Ars Electronica Festival 2016: Radical Atoms and Drone 100 in Linz

The 2016 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, from September 8 to 11, features a drone swarm performance titled Drone 100 – Spaxel sopra Linz on September 10, with 100 luminous quadcopters choreographed to music by Austrian composer Sam Auinger. The festival opens on September 8 at Post City with music, performances, and food, followed by the Golden Nica awards gala at Brucknerhaus on September 9. Directed by Christine Schöpf and Gerfried Stocker, the festival highlights the theme of Radical Atoms, a concept by Hiroshi Ishii of the MIT Media Lab's Tangible Media Group, merging digital and physical realms. A symposium with experts Tomotaka Takahashi, Carlo Ratti, Ivan Poupyrev, and Joachim Sauter explores this vision. The exhibition 'Gli alchimisti del nostro tempo' features over 230 artists, showcasing tangible digital interfaces through neo-bio-technology, robotics, and traditional craftsmanship.