As this year's festival concept, “Machine Does Not Give Change” invites us to rethink our increasingly intimate relationship with technology in a time of constant unpredictability and profound changes. An artwork asks us to scream in front of a mirror to interact with it (and release some of the stress and negative energy), while a simple walk through the Novi Zagreb neighborhood takes us on an expedition into the sea of electromagnetic sound – fascinating and frightening at the same time. Dream machines, ballerinas from the future, space whiskers and a robotic sculptor-ecologist – all to be found on the charming, humorous, rebellious Device_art playground.
This year the festival is developed in collaboration with a group of curators from ZKM | Center for Art and Media from Karlsruhe and is conceived as a dialogue between the German and Croatian “device art” scene. This is in line with the long tradition of the festival and its previous editions dedicated to the Japanese, Canadian, Californian, Czech and Slovenian scene, as well as the global tech-art tendencies presented in its last iteration. As one of the leading international festivals that has been focusing on technology in contemporary art since 2004, Device_art in its new edition continues to push boundaries of artistic media through witty and provocative works and concepts that question the potentials, limitations and impacts of technology on everyday life.
