This year’s Expanded Animation will take place at the skyloft in Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria.
Live Since
Expanded Animation 2024
The twelfth edition of the Expanded Animation Symposium, organized by the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and Ars Electronica, will take place from September 5th to 7th as part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2024.
Location: skyloft at Ars Electronica Center, Ars-Electronica-Straße 1, 4040 Linz, Austria
A collaboration between Ars Electronica and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria Hagenberg Campus, curated by Juergen Hagler and Daniela Duca De Tey
The 2024 Ars Electronica Animation Festival is a diverse showcase that invites spectators to discover current artistic productions in the field of digital animation. The showcase presents around 60 cutting-edge videos, encompassing everything from CGI to AI-generated visuals, cinematic deepfakes, animated documentaries and data visualizations. Most were selected from the submissions at Prix Ars Electronica 2024, while others were provided by prestigious international partners such as SIGGRAPH, ISEA, and Runway AI Film Festival. For the first time this, Ars Electronica Animation Festival will take place in medSPACE, a new venue for teaching anatomy, offering an immersive 4k screening experience with a projection surface of 14 by 7 meters. Located on the medical campus of Johannes Kepler University Linz, the space has been developed and implemented by the Ars Electronica Futurelab.
PRIX ARS ELECTRONICA BEST-OF
Enjoy a compilation of outstanding animations awarded by the New Animation Art jury of Prix Ars Electronica 2024. The selection encompasses a wide array of critical social-political themes and challenges of our times: data surveillance, climate change, the erosion of image credibility, the commodification of transnational education and the invisible human labor that goes into training AI systems.
H-O-P-E
Hope alone cannot shape a project for future improvement, but it can serve as the underlying emotion that translates into various actions and tendencies shaping the future. Let us for a moment think about hope not as a tool, but as a springboard for other useful concepts encapsulated in its letters: H for Healing, O for Otherness, P for Paradox, E for Entanglement.
AUSTRIAN PANORAMA
AUSTRIAN PANORAMA presents a diverse mix of experimental and humorous works by Austrian artists or those based in Austria. This program features creative fusions of dance, music and AI, alongside deep explorations of memory and the human body. Dystopian scenarios and comedic notes are also woven into this eclectic selection.
DATA AND SCIENCE VISUALIZATIONS
Through animation, scientific concepts become more than just data—they become stories that resonate and inspire. Graphical representations of data often unveil “hidden” insights about our world. In other words, they make us aware of phenomena that develop either too slowly (climate change) or too fast (DNA replication) to be noticeable through direct experience or observation technology.
ANIMATION GUEST PROGRAMS
Three outstanding guest programs are enriching our medSPACE showcase. The SIGGRAPH compilation includes selections from their prestigious yearly Electronic Theatre showcase. Runway AI Film Festival offers a glimpse into a new creative era, demonstrating the rich variety of styles emerging in AI-driven filmmaking. Finally, the Constellations ISEA program features a blend of Indigenous and Western animation styles and techniques.
MEET THE ARTIST SERIES
Several artists awarded at Prix 2024 will join us at medSPACE and Deep Space 8K to present their work in person. Award of Distinction winners Timothy Thomasson (CA) and Jeremy Kamal (US), and Honorary Mention winners Nicolas Gourault (FR) and Rachel Maclean (GB) will offer insights into their creative processes and discuss the key themes and motivations driving their projects.
YOUNG ANIMATIONS
Like every year, the works of talented filmmakers up to the age of 19 are celebrated in the category YOUNG ANIMATIONS. The program is a selection of short films created by young artists across Austria, who have submitted their projects to the Prix Ars Electronica 2024 in the u19–create your world category.
SPEAKERS
The speakers for Expanded Animation 2024 are confirmed and we’re proud to introduce them to you.
