Linz! It’s just a short stay, but I’ve come here to attend Ars Electronica.
While Ars Electronica is known as a festival of “Art, Technology, and Society,” I’ve learned it actually began as a municipal STEAM education project.
That means one of its main goals is to nurture and educate the next generation of leaders.
In fact, the U19 program is very well-developed, and children are enjoying STEAM activities everywhere. It’s amazing that the
city has been able to sustain such a wide range of programs over time.

Even though I’m supposed to be in Linz, I’ve run into more Japanese people here than I ever did back in Japan. Right after arriving at the
center, I snapped a photo with Mr. Ogawa, the director of Ars Electronica Japan—with whom I co-hosted a symposium on “Creating Spaces to Envision the Future”—and Mr. Oya from Hakuhodo. I’ll share more about future developments once I’m back in Japan.
At Post City, I spoke with Tomoe Moriyama—who has served for many years as a juror for numerous international exhibitions, including Ars Electronica and SIGGRAPH—about our upcoming project at Genbi.
I also reunited after a long time with Kazuhiko Washio, author of *The Challenge of Ars Electronica* and someone I’d previously participated in a roundtable discussion with at Sendenkaigi!If you read this book, you’ll get a complete picture of Ars Electronica. I highly recommend it! I’ve learned a lot from this book myself.
Junji Watanabe, a senior from my college days who now works at NTT, gave me a tour of the drone display exhibit.
At the hotel, I ran into Professor Takashi Kiriyama—my college professor and current Dean of the Graduate School of Film and New Media at the Tokyo University of the Arts!!! Masahiko Sato is exhibiting “Fingerprint Pond,” so if you’re visiting Ars, be sure to check it out. Fingerprints swim in the water.
In town, I also ran into Chiaki from Loftwork and Mr. Aoki from TED Kids.
In the evening, I had dinner with Professor Adrian and his colleagues. I’ve
already had a very eventful first day!