Interface Culture at Ars Electronica 2006
Kunstuniversität Linz
Schirmmacher, Hauptplatz
4010 Linz
Tangible,Audible,Playable,Wearable
Interface Culture StudentWorks atArs Electronica 2006 One year after its establishment,the Interface Culture masters program was already
able to presentworks by its students atthe 2005Ars Electronica Festival.This exhibition included examples of interactive art, tangible interfaces, intuitive instruments for playing and composing music, acoustic and object-based interfaces, CAVE applications and interactive games. This year’s projects can be divided more or less into five thematic clusters corresponding to courses of study in the Interface Culture program:
Interactive Media Archeology
These works deal with media archeology (taughtby Gebhard Sengmueller).For example, the interactive installation re:call phoneshows how a telephone from the 1920s can add new sensor technology and a picture screen to become an interactive tool thatlets users experience the history of telecommunications in a playful way.The Digital Barrel-Organcombines an old barrel-organ with digital MP3sounds to deliver a satiric commentary on the pressure to innovate that contemporary musicians face. Other works are FLOP, Ritter der Kokosnuss and Metaskop,sCANNEDOBJECTS.
Interactive Artificial Life Projects
Programming courses (taughtby Christine Sugrue, RobertPraxmarer and Friedrich
Kirschner) familiarize students with generative processes.The results include several interactive installations that deal with the “game of life”theme and computer-generated nature: Life, Nature,ebenda no.1—coinciding entitiesand Mikrokosmos.
Fashionable Technology
Another area of emphasis of the Interface Culture program is fashionable technolo-
gies (taught by Sabine Seymour) and the development of sensor technologies (taught by LaurentMignonneau). In a projectentitled No more under cover, for instance, books thathave been outon loan from the library too long gradually change color.Other works include Enlighted Collectionand Clothing thatarranges the body.
IntelligentEnvironments,Tangible Interfaces and Auditory Interfaces
This field (teachers: Martin Kaltenbrunner, Andreas Weixler and Christopher
Lindinger) has given rise to projects such as iShakerwhich makes itpossible to generate beats and sounds with three iPods,Atem Raum, an interactive environmentthatreacts to breathing, Title:Shape, Color & Sound, a tangible interface thatcombines the worlds of Ittens and Schonberg,and Scream Point, an ironic work aboutinteractive photography.
Robotic Interfaces
In a special course by Time’s Up (Tim Boykettand Marc9),students getan introduc-
tion to the basics of artistic robotics and presenta performance by their robots.
This exhibition documents how interactive technologies are coming into increasing use in creative applications and hybrid artprojects,and,via innovative recombination of technology and art,are giving rise to interesting prototypes atthe nexus of media art, design and R&D.
Exhibition
Schirmmacher, Hauptplatz
4010 Linz
Tangible,Audible,Playable,Wearable
Interface Culture StudentWorks atArs Electronica 2006 One year after its establishment,the Interface Culture masters program was already
able to presentworks by its students atthe 2005Ars Electronica Festival.This exhibition included examples of interactive art, tangible interfaces, intuitive instruments for playing and composing music, acoustic and object-based interfaces, CAVE applications and interactive games. This year’s projects can be divided more or less into five thematic clusters corresponding to courses of study in the Interface Culture program:
Interactive Media Archeology
These works deal with media archeology (taughtby Gebhard Sengmueller).For example, the interactive installation re:call phoneshows how a telephone from the 1920s can add new sensor technology and a picture screen to become an interactive tool thatlets users experience the history of telecommunications in a playful way.The Digital Barrel-Organcombines an old barrel-organ with digital MP3sounds to deliver a satiric commentary on the pressure to innovate that contemporary musicians face. Other works are FLOP, Ritter der Kokosnuss and Metaskop,sCANNEDOBJECTS.
Interactive Artificial Life Projects
Programming courses (taughtby Christine Sugrue, RobertPraxmarer and Friedrich
Kirschner) familiarize students with generative processes.The results include several interactive installations that deal with the “game of life”theme and computer-generated nature: Life, Nature,ebenda no.1—coinciding entitiesand Mikrokosmos.
Fashionable Technology
Another area of emphasis of the Interface Culture program is fashionable technolo-
gies (taught by Sabine Seymour) and the development of sensor technologies (taught by LaurentMignonneau). In a projectentitled No more under cover, for instance, books thathave been outon loan from the library too long gradually change color.Other works include Enlighted Collectionand Clothing thatarranges the body.
IntelligentEnvironments,Tangible Interfaces and Auditory Interfaces
This field (teachers: Martin Kaltenbrunner, Andreas Weixler and Christopher
Lindinger) has given rise to projects such as iShakerwhich makes itpossible to generate beats and sounds with three iPods,Atem Raum, an interactive environmentthatreacts to breathing, Title:Shape, Color & Sound, a tangible interface thatcombines the worlds of Ittens and Schonberg,and Scream Point, an ironic work aboutinteractive photography.
Robotic Interfaces
In a special course by Time’s Up (Tim Boykettand Marc9),students getan introduc-
tion to the basics of artistic robotics and presenta performance by their robots.
This exhibition documents how interactive technologies are coming into increasing use in creative applications and hybrid artprojects,and,via innovative recombination of technology and art,are giving rise to interesting prototypes atthe nexus of media art, design and R&D.
Exhibition
