the clash of generations
what most marked this latest edition of ars electronica was an underlying clash of generations. for the first time a substantial part of the conference’s line-up was made up by a relatively young generation of artists/coders. while among the art exhibits the freshest and most vibrant approach could definitely be found in the so-called campus, where students of the hgkz in zuerich were using combinations of low-tech/high-tech materials to challenge the analogue/digital destinction in a most innovative manner. yet both the younger generation of speakers and media artists had one thing in common. their presentations were in both cases hip, oozing with life-style and sounded/looked real good, but if you actually thought about their message, it did not go very deep.
one of the key characteristics of the “babyboomers” has always been, that they are a highly opinionated bunch. with all the irritation, that this sometimes produces, at least they are easy to understand and even easier to go into opposition against.
the new generation of speakers/artists seemed rather vague in comparison.
so in a way a very typical situation was reproduced here at ars electronica. the “babyboomers” once again took it upon themselves to outline the highly opinionated theoretical backdrop, while the “nintendo generation” were/are the one’s doing the actual work and taking things to the next level – but not talking about it! one is left wondering when and how this smoldering conflict of generations will start to clash in a more overt way …
read my complete review at fieldreport