A fascinating art and technology event opens doors from 30th of April until 5th of May at Ingensteds, Brenneriveien 9 in Oslo.

In it's third year of existence Art.on.Wires combines cutting edge electronic media arts, video projection mapping, sound design, screendance and telematic performance techniques in one event.

Art.on.Wires is organised by Alexander Eichhorn, a multimedia technology researcher at Simula Research Laboratory.

What is Art.on.Wires? 'AOW can be seen as a mix between a convention and a festival where participants are the main actors. They can attend workshops, learn about recent developments in media technology and how to use it for artistic purposes', says Eichhorn.

Art.on.Wires has invited artists and researchers from more than 10 countries who will share their knowledge and experience in several workshops throughout the festival week. The event is arranged as an open laboratory where participants get a hands-on training and can directly try out technology themselves.

Eichhorn: 'This is a very special event for Oslo. We have invited professionals from across Europe and the US who will present the latest developments in media technology. Our target group are media artists, designers, creative professionals, researchers, and students who all share an interest in technology, creative thinking and innovative ways of problem solving.'

So, why should people attend? 'We offer a unique expierence, first-class knowledge that is hard to find elsewhere and the chance to meet some of Europe's most innovative media artists.' says Eichhorn.

The event starts Monday, April 30th morning and runs until Saturday, May 5th afternoon. Tickets are available for affordable prices online under http://art-on-wires.org or at the door. Most workshops have limited seats, so a pre-registration is required.

Eichhorn: 'We are very much looking forward to an inspiring week for everyone.'

Festival Opening hours:
Mon 30th APR: 9-19
Tue 1th MAY: 9-19
Wed 2nd MAY: 9-19
Thu 3rd MAY: 9-19
Fri 4th MAY: 9-23
Sat 5th MAY: 9-15

Ticket prices for a single ticket valid on all festival days:
250 NOK student and artists
500 NOK regular
900 NOK business

The number of tickets is limited to 100. You can purchase a single ticket per order only, however, ordering multiple tickets in different transactions is possible. For people from Norway we will ship tickets before the festival if they were purchased no later than April 23. Everyone else can pick up the ticket at the festival entrance starting from the first festival day April 30, 9am.

We're looking forward to welcoming you at Art.on.Wires 2012 and wish you an inspiring event.

An official schedule including detailed workshop descriptions will follow during the next days. Ticket sales will start on April 1, 2012.

Art.on.Wires is an annual arts and science festival for young and innovative artists, researchers and creative professionals who work in the fields of new media art, information technology, and communication design. From 30. April to 5. May 2012 we set up an artistic laboratory at Ingensteds next to Blå in Grünerløkka (Oslo) where artists turn into researchers and researchers make art. Our festival has become an international meeting point for sharing experiences, exploring emerging forms of artistic expression, and reflecting on the chances and risks of tomorrow's technologies.

Our audience are media artists, designers, creative professionals, researchers, and engineers who share an interest in new multimedia technology, creative thinking and innovative ways of problem solving.

Festival at a glance
Dates: 30. april - 5. may kl 1000 - 2200
Location: Ingensteds (next to Blå), Strykejernet Kunstskole AS, Brenneriveien 9, Oslo, Norway
Tickets: for 6-days of festival with entrance to all activities - students 250 kr, regular 500 kr, business 900 kr
URL: http://art-on-wires.org
Organiser: Art.on.Wires Society
Supporters: Norsk Kulturråd, Forskningsråd, Strykejernet Kunstskole AS, Simula Research Laboratory AS

Download the full press release as PDF [160kB].

• Art.on.Wires Logo (black background) – PDF [1 MB] | PNG [19 kB]
• Festival Poster 2012 - PDF [4.4 MB]
• Press Image Pack - ZIP [15 MB]

AOW Talks is a new platform for researchers and artists to disseminate their work to a broad and interdisciplinary audience. AOW Talks are arranged as a session of selected and high-quality talks of at most 15 minute duration plus 5 minute Q&A which are live broadcasted to the Internet and made available as online recordings.

