New Festival in Spring 2025 in Vienna

Digitalization and AI have triggered a significant transformation. "There is an urgent need for spaces to critically reflect on digital technology," said Vienna's City Councillor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler (SPÖ) during the presentation of the new festival Vienna Digital Cultures on Tuesday. From May 5 to 18, the organizers Kunsthalle and Foto Arsenal Vienna aim to "provide a platform for commissioned works, critical reflection, and exchange" on the topic, as stated at the press event.

Motto of the Festival Vienna Digital Cultures

The first edition of the event, a successor to the media art festival, at five locations is under the motto "Model Collapse". In the field of machine learning, the term refers to central issues in training large language models, such as the loss of diversity and originality. It is also an apt metaphor for the current state of the world, emphasize the festival organizers. Vienna Digital Cultures is dedicated to disorientation and instability, with artists and experts engaging with the subject from various perspectives.

The program curated by Nadim Samman starts with commissioned artistic online contributions by Joey Holder and Most Dismal Swamp on www.viennadigitalcultures.at and continues with the central exhibition at the Kunsthalle Karlsplatz. This exhibition gathers works by five international artists (including Holder) who "engage with the intersection of politics and digital culture". For instance, Eva & Franco Mattes' video "But I Like Human" consists of a montage of TikTok livestreamers portraying themselves as non-player characters - "a very strange ride," commented Samman. Mathias Gramoso, on the other hand, addresses digital forms of narcissism with "Perpetual Echo": He watched himself in the phone display for 24 hours for his video.

Augmented Reality Installation in Vienna

A work by artist Arvida Byström, examining the "aesthetics and implications of deepfake pornography and digital concepts of sexuality" in a combination of video and sculpture, will continue on May 17 in a performance at the "Haus der Republik" (commonly known as Funkhaus) as part of the Festwochen. The public space will also be utilized: Around the Kunsthalle Karlsplatz, an augmented reality installation (experienceable via app) by a Vienna-based collective explores whether AI still responds to the presence of humans or has long since become an autonomous process.

On two evenings (May 10 and 11), video screenings will take place at the Reaktor, addressing AI in various ways, "both in content and form," it was emphasized. Throughout the festival, numerous voices will be heard, with the discourse program starting on May 5 at the Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab with Kate Crawford, author of the bestseller "Atlas of AI". Tours, workshops, artist and curator talks, two club nights (on May 10 at PRST.club and on May 17 at the "Haus der Republik") and DJ line-ups at the Kunsthalle complement the offerings.

(APA/Red)

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