Ars Electronica 2014 international device art exhibition held
An international exhibition on device art, a key research topic in the field of extension, one of the three pillars of the Ph.D. Program in Empowerment Informatics, was held Thursday, September 4 through Monday, September 8, 2014 at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria.
Participants in this international exhibition included EMP Program Leader Prof. Hiroo Iwata, Associate Prof. Kenji Suzuki, Assistant Prof. Fumiaki Murakami, concurrent faculty members Associate Prof. Hiroaki Yano and Assistant Prof. Yuki Hashimoto, and external faculty Gerfried Stocker (Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, CEO) and Prof. Victoria Vesna (University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA]). EMP first-year students Kosuke Sato, Hikaru Takatori, and Jun Nishida also took part and worked on management of the event.
Several times during this international device art exhibition Prof. Iwata provided introductions to individual works and their artists, and the artists conducted demonstrations. Attendees were able actually to experience a wide range of works, and the exhibition hall was very crowded. Plans call for the works to remain on exhibit at the Ars Electronica Center until the end of June next year.
About the international device art exhibition
Ten years have passed since I first proposed the concept of device art in 2004. Device art is a mode of expression that shows the true essence of technology, by utilizing mechatronics technologies and materials technologies. Over the past decade device art has become an international trend. This is the reason we have held this international exhibition bringing together works from Japan, UCLA in the United States, Croatia, and Slovenia.
We chose the Ars Electronica Center as the venue for this event not only because Ars Electronica is the most famous media art event in the world but also because the center is one of EMP’s overseas bases. We planned the Labx framework in partnership with Future Lab, the R&D section of the Ars Electronica Center, as a method of putting to use the new Empowerment Studio established this year.
I believe that while the past 10 years have been the startup phase for device art, in the coming 10 years we are about to enter the phase of building an ecosystem for device art, including human-resources development. EMP will strive to play an important role in this process.
Digest of the international device art exhibition
Related URL
Ars Electronica Blog (Device Art: More than Just Gadgets)：
http://www.aec.at/aeblog/en/2014/09/03/device-art-gadgets/
flickr（Device Art (2014)）：
https://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/sets/72157645836103108/
TV broadcast information
Hrvatska radiotelevizija (Croatia)
(Broadcast an interview with Prof. Iwata and scenes from the international device art exhibition at 8:00-18:50)
http://www.hrt.hr/enz/kod-buducnosti/261989/