Playfulness is becoming a powerful tool and mindset for individuals to overcome the existing patterns and standards of culture, art, science, and technology. This ability can be applied by all people who derive joy from discovering ways to circumvent limitations. By this means, “Play” is way different to “Entertainment”. Playful behavior can be even valid for people that are not very much involved in gaming, giving them a chance to try things out. “Play” is a method to deal with reality and to encourage: to look at the world in different ways. “I am playing” means that I can do something that I am not otherwise doing. The creation of play experiences may deal with existing resources in new ways by operating on the intersections of different fi elds and disciplines.
The exhibition is showing emerging artistic ability profi les transformed by heterogeneous sets, tools and methods of creation departed from interactive media- and interface technology.
To take advantage of disciplines related to communication technology, bioscience, physical computing, interaction design, fashionable technology or information visualization, artists are focusing on new ways to combine these complex frameworks within test environments and experimental concepts. This origin is supporting groupand project based developments and inspires a fl exible and multi-perspective sharing of knowledge and abilities within the process of artistic creation.
The “PlayFace InterCult” exhibition features artworks selected by the amber Art and Technology Platform Istanbul and the Interface Cultures department at the University of Art and Industrial Design Linz. Following last years presentation of Playful Interface Cultures at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz and at the amberFestival in Istanbul, this exhibition is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Turkey and Austria, where young Turkish media art is presented with selected works of the Interface Cultures program.

Ekmel Ertan
Martin Kaltenbrunner
Georg Russegger
Curators