Ars Electronica Center

About

Ars Electronica began with its first festival in September 1979. Its founders were Hannes Leopoldseder, Hubert Bognermayr, Herbert W. Franke, and Ulrich Rützel. The festival was held biennially at first, and annually since 1986. The Prix Ars Electronica was inaugurated in 1987 and has been awarded every year since then. Ars Electronica Linz GmbH was incorporated as a limited company in 1995. The Ars Electronica Center, together with the Futurelab, opened in 1996, and was remodeled in 2009.

Funding is provided by the City of Linz, the Province of Upper Austria and the Republic of Austria, in addition to private partners. Since 2014, the organization has been headed by artistic director Gerfried Stocker and financial director Diethard Schwarzmair.

The top of the AEC is called the Sky Media Loft, which is mainly used as a coffee house or bar of the museum. It can also be rented out for meetings or events. The bar has occasionally been used as the studio for the newscast of the local TV branch of the Austrian national TV organization ORF. The specialty of the Sky Media Loft is the marvelous view over the Nibelungenbrücke and the main place of Linz at the other side of the Danube which functions as background of the newscasts.

The second floor is where people can interact with exhibits. There are Musicbottles containing different types of music or Pingpongplus which is a table tennis game on a desk with virtual water on its surface.

The first floor has displays about the world that had been hidden from our eyes. In the "Hidden Worlds" various machines are translating voice and words into virtual symbols or colors, and everyday life articles can be moved on a screen if they are touched.

The little room between the first and the ground floor one of the main attractions is offered. The flight simulator "Humphrey" uses virtual reality goggles to give users a simulated view of the flight and the person taking the trip is connected to the computer by cables fixed all over the body. It is possible to fly everywhere and to see the movements of the hands, feet, and the landscape if the visitor raises the head or looks down.

The entrance or the so-called "Login Gateway" of the museum is on the ground floor and leads the newcomer directly to the Telegarden, where a robot is looking after a flower patch. Every ticket is provided with a bar code that gives information about the time the visitor entered the museum. After the visit, the ticket can be put into a computer near the exit and it gives statistic information about the things that happened in the world during the span of the stay in the AEC. The list that is printed out gives information about how many people died or were born during that time or how many accidents have been caused by drunken drivers.

The last floor is called Virtual Reality and it can be found in the basement of the building. The CAVE is another attraction of the museum. The cube with 3 meters side length is used as a screen to project the virtual world. There are always groups of about 10 that dive into a world where physical laws do not have any meaning. Additionally, the 3D spectacles give the impression of a bodyful environment.

The top of the AEC is called the Sky Media Loft, which is mainly used as a coffee house or bar of the museum. It can also be rented out for meetings or events. The bar has occasionally been used as the studio for the newscast of the local TV branch of the Austrian national TV organization ORF. The specialty of the Sky Media Loft is the marvelous view over the Nibelungenbrücke and the main place of Linz at the other side of the Danube which functions as background of the newscasts.

The second floor is where people can interact with exhibits. There are Musicbottles containing different types of music or Pingpongplus which is a table tennis game on a desk with virtual water on its surface.

The first floor has displays about the world that had been hidden from our eyes. In the "Hidden Worlds" various machines are translating voice and words into virtual symbols or colors, and everyday life articles can be moved on a screen if they are touched.

The little room between the first and the ground floor one of the main attractions is offered. The flight simulator "Humphrey" uses virtual reality goggles to give users a simulated view of the flight and the person taking the trip is connected to the computer by cables fixed all over the body. It is possible to fly everywhere and to see the movements of the hands, feet, and the landscape if the visitor raises the head or looks down.

The entrance or the so-called "Login Gateway" of the museum is on the ground floor and leads the newcomer directly to the Telegarden, where a robot is looking after a flower patch. Every ticket is provided with a bar code that gives information about the time the visitor entered the museum. After the visit, the ticket can be put into a computer near the exit and it gives statistic information about the things that happened in the world during the span of the stay in the AEC. The list that is printed out gives information about how many people died or were born during that time or how many accidents have been caused by drunken drivers.

The last floor is called Virtual Reality and it can be found in the basement of the building. The CAVE is another attraction of the museum. The cube with 3 meters side length is used as a screen to project the virtual world. There are always groups of about 10 that dive into a world where physical laws do not have any meaning. Additionally, the 3D spectacles give the impression of a bodyful environment.

The new Ars Electronica Center, which was designed by Treusch architecture ZT GmbH, opened its doors on 2 January 2009 after roughly two years of construction work and an approximate cost of 30 million euros. It now has 3000 square meters for exhibitions, 100 m 2 for research and development, 400 m 2 for workshops and conferences, 650 m 2 for catering and another 1000 m 2 of public space for various types of events.

The new AEC consists of the original building, a new "twin-tower", the main exhibition hall called Main Gallery and the new space for the Ars Electronica Futurelab. The whole building is covered with a 5000-square-meter glass skin that consists of 1100 glass panels. Each panel is equipped with an LED bar that allows it to change its color. Therefore, the whole building acts as a giant display. Artists can create their own visualizations which will be shown on various occasions, especially during the Ars Electronica Festival.

The restaurant is located on the third floor of the new building and is called CUBUS, referring to the building's cubic shape.

With the new building came a new thematic orientation inside of Ars Electronica. Life sciences, global developments (e.g. climate change, population growth, environmental pollution) and the exploration of the universe are just a view of various new topics. The museum can be separated into the following areas:

The Main Gallery with approximately 1000 square meters houses the main exhibition called New Views of Humankind, which focuses on topics like biotechnology, robotics, rapid prototyping and the human body. It is separated into the following four so-called "labs":

- Fab-Lab deals with new possibilities offered by 3D printers and rapid prototyping.