The Ars Electronica Animation Festival in Linz has been a pillar of the Ars Electronica festival program in September since 2005. The program includes a wide variety of shows and a variety of animation-related events. It is an overview of current trends in the field of digital animation around the world, presenting specific strategies and unique points of view. A glance at the works selected in 2020 shows a broad range, from animation in the context of performance and installations to real-time animation and multifaceted, subject-based discussions.
This year, on the big screen at Hevre + 1, we will show a selection of awarded animations in the Electronic Theater extended block and in the block titled Austrian Panorama works from Austrian directors.
AUSTRIAN PANORAMA | 35 min.
In this program, animated-film directors from Austria look at problems of our time. In short films—some fictional, some documentary—they challenge daily routines in our everyday digital lives, examine the impacts of social media and new technologies such as VR and AR, and discuss such absurd ideas as sending everyone back to the lands of their ancestors. An interac- tive, poetic VR experience investigates the nature of post-digital reality, while a touching ani- mated film looks at the fantastic world of an old woman suffering from dementia. The spectrum ranges from dystopian visions of the future to empathetic, humorous inner worlds.
Time o ́ the Signs
Reinhold Bidner (AT)
08:36
In Her Boots
Kathrin Steinbacher (AT)
06:03
The Entropy Gardens (VR screen capture)
DEPART (AT)
08:55
Coming Home
Benjamin Swiczinsky (AT)
04:00
Thicc Seams
iheartblob (AT)
05:41
ELECTRONIC THEATER | 48 min.
The program offers humorous and ingenious commentaries on social media, online dating, data mining, and surveillance capitalism, as well as infographics and data visualizations. Two Honorary Mentions this year went to VR projects, including a surreal experience based on the childhood memory of the director in Taiwan from around 1970. In an installation with a collage of hundreds of video clips taken in subway stations, the visitor is placed in the role of a voyeur in order to reflect on the cycle of everyday life.
Average Happiness, Maja Gehrig (CH)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Award of Distinction
07:03
Pile, Toby Auberg (SE)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
03:23
Recursive Truth, Rachel Rossin (US)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
02:55
Serial Parallels, Max Hattler (DE/HK)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
09:00
#21xoxo, Sine Özbilge (TR), Imge Özbilge (TR)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
09:50
Underground Circuit, Yuge Zhou 周雨歌 (CN)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
04:14
The Sky is on Fire, Emmanuel van der Auwera (BE)
Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
15:21
Bodyless (excerpt of VR screen capture), Hsin-Chien Huang (TW)
Sponsored by Taiwan Creative Content Agency Prix Ars Electronica 2020 / Honorary Mention
05:00
Projections of the awarded animations of the Ars Electronica Animation Festival are presented thanks to the cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.
