Ars Electronica was established in 1979. Although just 26 years ago, in terms of digital history, it's more like the dark ages. If you think about it like that, the people of Linz just rock!

We asked a number of people why Linz began Ars. I mean, how many digital fanatics could there have been in this tiny little European town over twenty years ago? In actuality, the answer is quite connected to industry and tourism. Let's think about the distribution of power in Austria. Vienna, the most popular location, is the capital of music, with tons of art museums. Then there's famed Salzburg, home of Mozart and the Salzburg (music) Festival. Its existence is like a mosquito bump on your eyelid. Then there are the popular ski resorts of Innsbruck and Jenbach. All that's left is Graz, Austria's second most populous city with 400,000 people, and the third most populous city with 200,000...Linz. These two cities are industrial cities. Their blackened smokestacks have spewed smoke for the country, but as a result, they are ignored by tourists.

Ah, the sorrow of Linz. All she can do to welcome the 21st century is to spew smoke and wail, what about me? And so sound the birth cries of the digital music festival, Ars Electronica--a radical, industrial music festival not found in classical Vienna and Salzburg. Technology advanced, and with the development of media, suddenly the baby became the great father.

Today, both in Japan and around the world, media art festivals have sprung up and disappeared, but among them, Ars has continued along its 25-year life like the gentle flow of the Danube River itself. Soaked in the perpetuity of time, you can feel this history in the air. This is no ordinary festival.

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Last time, we introduced the basic venues: the Ars Electronica Center, the Brucknerhaus concert hall, OK Center, the Hauptplatz square, and Stadtwerkstatt (when you try to write this in Japanese, it looks like some kind of magical spell!), where we partied night after night. This time we're going to hit all the sub-spots that paint the town. These sub-spots make you feel like the whole city of Linz is going wild with the Festival.

The Linz Central Train Station, along with the airport, is the entrance to the city. Because it was under construction until now, there was never anything about it that left an impression. But once unveiled, it was reborn into a structure that wetted the appetites of consumers - a shopping mall. With Festival banners and big screen displays of exhibits, the incredible effort to show their support for the Festival was impressive. Even here there are installations. Like Hauptplatz Square, the Station has been transformed into an art space that melts into the everyday lives of Linz's citizens. I'll be expecting a lot from this new structure in the future. The building itself uses glass abundantly in its design allowing a luxurious amount of sunlight to fill the interior. Spectacular!

The Arkiteckure Forum is aptly named. The structure, located rather far back on the same street as the Brucknerhaus, hosts events related to the field of architecture. There are 2 or 3 pubs near the building with quite a lot of drunk people - drunken old men dozing off on the street, loud, teenagers who can't hold their liquor, and all sorts. Inside the Arkiteckure Forum itself are exhibits from this year's Ars theme: HYBRID. And, these exhibits have historical value too. Compared to the Brucknerhaus, the works have more individuality and are richer in their creators. So if you've gotten bored with "normal" exhibits, head over to the Arkiteckure Forum.

POST HOF - The Post Office, or rather, it used to be the Post Office until it was renovated and converted into a live house. It stands quietly in the middle of a residential area, with a canal and PEZ maker HARIBO's factory nearby. In other words, it's a little bit out of the way, and you'll need to take a shuttle bus to get there from the center of the city. Events are always held at night giving you the feeling that they're bussing you off to a torture house. Even the streets around it are dark. However, even in such a hard to reach place, the Post Hof probably has the largest capacity of any venue in Linz. Think Makuhari Messe in Japan (a warehouse like concert/exhibition hall near Tokyo).

Oops, I wrote a lot more than I intended. For other venues, stay tuned!

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