ARS Electronica 2025 - PANIC – yes/no
From September 3 to 7, 2025, Linz will once again become a hotspot for the international media art scene. Exhibitions, performances, concerts and conferences will be held at festival locations throughout the city, most of them at POSTCITY, the festival’s central venue.
PANIC – yes/no
Panic, yes or no? Shouldn’t we have long been in a state of absolute panic by now? Why aren’t we? There seem to be countless reasons for panic. Or is it all just scaremongering? How long can hope last, and what will follow it?
Pre-opening walk through Linz
TUE September 2, 2025 // Linz city center, from 15:30, free admission!
The Pre-Opening Walk kicks off the festival week. At the Upper Austrian Cultural Association (15:30), the Francisco Carolinum (16:00), the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (17:30), the University of Arts Linz (19:00), the Atelierhaus Salzamt (20:15), the Ars Electronica Center (21:00), and the Stadtwerkstatt (23:00), curators and artists will welcome you and offer you exclusive insights into their exhibitions and programs. Admission is free.
Opening
WED September 3, 2025 // St. Mary’s Cathedral, from 19:30, admission free!
With the official opening of Ars Electronica at the Mariendom, we invite you to celebrate the start of the festival together with us and many, many artists and art enthusiasts from all over the world. As a guest performance of the Brucknerfest 2025, special highlights are on the program for this evening:
With Visible An die Freude, the hearing-impaired musicians of the inclusive children’s and youth choir White Hands Chorus NIPPON from Japan, founded by Erika Colon, will perform the European anthem together with the Company of Music, the vocal ensemble led by Johannes Hiemetsberger. While some sing the text, the others will express it rhythmically in sign language. You and everyone else in the audience are cordially invited to sing and sign along.
As part of the Waltz Symphony, everything revolves around the music of Johann Strauss – and yet not at all. Students from four renowned music universities have used an AI system developed at the Ars Electronica Futurelab to create works inspired by the musical legacy of the Viennese “Waltz King”. Excerpts from their compositions will be performed by musicians from the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. The Waltz Symphony is a project of the Ars Electronica Futurelab in cooperation with four leading music academies and was commissioned for the Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna festival year. Admission is free on this evening.
Prix Ars Electronica Award Ceremony
THU September 4, 2025 // Design Center Linz, for guests with invitation
The Prix Ars Electronica Award Ceremony will take place for the second time at the Design Center Linz, its stars are the outstanding artists who will be awarded a Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica 2025. Also expected and honored on stage are Sarah Ciston (US) and representatives of the LAS Art Foundation (DE), the winners of this year’s STARTS Prize; representatives of Kairos Futura (KEN), the winners of the STARTS Prize Africa; as well as representatives of the HEROINES: Heritage of Emancipation initiative and the Antiquake Risk Hunter Community (TR), MoFWaste-The Museum of Food Waste (PT), the winners of the European Union Prize for Citizen Science.
Big Concert Night
FRI September 5, 2025 // POSTCITY, Train Hall, tickets available
The Big Concert Night will be performed in POSTCITY’s train hall and will commemorate the end of the Second World War 80 years ago. The centerpiece is the chamber opera “Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung“, by Viktor Ullmann and the libretto by Peter Kein, which was written in 1943/44 in the Theresienstadt ghetto. The impressive work is presented as a combination of orchestral performance and scenically visualized staging. The production is a cooperation between Ars Electronica, Dennis Russell Davies and the Filharmonie Brno, the Landestheater Linz and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Ars Electronica Nightline
FRI September 5, 2025 // POSTCITY, Train Hall, tickets available
The Ars Electronica Nightline presents DJ sets and performances in POSTCITY’s spectacular Gleishalle. Among them is the Catalan singer and composer Maria Arnal, who won a STARTS Prize in 2024 and performed at SONAR in June 2025, causing a sensation with her experiments between avant-garde pop, electronics and polyphonic traditional music.
Sonic Saturday
SAT September 6, 2025 // Anton Bruckner Private University + Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K
Sonic Saturday at the Anton Bruckner Private University opens up fascinating worlds of sound for you. For the first time, one of the musical highlights will take place at the Ars Electronica Center – in cooperation with the Brucknerfest as the opening of the Klangwolke (sound cloud) in Deep Space 8K: With their piano concert chroma, Daniel Oliver Moser (composition) and Konstantin Semilakovs (piano and visuals) present a work that combines piano sounds with generative visualizations.
