One of the peaks of not only Austrian, but also global media art is definitely Ars Electronica – the leading international festival, research centre and futurist museum of the area, founded in 1979 in Linz. Ars Electronica, led by the slogan “Art, Technology and Society” presents itself at Animafest 2014 in the Animafest Pro segment with Expanded Animation. To the invitation of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Zagreb, the programme will be presented by the professor of digital media with the University of Linz and curator of Ars Electronica, Jürgen Hagler.

Expanded Animation includes 10 different screenings about installations, media facades, films about filmmaking and dance performances from the festival component of Ars Electronica’s activities.

Check out how video mapping creates augmented reality, how animation functions in an urban jungle and how in sound sculptures, how to create spectacular cyber installations etc. Interesting making-of films, alongside professor Hagler’s speech will reveal the tech wiz secrets that are rarely spoken about at festivals. For instance, we will be impressed by the unusual study of human motion, Forms, inspired by Marcel Duchamp, the new appearance of the Centre Pompidou in Metz inspired by oceanographic achievements, a media façade in Seoul with neon lights of the metropolis and evocation of bio-luminescence, or impressive projections on Weimar’s historical landmarks. Film lovers may wish to see Rear Window Loop, which condenses in three minutes Hitchcock’s classic, while tech freaks will not miss Black Rain, which uses cutting-edge cameras and satellites to show explosions in the Sun.

Ars Electronica is a proper laboratory of the future – a view on tomorrow from the perspective of artistic imagination and technology implementing it in reality.