VARIUOS PLACES - LINZ

04 - 09 SEPTEMBER 2008

Under the banner of “A NEW CULTURAL ECONOMY – The Limits of Intellectual Property” the 2008 Ars Electronica Festival aims to co-author the preamble to a new knowledge-based society.

What's at stake: the interplay of freedom of information and copyright protection, big profit-making opportunities and the vision of an open knowledge-based society. And this is also a matter of practical, workable regulations governing this new reality, rules whose formulation ought not to be left up to lawyers and MBAs alone.

As every year, also in this 2008 edition, Ars Electronica presents a program full of conferences, exhibitions, live performances and presentations. Look at the complete program here: http://www.aec.at/en/festival2008/program/content.asp

As every year, Ars Electronica will present also the winners of its remarkable Digital Art Price. The aim: to keep the Prix in sync with current developments in the dynamic field of cyberarts. The impressive response: 3,075 entries from 62 countries. Seven juries composed of internationally renowned experts convened to select the winners of six Golden Nicas, 14 Awards of Distinction and the Media.Art.Research Award. These honors alongwith prize money totaling 115,000 euros will be presented to the winners  at the Ars Electronica Gala.

The age of copyright and intellectual property has reached its expiration date. A development that already manifested itself in the technical fundamentals of the Internet has reared its head in the actual practices of a young generation of users and is bringing forth a new economy of sharing and open access.

With this provocative formulation, Ars Electronica is placing one of the core issues of modern knowledge-based society at the focal point of this year's festival program.
After all, regardless of the perspective from which one approaches this issue—that of the Internet pirates, the inventors of a new information commons, the pioneers of a sharing economy or the apologists of the creative industries—one thing remains true: if knowledge and content actually are to be the new capital of postindustrial society, then they have to circulate and be accessible by all.

www.aec.at/en