“Anything one can imagine, others can make real.” Jules Verne would not be astounded by the global
travel possibilities available to humankind today. In 1872, the father of science fiction sent an English
gentleman named Phileas Fogg on his world-famous journey “Around the World in 80 Days.” In 2009, Ars Electronica and
voestalpine will dispatch the city of Linz on a trip around the world, though this one will be a virtual adventure via
the fiber optic cables and satellite hookups of our globalized information society. Over the course of these 80 days,
we’ll make 80 stops on 20 locations around the world where the future is being invented and mastered as well as thwarted
and destroyed. Each of these locations is being assigned a particular theme: for instance, climate change, terror and genetic engineering.
Journalistic, artistic and scientific means will be deployed to elaborate on the essential problems of our future and to get an updated picture
of our globalized, networked world. These findings and insights will then be transmitted via information technologies to Linz, where a
unique panoramic screen will be set up on the Hauptplatz (main square) to serve as a “window on the world”, and people there will
encounter and communicate with their counterparts worldwide. At certain times, interpreters will be on hand to assist the dialogue.
And the Hauptplatz will also be serving as a setting for discussions, artistic projects, concerts and exotic feast. Another main
node of this network will be the new and expanded Ars Electronica Center: base station and “expedition vehicle” of this ‘round-the-world
journey’ and location of the mapping & knowledge room in which all information flows and dispatches converge and are visualized using
state-of-the-art hardware and software. Finally, on the 81st day, Ars Electronica, Linz09 and voestalpine will be hosting a global
conference that is destined to be one of the absolute highlights of the 2009 Ars Electronica Festival.
Phileas Fogg showed little concern for the actual people or places through which he
traveled: He was entirely focused on winning his wager with the club members.
Jules Verne’s heroes were as much the rail engine and steamship as they were Fogg
and his resourceful valet Passepartout. With only small dashes of compassion, anger,
and (ultimately) love to keep things spicy, Jules Verne crafted a timely and relevant
cliffhanger based almost entirely on new, not yet- familiar technologies.
But suppose we were to take a fresh look at Jules Verne’s famous narrative and ask:
How would we redo it today? What are the new global-scale technologies and what do
they enable? What’s the wager? What constitutes global-scale meaning and relevance?
One answer clearly has to do with the Internet and global networks in general, in
that they enable telematics and virtuality to replace physical travel. An 80-day
virtual voyage around the world need not be physically contiguous, traveling from
physical point to physical point by land, sea, or even air. “Hyper travel” is
possible, moving from place to place, perhaps based on theme rather than geography,
as quickly as a cut in a movie. The technologies for live, interactive, immersive
two-way experiences are worthy of creative exploration. more
Michael Naimark
Information and communications technologies have made it possible for us to access
gargantuan quantities of data, images, videos, sounds, information, news and opinion
from all over the world. The Internet hasn’t exactly changed the world, but it has
changed the way we get our impressions of the world and how we react to them.
We are made aware that the entire world is inhabited by human beings who have
basically the same dreams, wishes and needs that we have. We learn that, all
over the world, there are people who have good ideas, are able to solve problems,
and would like to impart their knowledge to others. We recognize that we can get
connected to human beings who live someplace else on this planet, that we can learn
from each other and jointly solve problems. With the “80+1” project we want to
(act in contrast to Phileas Foog and) focus on concerns for people, places and
their future topics on our planet. more
Sonja Bettel
When: June 18 to September 6, 2009
Where: Ars Electronica Center and Linz’s Main Square (Hauptplatz)
Idea / Concept: Ars Electronica Linz, voestalpine AG and Linz09
Project Staff: Michael Naimark, Sonja Bettel, Martin Heller,
Michael Sterrer-Ebenführer, Hannes Leopoldseder, Gerfried Stocker,
Manuela Pfaffenberger, Christopher Ruckerbauer, Steve Clark