Art & Industry
featured by Sparte Information & Consulting der WKOÖ
Dr. Jan Pinkava
Animationsinstitut Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Bonnie Mitchell
Bowling Green State University
Artist Position
Nicolas Gourault
www.nicolasgourault.fr
Paul Trillo
www.paultrillo.com
Rachel Maclean
www.rachelmaclean.com
ASIFA Austria Forum
Onat Hekimoglu & Ole Tillmann
Slow Bros GmbH
Irina Rubina
iraru.films
Paul Clarke
Uninvited Guests
Reinhold Bidner
gold extra
Art Research Paper
Biin Shen
China Academy of Art
Dr. Ellen Pearlman
RISEBA University & NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Greg Bott & Musaab Garghouti
University of Plymouth
Luca Cacini
www.caciniluca.com
Chi-Hung Huang & Chun-Huang Lin
National Tsing Hua University
Weihao Qiu
UC Santa Barbara
Clarissa Ribeiro
Roy Ascott Studio
Juan Carlos Vasquez
Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University
Amy Alexander
UC San Diego
Hana Pokojná
Masaryk University
Wolfgang Höhl
scienceviz.com
Maria Pfeifer & Peter Holzkorn
Ars Electronica Futurelab
Art Paper
Rewa Wright, Simon Howden & Mereana Wright-Osborne
UnCalculated Studio
Margarita Köhl & David Altweger
Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
June Kim
University of New South Wales
Vrääth Öhner
St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
Vinaya Tawde
Masaryk University
Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang
National Tsing Hua University
Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo
Texas A&M University
Steve Jones & Alejandra Abad
Florida Atlantic University
Michael Wallinger
www.michaelwallinger.net
Wei-Cheng Hsu, Yu-Fang Lai & Cheng-Yun Yeh
National Tsing Hua University
Xiruo Wang
University College London
Verena Repar
www.verenarepar.com
Yuchen Yang
EPFL
Flavia Mazzanti & Manuel Bonell
Immerea
Camille C Baker
Royal College of Art
PROGRAM
This year’s symposium features five distinct tracks: the panel Artist Position, Art & Industry, Art Research Paper, Art Paper, and the ASIFA Austria Forum.
All scheduled times are local Austrian time (Europe/Vienna). Use the dropdown below to switch to a different timezone.
The proceedings of the Expanded 2024 – Conference on Animation and Interactive Art can be found here:
Ars Electronica and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria Hagenberg Campus are showcasing animations, which can be seen at the 2024 Ars Electronica Animation Festival.
LIVE
Visit the Expanded Animation YouTube channel to see current and past content.
Switch to the current or next scheduled live stream by clicking on the button below.
Expanded Animation – Mapping and Unlimited Landscape
The symposium Expanded Animation began in 2013 and offered a first approach to the expanding field of computer animation. It has since become an established part of the Ars Electronica Animation Festival and the international competition Prix Ars Electronica Computer Animation. Every year under an overarching theme, the symposium has researched the field of technology, art, animation, and aesthetics, investigated the collapsing boundaries in digital animation, and explored positions and future trends. As with the first conferences on computer animation at Ars Electronica in the 1980s, practice and theory are equally important. The richly illustrated publication Expanded Animation: Mapping an Unlimited Landscape features contributions from speakers and artists from the past six years and presents an overview of the prize winners in prix category Computer Animation from 2011 to 2018.
250 pages, 250 Illustrations
EXPANDED PLAY EXHIBITION
Expanded Play is a cooperative exhibition that explores various perspectives of mixed reality and spatial interaction within the realm of playful media, showcasing a range of student works from the Digital Media Department at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and the Department of Visual Computing at Masaryk University. The exhibition is located at the Salzamt in Linz, a platform for artists and cultural creators from various fields. During Expanded Play, the venue will be utilized to explore a wide range of experiences between games and interactive installations. A selection of diverse exhibits will be showcased, each opening different realms of experience: from a VR reading corner that allows visitors to engage with books in a novel way, to performative installations such as Förglets, where the player’s body and other physical objects serve as the controller. This innovative use of space and technology will provide attendees with an immersive journey through the evolving landscape of interactive art and play.
Atelierhaus Salzamt, Obere Donaulände 15, Linz
Wed. Sept. 4 to Sun. Sept. 8 2024
Wed–Sat: 11:00–20:00, Sun: 11:00–18:00
Leitnocht
Leitnocht
“Leitnnocht” is an immersive game that fuses point-and-click mechanics with a distinctive stop-motion-inspired aesthetic, bringing to life the mysterious Bavarian Alpine village of Moosbach. As you explore this handcrafted world, players step into the shoes of Karl Schneider, a young legal assistant, as he searches for his friend’s missing fiancée.
