again something from my hometown linz (austria) ...

the annual (since 1979) and by now also international known ARS ELECTRONICA is a festival for art, culture & technology. this year the festival is devoted to the topic 'GOODBYE PRIVACY'.

a new culture of everyday life is now upon us, bracketed by the angst-inducing scenarios of control and the enthusiasm of medial self-profiling. everything seems to be public and nothing’s private anymore. panopticon or freedom (of opinion)? this perfect control is fascinating and concurrently frightening.

by symposia, exhibitions, performances and interventions, the ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL will search out what the public and private spheres mean and the interrelationship between them. the issues, themes and even the framework of the festival itself will blend into a fleeting illusion - so it becomes impossible to differentiate between virtual and real spaces and for a week linz will be a 'second city'.

the combination of the traditional annual program and new program-extensions makes 'GOODYBYE PRIVACY' (again) to a unique festival. among other things this year completely new is the 'mobile atelier' - a prototypical container-modul as a artwork, which concurrently offers a workspace for artworks and exhibitions. another experiment is 'bastard space': ars electronica and stephan doesinger start the first 'architecture contest' in second life, a public contest for architecture and design.

sure, the festival will be also this year a great cooperation of diverse cultural and artistic acts - national (e.g. university of art linz, lentos, ok center) and international (e.g. udk berlin, media university switzerland, fabrique paris).

ARS ELECTRONICA 2007 'GOODBYE PRIVACY'
linz - austria / september 5 - 11