Ars Electronica in Automobil Forum Unter den Linden is a temporary exhibition staged by Ars Electronica and Volkswagen. It was their third time in a row in Berlin. This year it’s running from 12.7-16.9.2012. By the time of posting, there’s only a few days left but I just want to say it out loud on how great they all are, and how I’m starting to look forward to it every year (a.k.a: please, please, please do it again next year ^^ )

The best part of this exhibition for me, was always because it’s one you can participate in. You could have a look at how things work, seeing how a cross artist – engineer would see things. I just love interactive exhibitions versus the ones you can only look at; or even worse: only look from a distance and not being able to take picture at all.

In 2010, the highlight were this piano which generates music from spoken text, Deus Cantando and then there’s the simulation of sandstorm where you sit in the middle of it, and have all the styrofoam circling around you. Let me tell you, that it actually felt strangely calming to sit in the middle of swirling styrofoams.

In 2011, my highlight was: what do machines dream of? There was an installation with a camera capturing your silhouette. Then it will carve your silhouette on a sticker and you could stick it on a wall and add something on it if you’d like. Yes, most of the people went on to the “Hello everybody, we’re in Berlin!.” but Abi managed to come up with (what I thought as) a cool idea. What if the machine had a nightmare instead?

This year, my highlight was actually this play on light and everyday stuff installation: The Tenth Sentiment. The artist, Ryota Kuwakubo created a movement of light going through ‘normal’ things like clothes hanger and trash basket and making it look like it’s part of an urban life. Absolutely brilliant idea!

The pictures I took of this particular one isn’t so great due to my non SLR camera, but here is a better video of the exhibition, taken from the artist’s website – description of the tenth sentiment:

And another video interview of the artist: http://vimeo.com/21064437

PS: I’m so sorry I didn’t document the artist names on the previous exhibitions. If any of you know who made it, please do tell me in the comments. Also the description of experience was actually what’s left in my head two years later. So please see it as a lasting impression, not accuracy.