Futurelab Night
SAT September 6, 2025 // Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K, Tickets available
The Futurelab Night also invites you to Deep Space 8K and shows how new technologies and artistic approaches can be combined to create extraordinary and fascinating experiences. Projects from the Ars Electronica Futurelab will be presented, including the Europe-wide XR research project SHARESPACE.
Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
You absolutely must see the Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition. The most important exhibition of the festival will be shown for the second time in a row at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz and presents outstanding media art projects that were submitted to and awarded the Prix Ars Electronica in 2025. The robotic installation Requiem for an Exit by Thomas Kvam and Frode Oldereid (both NO), winner of the Golden Nica in New Animation Art, and the political robotics project Guanaquerx by Paula Gaetano Adi (AR), winner of the Golden Nica in AI and Life Art, will be on show. Also a must-see is the project Organism by Navid Navab (IR/CA) and Garnet Willis (CA), winner of the Golden Nica in Digital Musics, which we present to you in the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz.
Theme Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // POSTCITY Linz, Bunker
Under no circumstances should you miss the large festival theme exhibition in the extensive catacombs of POSTCITY. Here you can experience works that visualize and reflect on the power of art – especially in times of upheaval and uncertainty. Calin Segal‘s interactive installation Whispers, for example, examines how algorithmically curated content and digital discourses shape our identities. Noemi Iglesias Barrios (ES), on the other hand, has collaborated with Radix, the Knowledge Center Data and Society and the League for Human Rights to create The Falling City, an artistic AI surveillance system that searches not for aggression but for love in the public space of Brussels. Etsuko Ichihara and the Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT) present Dystopia Land, a participatory exhibition project that creates a dystopian parallel universe to think together about possible futures, alternative ways of living and our resilience in the face of global crises.
S+T+ARTS Prize Exhibition + S+T+ARTS Prize Africa Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // POSTCITY Linz
Once again, we are dedicating an exclusive exhibition area to the STARTS Prize and STARTS Prize Africa projects – both initiatives of the European Commission. Among others, we present Sensing Quantum by LAS Art Foundation (DE), awarded the Grand Prize for Innovative Collaboration, AI War Cloud Database by Sarah Ciston (US), awarded the Grand Prize for Artistic Exploration, and The Wild Future Lab by Kairos Futura (KE), awarded the Grand Prize of the STARTS Prize Africa 2025. The exhibition will be complemented by a series of STARTS Talks, which will focus on the question of how art and culture can contribute to Europe’s digital sovereignty.
PANIC – yes/no
Panic, yes or no? Shouldn’t we have long been in a state of absolute panic by now? Why aren’t we? There seem to be countless reasons for panic. Or is it all just scaremongering? How long can hope last, and what will follow it?
Pre-opening walk through Linz
TUE September 2, 2025 // Linz city center, from 15:30, free admission!
The Pre-Opening Walk kicks off the festival week. At the Upper Austrian Cultural Association (15:30), the Francisco Carolinum (16:00), the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (17:30), the University of Arts Linz (19:00), the Atelierhaus Salzamt (20:15), the Ars Electronica Center (21:00), and the Stadtwerkstatt (23:00), curators and artists will welcome you and offer you exclusive insights into their exhibitions and programs. Admission is free.
Opening
WED September 3, 2025 // St. Mary’s Cathedral, from 19:30, admission free!
With the official opening of Ars Electronica at the Mariendom, we invite you to celebrate the start of the festival together with us and many, many artists and art enthusiasts from all over the world. As a guest performance of the Brucknerfest 2025, special highlights are on the program for this evening:
With Visible An die Freude, the hearing-impaired musicians of the inclusive children’s and youth choir White Hands Chorus NIPPON from Japan, founded by Erika Colon, will perform the European anthem together with the Company of Music, the vocal ensemble led by Johannes Hiemetsberger. While some sing the text, the others will express it rhythmically in sign language. You and everyone else in the audience are cordially invited to sing and sign along.
As part of the Waltz Symphony, everything revolves around the music of Johann Strauss – and yet not at all. Students from four renowned music universities have used an AI system developed at the Ars Electronica Futurelab to create works inspired by the musical legacy of the Viennese “Waltz King”. Excerpts from their compositions will be performed by musicians from the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. The Waltz Symphony is a project of the Ars Electronica Futurelab in cooperation with four leading music academies and was commissioned for the Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna festival year. Admission is free on this evening.
