Corona-safe and sold out: Ars Electronica 2020 was a huge success

Corona-safe and sold out: Ars Electronica 2020 was a huge success posted: 21/09/2020

The Transparency of Randmomness / Mathias Gartner (AT), Vera Tolazzi (AT)

vog.photo It was very different. But it was a huge success. The first hybrid Ars Electronica in the era of Corona. It wasn't easy, but it was absolutely the right decision to let the festival take place, Gerfried Stocker said in a first review. On site, everything went smoothly - the security concept worked, and the requirements were understood and accepted by the audience. And it was virtually sold out, the first Kepler's Garden on the beautiful campus of the Johannes Kepler University Linz. We offered 3,490 tickets and we issued them all, Gerfried Stocker is pleased to report. It's really great that even in times of a pandemic there are obviously many people who are happy about cultural offerings and take advantage of them in a responsible way. The Festival Mile in the city center with the OK in Upper Austria's Kulturquartier (1,664 visitors), the University of the Arts (1,284 visitors) and the Ars Electronica Center (2,223) was well attended and registered 5,171 visitors. Last but not least, the physical presence of 668 artists in Linz was also very gratifying because it's no longer a matter of course to bring so many people together for an event.

As far as the online presence of the first truly hybrid Ars Electronica is concerned, the interim results are also very positive. We've streamed a continuous program on four YouTube channels over the past five days without any noteworthy technical problems. As expected, the first echo came from the social media and is very gratifying.

The Transparency of Randmomness

Streams, Hubs, Posts, Stories, Tweets -Ars Electronica on the NetIt sounds strange, but up to now Ars Electronica has been a fairly analog festival, says Gerfried Stocker. Well, startingthis year its different. Corona and the constraints and restrictions it entails made it necessary to develop a hybrid festival concept that was enthusiastically received by artists, museums, universities, labs, galleries, companies and associations around the globe. Our idea was as simple as it was convincing, says Martin Honzik. If the world cant come to Ars Electronica in Linz, Ars Electronica is going out into the world. The fact that the Linz Platform for Art, Technology and Society has been living networking and cooperation for decadespaid off.We were able to get 160 network partners around the globe excited about participating in Ars Electronica 2020 and offering on-site programs for local audiences, says Veronika Liebl, Director of European Cooperation, looking back on weeks of intensive networking. Weve woven all of these program offerings into an online programthats too vast for one person to comprehend. Over the past five days, we have streamed more than 994 videos in parallel on four channels, Martin Honzik continues. Of course, we all hoped that this would happen without technical problems, but frankly we didnt expect it.So far, the videos streamed during the festival have been viewed more than 56,837 times.

emocracy and EcologyThroughout all the talks and presentations, two things became clear: Firstly, that for many, real change seems more than overdue. Secondly, that the vast majority of people -from youngsters to renowned artists and scientists -are particularly concerned about democracy, freedom and participation, as well as the ecological emergency. Festival 2020is over, lets think aboutFestival 2021This year, we conducted one of the greatest experiments in the history of Ars Electronica, firstoutof necessity and then with great enthusiasm. Analyzing this in detail will keep us busy for the next few weeks, says Gerfried Stocker, Ars Electronicas Artistic Director. But theres already no disputing that weve laid down a learning curve thats quite respectable.The first guest performance on campus already has people asking for more. Id like to take this opportunity to invite you to the next Ars Electronica, which will take place from September 8 to 12, 2021, on the magnificent campus of the Johannes Kepler University Linz and also online. That much is certain.

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