The Ars Electronica Center was established in Linz, Austria in 1996 as a prototype of the “Museum of the Future”, and is a cultural facility for international media art that aims to create and provide a wide variety of interactive opportunities for the public to interact with state-of-the-art media technology. In addition to introducing media art, it has also held exhibitions focusing on the social implications of new technologies.
The four divisions making up Ars Electronica are the “Ars Electronica Center”, a state-of-the-art museum, the “Ars Electronica Futurelab”, a laboratory for media art research and social application, the “Ars Electronica Festival”, a festival held each September, and the “Prix Ars Electronica”, an international media art competition. A new Ars Electronica Center opened its doors to the public in 2009. Under the core theme of “humanity”, the Ars Electronica Center introduces the cutting-edge synthesis of art and science along themes ranging from robotics to biotechnology.
The center introduces a variety of projects corresponding to the five meta-keywords of “presence”, “emotion”, “body”, “order”, and “loneliness”, and pursues the theme of the “human” in the 21st century from the perspective of art. Through the robot, which is the synthesis of art and technology, the center also seeks to display the relationship that will exist between people of the future and technology in exhibits centering around the keyword of “emotion”.
In addition to becoming an international hub for media art, the new Ars Electronica Center, which opened its doors to the public in 2009, also functions as a center for regional and international cultural exchange.
It should also be noted that the city of Linz, Austria, where Ars Electronica is based, was chosen as the “European Capital of Culture 2009”.