- At last! -
I finally found the time to write this up... Cheers, Ars fans! Kiyoshi from AAL is here to give you the grand tour!
It's been 8 months since Ars Electronica 2005 came to a close. I intended to publish this piece a little earlier, but it takes quite a while to get this setup going. Anyway, it's great that the site is finally up!
AAL will bring you not only the Ars report, but we'll be bringing you hot artists whose fame has traveled the world an art festival in a small town with a 25-year history, and music that people are going crazy over in one corner of the globe. The staff of AAL have burned their fancies onto film for you to experience. Don't miss a single moment!
...Kiyoshi's eye AAL001

- Anna and Suzuki -
Let's start with the main event: the media art festival, Ars Electronica.
The most highly anticipated category of Prix Ars Electronica, the competition at Ars, is the Interactive Art category. Born in the Ars era right here in Linz, infotrainer* Anna will introduce us to three entries to the competition including the winner of the Grand Prix. I met Anna four years ago in 2002 when I attended Ars for the first time. At the time, artist Yasuhiro Suzuki's installation Globe Jungle Project successfully won an honorable mention and Anna was the infotrainer at his exhibit.
The following year, Anna helped AAL photographer Kenji with his coverage of Ars becoming more than just a close friend, but an essential part of our Ars experience. And of course, Anna's appearance on AAL would not be complete without special guest narrator Suzuki-kun who has become my blood brother since we met in Ars four years ago. Check it out!

*Infotrainers are staff at the Ars Electronica Center's Museum of the Future who teach people how to use the technology featured in each exhibit.

Two big screens tower in front of industrial-sized treadmills like divine guardians. As you climb atop the treadmills like a timid mouse and start running, an urban scene pops up onto the screen and the image moves forward to the pace of your feet. A street, an alleyway, a train platform, a harbor, a track, a mountain road... In these scenes, not a single soul - just you, running intensely through the night.

The interaction of the installation occurs as you run forward on the belt. The further forward you go, the faster the belt moves. In the middle of the screen there is a small hole in which a camera has been placed that judges the distance between the runner and screen.

The visual imagery is Rotterdam at night. The artist, Marnix de Nijs, chose Rotterdam because that is where he lives, but the imagery is beautiful. What I heard from Marnix is that he blocked the roads and filmed it with a high definition camcorder. On top of that, the cameraman for the project worked on a film from British director Peter Greenway.

There were as many as thirty different scenes filmed. It had been processed, but the creation of the film took two passionate years. A masterpiece. This dedication is the driving force behind this installation.

Out of all the pieces that I saw at Ars, I liked RMR the best. The charm of the installation was great, and so was Marnix himself. At Ars the year before he was just a passing acquaintance, but we got to know each other at DEAF04 in Rotterdam. At a glance, he looks like a guy you’d be ready to ignore if you ran into him in a Bronx alleyway, but once you talk to him, this irresistible smile appears on his face.

And all of his physical, dynamic artwork have a certain intensity to them. When I tried the machine though, I sprinted off the belt and broke my collarbone. It was sore. You definitely need to check out his other works too!
...Marnix de Nijs’s Site

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This year, the Interactive Art category drew 507 entries from around the world, and the MILK project stood out from the crowd to receive the Golden Nica (the grand prix).

The project tracked milk produced at a Latvian ranch as it journeyed to Dutch consumers. In the exhibit, a map, a projected image and a GPS monitor revealed the video documentation of the ranch owner, the workers carrying the milk, the machine that processes the milk into cheese, the transporters who ship it all the way to Holland, the vendors at a Dutch market selling the cheese, and the consumers themselves. Showing photos, text, and voice as well, the film progresses lightly.

What the project organizer did was give each person a GPS tracker, and as the wagons they moved around in were projected onto a stylish wooden-framed monitor. In the exhibit space, little enhancements like a cool lampshade and the bench used to squeeze milk helped to create the mood.

The exhibit displayed lives of all these people connected by milk, but I thought if it was told by video instead of photography, you would get a sense of their everyday lives.

Also, the nationalities of the 3 people interviewed are Latvian with person in the center being Dutch. You can also experience this exhibit on the web. Take a look at the beautiful photos and all the warmhearted people connected by milk.
...MILKproject’s Site

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When I heard the name, it kinda smelled like a special attack from Street Fighter 2, but it was actually a lot more stylish so I was a personally a little disappointed.

Using a Wacom display, as you draw on a blank white screen the installation creates a sound. But the screen isn’t an ordinary flat surface. It’s actually rotating from right to left along a vertical axis creating a 3D canvas. In other words, the sketcher becomes a sculptor digitally creating a 3D sculpture.

You can see a thin horizontal line on the screen. Actually, depending on the place that you write, the scale of the sound changes. In other words, this white canvas is actually murmuring music. Draw a line near the top and a high pitch sound comes out, but draw near the bottom and you get a low pitch. The sound’s length follows the length of the line.
So this 3-dimensional canvas also has a time axis. And, you can also save your sketch (sculpture) on the machine.

The creator, Amit Pitaru, is of course a pro at his creation, and all of the sketches that I thought were beautiful were his. The instrument requires quite a lot of skill, and I bet if there was a "Sonic Wire Sculptor Championships", it would create quite a stir.

Also, the sketch that appears at the end of the video clip is supposed to be a Japanese comic character called the "Kamen Rider". It was drawn by Mrs.Nomura who always coordinates trips for us.
...Amit Pitaru’s Site

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Ars began on 9/1 and ended on 9/6. Each night after finishing our shoot, we relaxed over beer and wine at the pub/club Stadtwerkstatt near the Ars Center. Compared to Tokyo, Linz is a tiny dot with not many places for the young to fuck around. In other words, the pub was pretty much the only place we could go. Kinda like a dumping ground for all the youthful energy being packed into this town. And two dance floors that are crammed up against the bar like parasites.

Maybe because of the small town feeling though, once you got to acquainted with the female bartender, she would make sure to take you order over all the other orders being thrown at her in the crowded place. With that kind of attention, you get a kind of feel-good superiority complex that wraps your entire body. I couldn’t help wanting to come back the next day. If you ever get the chance, try the place out.

Stadtwerkstatt isn’t just a place where people go to get drunk though. They’re also filled with club events, performances, concerts night after night. Every evening there is an official Ars performance, but in the middle of night they also have funk/punk concerts that have nothing to do with the Festival itself.

Well, time to say goodbye to Anna. She helped us with the film shoot, explained the exhibits, drank beer with us, and after the Festival, she and her friends invited Kenji and I for dinner in Vienna too. We owe her so much!

This year when we visited Ars, focusing on Anna and the other staff really helped us to get a good taste of the Festival. We hope you get to you too will feel how charming Linz is, how fun Ars is and of course, how interesting the staff and artists are.

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