“Focus Festivals” – competition organized by the Vienna Business Agency promotes technology-oriented creative concepts for art and cultural festivals
VIENNA ART WEEK is pleased to present a great initiative by the Vienna Business Agency: The “Culture & Technology: Focus Festivals” competition honored innovative and technology-oriented creative concepts in two stages that sustainably change and enrich festival operations.
Independent Space Index 2024, Dito, Photo Nikola Hergovich
The VIENNA ART WEEK is proud that one of its own project ideas, the Vienna Art Compass, was awarded a prize in the first stage of the competition. This confirms the relevance and quality of the initiatives that we and our partners are driving forward.
The competition
The aim of the competition was to encourage forward-looking solutions for festival operations. In a second stage, the winning festivals will develop their concepts into concrete projects. Following a selection process by an international jury, five projects were chosen to receive funding of up to 100,000 euros to support their implementation. With their collaborations, the winners are providing new impetus at the interface between the creative industries, festival operations and technology. With their concepts, they are helping to establish Vienna as a hotspot that combines culture and technology.
Culture & Technology: Focus Festivals – the funded projects
Independent Space Index with treat
The online “Festival Archive” makes off-spaces of the Viennese art scene and the history of the festival digitally accessible. In this way, the diverse activities of independent art spaces in Vienna are documented and made visible on a digital platform. It also promotes international networking. Image: Independent Space Index 2024, Sussudio, photo Janine Schranz.
Vienna Shorts with Tempuno, Pomper.dev and dotsandlines
The geocoaching game “Tree Trophy: Catch 'em if you can” playfully combines film and green city exploration with augmented reality. On an interactive scavenger hunt through Vienna, AR apps are used to track down trees dedicated to the festival's award winners. QR codes on the trees lead to film streams and further information. Image: © Vienna Shorts, Tempuno.
Waves Vienna with zukuNFTsmusik IT
With the “RFID Entry/CRM App”, the festival offers an innovative digital solution for visitors, professionals and artists. Festival wristbands connect users directly to an informative newsletter platform including personalized information about their own festival visit. Image: Waves Vienna © Alexander Galler.
Favorite Fall Festival with Artificial Museum
The cultural festival in the 10th district combines contemporary art, research and technology with the “VIRTUAL AR[T]WALK”. Using a smartphone app, selected walking routes become four-dimensional, artistic discovery tours and, in the long term, a virtual museum is created. Image: Favorite Fall, Virtual Artwalk © Jana Mack.
Wien Modern and Wiener Festwochen
The “Multiplicity Pilot” is an open tool designed to help festivals tailor their cultural offerings to the growing diversity of Vienna’s population. The data analysis should also reveal previously neglected data such as demographic and socio-cultural factors.
Award-winning concepts: The ten winners of the first round of the competition
Ten projects were awarded prizes in the first stage of the competition and selected for the second stage, in which the concepts were further developed into concrete projects. The selection demonstrates the diversity and innovative spirit of Vienna’s festivals and creative companies, as well as their technological expertise in implementing innovative cultural offerings:
• Aye-Aye – Musiktheatertage Wien
• Tree trophy geocaching – Vienna Shorts
• Multiplicity Pilot – Wien Modern
• Oh my Way – Open House Wien
• PIXELvienna – PIXELvienna Society
• CRM App – Waves Vienna
• Social Virtual Realities – Verein Culture2Culture
• VIRTUAL ARTWALK – Favorite Fall Festival
• Digital city map – Independent Space Index
• Vienna Art Compass – VIENNA ART WEEK