Selina Behrens (AT), Sebastian Grundherr (AT), Florian Horak (AT), Julia Posch (AT), Dominik Senzenberger (AT), Martin Siedler (AT), Michelle Treziak (DE/AT)
Starborne Mail - The Cosmic Courier
Starborne Mail - The Cosmic Courier
“Starborne Mail—The Cosmic Courier” is a recursive exploration game where the player is a postman in a dying world, delivering mail to quirky villagers while racing against oxygen depletion. Through interactions with different characters, the player uncovers secrets and collects rocket parts with the aim of building a rocket to escape from this dying world and travelling to a space station.
Daniel Kleibl (AT, Daniel Pauli (AT), Laura-Christina Palmetshofer (AT), Marlene Kremsmayr (AT)
Rūḥ
Rūḥ
Augmented Social Play (ASP) is an innovative digital intervention format that leverages smartphones to deliver real-world, face-to-face group psychotherapeutic experiences and foster supportive communities. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly heightened social isolation and mental health challenges among young people, exacerbated by the rise of social media use driven by digitalization and social transformations. “Rūḥ”, a prototype co-developed with children, psychologists and Augmented Reality designers, aims to teach cognitive behavioral therapy tools to adolescents.
Vinaya Tawde (IN/CZ)
Time Machine
Time Machine
Image Time Machine is a playful prototype that allows users to take images and effectively “put them in the past”, i.e. look like they were taken at a different point of time. Clothing, vehicles and various other objects are altered or replaced to reflect the expectations of the chosen era. A custom machine learning approach utilising stable diffusion as a starting point was developed to create an alternative look into the past.
Felix Rader (AT), Alexander Gärtner (AT)
Evolutionary Diffusion
Evolutionary Diffusion
This interactive project allows users to perform AI evolutionary operations themselves. You can create a new random image or select an existing image to mutate its embedding, thereby creating a variation. Selecting two images enables mixing, resulting in a combined image with characteristics of both.
Marcel Salvenmoser (AT)
Still
Still
“Still” is a story-based video game in which the player solves various audio puzzles. The main goal was to incorporate sound as an essential game mechanic to the game and realize a gradual shift in between auditory and visual dimensions.
Jan Klug (AT), Viktoria Heng (AT), Nicole Lehmann (AT), Stephanie Schattauer (AT)
Förglets
Förglets
“Förglets” is an interactive, projection-based game installation that uses the player’s silhouette as a collision object. In this *Lemmings*-inspired game, small creatures are trying to get to a pre-defined goal in a small, carefully crafted world.
Paul Huemer (AT), Kevin La (AT), Felix Rader (AT)
H.A.N.D.S.
H.A.N.D.S.
*H.A.N.D.S.* is a game project that combines virtual reality with gesture recognition. The project members pretend to be employees of a fictional company aiming to release a new product. The VR game represents the virtual testing ground for this new product.
Andreas Weinberger (AT), Özenc Dinler (AT), Kerstin Kaiser (AT)
Mind the Passage
Mind the Passage
Monday. The walls feel like they are about to collapse. A desperate struggle for breath. Do not think about this and that. What else can go wrong? This feels like being stuck in a meat grinder. I hope I can get my work done today. Thoughts collide, a chaotic ballet. Who is saying that? I will… slow down. Lack of time, lack of focus. Being overwhelmed. Restless. Always occupied, in constant worry. Nothing works. Nothing is right.
Marko Rehacek (SK/CZ), Magdaléna Kejstová (SK/CZ)
Interactive ATP Reaction
Interactive ATP Reaction
This installation combines science, art and technology with the aim of making biochemistry more understandable and interesting. It uses real-life data and encourages viewers to interact with molecules that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
Hana Pokojná (SK/CZ)
I See You
I See You
“I See You” is an innovative interactive story that places the player’s gaze at the center of its gameplay experience, using eye-tracking technology. This game immerses players in a 2D world where their line of sight influences the narrative, the environment, and non-player character (NPC) reactions.
