cambridge, MA is
bringing out "Ars Electronica: Facing the Future. A Survey of Two
Decades." Editor Tim Druckrey has selected 73 original texts that will now
be republished in this volume-a compendium that impressively brings
together in one work the past 20 years of Ars Electronica. This
publication focuses on three main areas-history, theory and practice-which
offer an opportunity to examine the wide-ranging activities and
multifaceted creativity connected with the oldest and most renowned
festival of art, technology and society. "Facing the Future" will be
available in bookstores and at Ars Electronica beginning September 4.
1.4 Ars Electronica Net Symposium
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April 20 is the starting date for the LifeScience net symposium that is
being held as part of the preliminary activities leading up to the
Festival symposium. As a platform supporting a global exchange of views
and as a means to prepare and more precisely formulate opinions on the
respective issues, this form of moderated network discussion has proved
its worth in prior years. The moderator of this year's net symposium is
Prof. Birgit Richard, a scholar in the field of media studies and art
history in Frankfurt.
The Ars Electronica 99 Advisory Board also includes Prof. Eduardo Kac
(US), Dr. Georg Schfbnker (Austria), and Ingrid Fischer, M.A. (Austria).
Contributions to the discussion can be submitted in both German and
English to: lifescience@aec.at
On the festivalpage (http://www.aec.at/lifescience) you can also find an
on-line magazine which has been designed by Oliver Frommel (Germany). This
site is meant to accompany the LifeScience net symposium during the months
prior to the actual Ars Electronica event in September and beyond. We will
present material that is essential to the ongoing discussion. There are
three major areas we found to be important in connection with LifeScience:
technology, society and art. This won't be a scientific biological
magazine; however, it is meant to be a serious forum for discussion about
different aspects of LifeScience. The archive of the mailing list in plain
format can be found on these pages too. Furthermore, we will integrate the
best submissions to the mailing list into one of the areas of the
magazine. We hope to provide a basis for wide-ranging discussions about
Life Science as a key technology of tomorrow that concerns all of us.
Next update: May 29th 1999
Content: Prix Ars Electronica 99
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The next announcement update will appear on May 29. It will focus on the
winners of the Prix Ars Electronica 99. Conducted for the 13th time this
year by the ORF's Upper Austria Regional Studio, the Prix Ars Electronica
is the most highly regarded competition for digital media in the world.
April 25 is the deadline for submissions to the categories of Digital
Musics, Computer Animation/Visual Effects, Interactive Art and .net. More
details as well as the official submission form are available at
http://prixars.orf.at.
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Ars Electronica 99:
Organization: Ars Electronica Center Linz and ORF - Upper Austrian
Regional Studio
Co-organizers: Brucknerhaus Linz, O.K. - Center for Contemporary Art
Sponsors and Partners
Creditanstalt, Digital/Compaq, Gericom, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft,
Oesterreichische Brauunion, Oracle, Quelle, SGI, Siemens AG, Telekom
Austria AG, Novartis
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