The Ars Electronica Festival for Art, Technology and Society is a gathering of artists, scientists and technologists, offering a setting for experimentation, evaluation and reinvention.

8-12 September, 2016

Each year the Ars Electronica Festival is devoted to a specific theme. The 2016 theme is "RADICAL ATOM and the alchemists of our time... and what comes after self-driving cars and the internet of things?"

While the world still has its hands full dealing with the Digital Revolution and the cultural and social transformations and challenges that it’s brought about, a young generation of scientists and creative engineers has set a course for new frontiers and is already at work amalgamating the disembodied world of digital data with the physical world of our bodies.

They’re interconnecting bits and atoms in elementary form, fabricating new high-tech materials from natural substances. They’re teaming up with artists and designers, employing the neurosciences and biotechnology, digital hardware & software, and bringing together old handicrafts traditions with 3-D printers and laser cutters.

The programme of every Ars Electronica Festival is an extraordinary mix of diverse formats and features. Visitors can customize their own personal Ars Electronica itinerary by choosing from among a wide array of conferences, speeches, exhibitions, concerts, performances and interventions staged over five days.

The winners of the STARTS Prize will be honored at the Prix Ars Electronica Gala. The STARTS programme encourages synergies between the Arts and innovation for technology and society by promoting the inclusion of artists in Horizon 2020 projects.