Lisa Bayr (AT), Gerald Gruber (AT), Elisa Hackl (AT), Florian Horak (AT)
Bookwander
Bookwander
Reading fiction in virtual reality is an unexplored topic whose potential is yet to be discovered. So far, the closest research field in which extended reality (XR) is applied to written texts is the use of augmented reality (AR) in education. Most of the time, this field does not focus on leisure reading and does not aim to intentionally create pleasure for the reader, but is rather focused on enhancing learning. “Bookwander” is a VR prototype presenting four different approaches to adapting written fiction for virtual reality.
Nikola Kunzová (SK/CZ)
ANIMATION SCREENING: Digital Media, Hagenberg Campus
ANIMATION SCREENING: Digital Media, Hagenberg Campus
This program features a selection of recent student works, ranging from narrative shorts to experimental animation, from the Digital Media Department at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Hagenberg.
Curated by Patrick Proier & Juergen Hagler
Laute Stille
04:14 | Lisa Bayr, Leonie Roithner, Katharina Arbeitshuber, Lukas Brandstetter
Sound Play
03:57 | Anna Reiff, Philipp Guggenberger
Dreamcatcher
01:10 | Dominik Senzenberger
ES IST WOHL SOMMER
09:05 | J Schönbauer, Leonie Sametinger, Olivia Lehnert, Alissa Calliari, Lisa Wohlschlager
Wildwechsel
04:10 | Eva-Valentina Dietrich, Iris Feyrer, Wiktoria Olborski, Anika Weinreich, Tess Stockmayr
Overload
03:20 | Remo Rauscher, 5. Semester DAb
Kintsugi
02:24 | Nadine Promberger, Kevin Killinger, Magdalena Holzner
Relax
06:16 | Jessica Studwell, Rico Feyrer, David Haider, Hannah Lucia Brosch
VIDEOS
Videos from Expanded Animation 2024.
GALLERY
Impressions from past Expanded Animation symposia.
PARTNERS & CREDITS
Partners
The symposium has been made possible through a collaboration between the Digital Media department at the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and the Ars Electronica Festival. We want to thank the following sponsors for their support.
Supported by
Organization
General Chair
Juergen Hagler (AT), Ars Electronica & University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
TPCs Art Research Track
Victoria Szabo (US), Duke University
Philipp Wintersberger (AT), Interdisciplinary Transformation University & University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
TPCs Art Track
Varvara Guljajeva (EE/CN), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Bonnie Mitchell (US), Bowling Green State University
Panel Chairs
Reinhold Bidner (AT), gold extra
Michael Lankes (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Alexander Wilhelm (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Inclusion Chair
Kathrin Probst (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Publication Chair
Martin Kocur (DE/AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Web & Social Media
Nils Gallist (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Wolfgang Hochleitner (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Victoria Wolfersberger (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Exhibition
Jeremiah Diephuis (US/AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Simone Kriglstein (AT/CZ), Masaryk University
Event Production Chairs
Patrick Proier (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Christoph Schaufler (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Trailer & Visual Art
Lilith-Isa (AT), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Ars Electronica Animation Festival
Daniela Duca De Tey (RO/DE), Ars Electronica
Juergen Hagler (AT), Ars Electronica & University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Event Production Team
Katharina Arbeithuber (AT), Lino Brunmayr (AT), Simone Feldbacher (AT), Iris Feyrer (AT), Jana Greiter (AT), Sarah Haim (AT), Janah Helly (AT), Viktoria Heng (AT), Christina Hohl (AT), Magdalena Holzner (AT), Maria Horvath (AT), Kevin Killinger (AT), Susanne Kirchmayr (AT), Antonia Klar (AT), Jan Klug (AT), Marlene Kremsmayr (AT), Kevin La (AT), Selina Mensah (AT), Lea Obermair (AT), Laura Christina Palmetshofer (AT), Nadine Promberger (AT), Leo Sametinger (AT), Kathrin Staudinger (AT), Jennifer Ye (AT)