Prix Ars Electronica Award Ceremony
THU September 4, 2025 // Design Center Linz, for guests with invitation
The Prix Ars Electronica Award Ceremony will take place for the second time at the Design Center Linz, its stars are the outstanding artists who will be awarded a Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica 2025. Also expected and honored on stage are Sarah Ciston (US) and representatives of the LAS Art Foundation (DE), the winners of this year’s STARTS Prize; representatives of Kairos Futura (KEN), the winners of the STARTS Prize Africa; as well as representatives of the HEROINES: Heritage of Emancipation initiative and the Antiquake Risk Hunter Community (TR), MoFWaste-The Museum of Food Waste (PT), the winners of the European Union Prize for Citizen Science.
Big Concert Night
FRI September 5, 2025 // POSTCITY, Train Hall, tickets available
The Big Concert Night will be performed in POSTCITY’s train hall and will commemorate the end of the Second World War 80 years ago. The centerpiece is the chamber opera “Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung“, by Viktor Ullmann and the libretto by Peter Kein, which was written in 1943/44 in the Theresienstadt ghetto. The impressive work is presented as a combination of orchestral performance and scenically visualized staging. The production is a cooperation between Ars Electronica, Dennis Russell Davies and the Filharmonie Brno, the Landestheater Linz and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Ars Electronica Nightline
FRI September 5, 2025 // POSTCITY, Train Hall, tickets available
The Ars Electronica Nightline presents DJ sets and performances in POSTCITY’s spectacular Gleishalle. Among them is the Catalan singer and composer Maria Arnal, who won a STARTS Prize in 2024 and performed at SONAR in June 2025, causing a sensation with her experiments between avant-garde pop, electronics and polyphonic traditional music.
Sonic Saturday
SAT September 6, 2025 // Anton Bruckner Private University + Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K
Sonic Saturday at the Anton Bruckner Private University opens up fascinating worlds of sound for you. For the first time, one of the musical highlights will take place at the Ars Electronica Center – in cooperation with the Brucknerfest as the opening of the Klangwolke (sound cloud) in Deep Space 8K: With their piano concert chroma, Daniel Oliver Moser (composition) and Konstantin Semilakovs (piano and visuals) present a work that combines piano sounds with generative visualizations.
Futurelab Night
SAT September 6, 2025 // Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K, Tickets available
The Futurelab Night also invites you to Deep Space 8K and shows how new technologies and artistic approaches can be combined to create extraordinary and fascinating experiences. Projects from the Ars Electronica Futurelab will be presented, including the Europe-wide XR research project SHARESPACE.
Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
You absolutely must see the Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition. The most important exhibition of the festival will be shown for the second time in a row at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz and presents outstanding media art projects that were submitted to and awarded the Prix Ars Electronica in 2025. The robotic installation Requiem for an Exit by Thomas Kvam and Frode Oldereid (both NO), winner of the Golden Nica in New Animation Art, and the political robotics project Guanaquerx by Paula Gaetano Adi (AR), winner of the Golden Nica in AI and Life Art, will be on show. Also a must-see is the project Organism by Navid Navab (IR/CA) and Garnet Willis (CA), winner of the Golden Nica in Digital Musics, which we present to you in the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz.
Theme Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // POSTCITY Linz, Bunker
Under no circumstances should you miss the large festival theme exhibition in the extensive catacombs of POSTCITY. Here you can experience works that visualize and reflect on the power of art – especially in times of upheaval and uncertainty. Calin Segal‘s interactive installation Whispers, for example, examines how algorithmically curated content and digital discourses shape our identities. Noemi Iglesias Barrios (ES), on the other hand, has collaborated with Radix, the Knowledge Center Data and Society and the League for Human Rights to create The Falling City, an artistic AI surveillance system that searches not for aggression but for love in the public space of Brussels. Etsuko Ichihara and the Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT) present Dystopia Land, a participatory exhibition project that creates a dystopian parallel universe to think together about possible futures, alternative ways of living and our resilience in the face of global crises.
S+T+ARTS Prize Exhibition + S+T+ARTS Prize Africa Exhibition
September 3 – 7, 2025 // POSTCITY Linz
Once again, we are dedicating an exclusive exhibition area to the STARTS Prize and STARTS Prize Africa projects – both initiatives of the European Commission. Among others, we present Sensing Quantum by LAS Art Foundation (DE), awarded the Grand Prize for Innovative Collaboration, AI War Cloud Database by Sarah Ciston (US), awarded the Grand Prize for Artistic Exploration, and The Wild Future Lab by Kairos Futura (KE), awarded the Grand Prize of the STARTS Prize Africa 2025. The exhibition will be complemented by a series of STARTS Talks, which will focus on the question of how art and culture can contribute to Europe’s digital sovereignty.
3. bis 7. September 2025
Linz, Linz