The ARS ELECTRONICA 2013 media arts festival takes place in Austria’s third city, Linz, from September 5th-9th. Under the chosen theme of “A New Platform for New Memories”, there will be exhibitions, screenings and workshops that resonate with this year’s festival theme, “TOTAL RECALL – The Evolution of Memory.” We will introduce distinctive features of Japan’s creative scene from recent years as expressed in the media arts. The event is also being planned with a view to fostering new media art talent and will be implemented jointly with young domestic curators and the festival organizers.

Press Release
Flyer

ARS ELECTRONICA 2013　 http://www.aec.at/totalrecall/
Term: Thursday, 5th to Monday, 9th September, 2013 Venue: Brucknerhaus, ARS ELECTRONICA Center and other venues in city of Linz
Admission: 23 euros (varies according to ticket type and date)

This global media festival takes place annually in the Austrian city of Linz. Conceived as a festival of art, technology and society, it was first held in 1979 and this year’s event will be the 32nd in the series. Each festival is organized on a timely theme and many artists, scientists, engineers, theoreticians and journalists come for it from around the world.

The theme for 2013 is Total Recall – The Evolution of Memory. How are memories formed, how do they influence our way of life, why do we preserve them and what do we do with them? Diverse exhibitions, symposiums, lectures and other events will discuss our current data-based society and its prospects in terms of the basic elements of human memory.
There will be performances, workshops, exhibitions of award-winning works from the Competition Division etc. at various venues during the festival. The whole city becomes wrapped up in the festive atmosphere.

The ARS Electronica Festival, known as the world’s biggest media arts festival with a history of thirty years, and the Japan Media Arts Festival are cooperating on a joint exhibition on the theme of “A New Platform for New Memories”.
Linking with the overall theme of ARS Electronica 2013, “Total Recall – The Evolution of Memory”, the exhibition will focus on representative trends of the present Japanese creative scene and the works emerging from it, introducing progressive modes of expression nurtured by Japan’s media arts across the boundaries of art and entertainment. The cultural background will also be explained. With the main venue, Brucknerhaus, at the core, satellite exhibitions will be held around the city in order to bring the Japan Media Arts Festival to widest possible range of visitors.

“A New Platform for New Memories”
Organizer: ARS Electronica GmbH
Co-Organizer: The Agency for Cultural Affairs
Planning Director: MORITA Nae, President, maart Ltd. 
Advisor: MORIYAMA Tomoe, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo 
Administration: NHK International, Inc. 

“A New Platform for New Memories”
The new, technologically advanced platforms are drawing superb works from around the world with their tremendous archiving, sharing and other highly contemporary memory functions. Motion capture data for techno-pop group Perfume, for example, has given birth to a diverse range of secondary creative work. This is a global phenomenon which imparts powers of expression to dolls which surpass even those of real human beings and harks back, too, to the world of Japan’s traditional performing arts. Japan also experienced the extraordinary catastrophe of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th, 2011. There will be multi-layered presentations of works produced on the post-disaster timeline as well. At the FabLab in the ARS ELECTRONICA Center, a workshop for hacking into the memory represented by embroidery data for sewing machines will produce transformed glitch embroidery patterns.

Related Events

-Presentation [Scenes and Structures]
Speakers (anticipated):MIURA Makito (The Agency for Cultural Affairs)
                                     MORITA Nae (Planning Director / President of maart Ltd.)
Date: 13:00-16:00 Friday, 7th September
Venue: Seminar Room, ARS Electronica Center

-Guided Tour
MORITA Nae, Planning Director / President of maart Ltd.
Participating artists: FORII Satoshi, SANO Yuki, WADA Ei
Date: Friday 6th, September 14:00-15:00
Venue: Foyer, Brucknerhaus

-Workshop: Glitch Embroidery
Lecturer: Nukeme
Date: Thursday 5th and Saturday 7th September from 13:00
Venue: FabLab, ARS Electronica Center

Related exhibition
The Toki Ori Ori Nasu – Falling Records installation, WADA Ei（Open Reel Ensemble）
Installation
Date: Thursday 5th ~ Saturday 7th September
Venue: Foyer, Brucknerhaus
*Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan (Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festivals)

Related screening
Japan Media Arts Festival 2013-Animation Program- (90’)
Date: Sunday 8th September 15:00- Monday 9th September 16:00-
Venue: OK im OÖ Kulturquartier, Mediendeck