We call for multimedia researchers, scientists, engineers, artists, and designers to submit a one-page abstract and optionally a short video clip of at most 3 minutes length presenting their original work in the following fields:

• artistic programming toolkits
• video projection mapping
• remote presence art
• 3D printing and 3D copying
• motion sensing
• wearable computing
• information visualisation

Please submit your proposal as a single PDF file at our submission page. Choose 'AOW Talks' as category and select appropriate topics. Submission is open until Saturday, March 31 2012, 23:59h. All submissions are reviewed by a program committee and decisions will be announced on April 7, 2012.

For further questions please contact us at contact [at] art-on-wires [dot] org.

We call for media artists, designers, lecturers and researchers who enjoy sharing their knowledge in hands-on workshops in one of the following fields:

• artistic programming toolkits (OpenFrameworks, Cinder, MaxMSP, VVVV, etc.)
• video projection mapping
• sound processing toolkits (Ableton Live, etc.)
• 3D printing and 3D copying
• motion sensing (e.g. Kinect)
• hardware hacking and circuit bending (e.g. Arduino or other platforms)
• wearable computing
• glitch art
• information visualisation

Workshops should focus on practical activities and learning by doing. A workshop may either be half-day or full-day, depending on scope and activities planned. Participants should be able to take something home, be it a tangible object or an open-source/freeware software to continue experimenting.

Interested people or groups can send an application containing

• a brief workshop proposal [max 1 page] including a short description, workshop duration, target audience, required skills, maximum number of participants, infrastructure and equipment requirements, and costs for materials (e.g. hardware, if any)
• a short biography of the presenter or group [max 3 pages]
• a URL to supplemental material (website, video, etc)

Please submit your proposal as a single PDF file at our submission page. Choose 'Workshop Proposals' as category and select appropriate topics. Submission is open until Saturday, March 31 2012, 23:59h. All submissions are reviewed by a program committee and decisions will be announced on April 7, 2012. Selected workshop presenters will receive a grant covering travel and accommodation during the festival.

For further questions please contact us at contact [at] art-on-wires [dot] org.

Information technology has substantially changed our life in recent years and will continue to do so. What's drawn up on scientists' desks today will become part of our daily life in some years. 3-D and remote presence technologies will further blur the distance between remote communication and face-to-face meetings, machine recognition will make every person uniquely identifiable with a simple video camera, data-mining techniques will enable everyone to extract every single piece of information about a person, and filtering techniques will control what we are supposed to know.

Our main theme for 2012, 'Welcome to your Electrified Life' seeks to contrast the history of electrification with today's digitalisation. The electrification of our society during the 19th century drastically changed production, the public face of cities and everyday life in a way similar to  changes we can observe today where digital information and communication devices penetrate into the last corner of private life in real-time. Digital communication has a tremendous potential to democratise the world purely by free access to information, but it poses at the same time the biggest threat to independent and self-determined living since it is easy to manipulate and access is easy to restrict.

We call for young media artists from the following fields who take a critical look at chances and risks of today's technology through their artworks.

• VJ's and visual artists
• sound designers and experimental electronic music artists
• dancers and choreographers
• film makers and photographers
• designers and architects

We welcome submissions in the field of new and electronic media art such as tangible objects, interactive installations, live performances or the like which will be presented in an exhibition and live events during the festival. We particularly encourage submissions that explore the current digital landscape by drawing parallels to yesterday's electric revolution.

Interested artists or groups can send an application containing

• name, contact address and a short biography of yourself/your group [max 1 page]
• title of your work and year of creation
• a brief description of your work [max 1 page]
• technical requirements for exhibiting/performing your work [max 1 page]
• a URL to supplemental material (website, video, etc)

Please submit your proposal as a single PDF file at our submission page. Choose 'Artists and Artworks' as category and select appropriate topics. Submission is open until Saturday, March 31 2012, 23:59h. All submissions are reviewed by a program committee and decisions will be announced on April 7, 2012. Selected artists will receive a travel grant to attend the festival.

For further questions please contact us under contact [at] art-on-wires [dot] org.