Okay, so my post from Linz was a bit of a false alarm. Instead of getting more posting done from Ars Electronica, I dropped into the office and Futurelab. I met up with Christopher Lindinger (the Futurelab’s Director of Development / Virtual Environments) and had a good talk about their Cave. I also ran into Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) — we met up for lunch and then took a good long walk up to a castle overlooking the city. While there we connected with Gunther Schmidl, a friend of friends who works at the Digital Economy division of Ars. After a group dinner I caught the Orient Express (no kidding) toward Germany.

I disembarked in Karlsruhe — site of ZKM, the Center for Art and Media. There I met with Sabine Himmelsbach (their Exhibition Director) and surprise addition Peter Weibel (their overall Director). And, just as I met up with Paul by surprise in Linz, at ZKM I ran into Mark Amerika (who I’d last seen at DAC) and spent the rest of the day and evening with him and a group of students who are simultaneously studying algorithms and aesthetics. We toured through the museum, encountering such classics of interactive media as Lynn Hershman’s Lorna and Jeffrey Shaw’s Legible City.

Now I’m in Amsterdam, relaxing a bit with my mother and brother. We have a little apartment we’re renting that looks over a canal and sidewalk cafe. We spend much of our time snacking on aged cheese and looking out the window at the movements of people and trees and water. Musicians come and play beneath our window for the audience at the cafe — almost all of them play “Those Were the Days” at some point during their medley.

I’ve got my laptop online again, for the first time in quite a while, at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. So there should be some posts here over the next couple days.

For starters, I’m happy to announce that Brion Moss, Chris Poultney, Rebecca Ross, and I have been awarded a commission by Turbulence.