The active involvement of Andreas J. Hirsch with the “digital transformation,” which at that time was frequently referred to as the “digital revolution,” began in 1994 with his work as co-editor-in-chief (together with Wolfgang Giegler and Wolfgang Tonninger) of SUPERVISOR Magazine, published by IDC Media. He visited Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, and Doors of Perception in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and held the “Vienna Coffeehouse Lecture” at Art Center College Pasadena, California.
For the Global Village Events at Vienna City Hall (initiated by Franz Nahrada / GIVE) he created the first temporary internet café in Vienna in 1995 and invited the artist group x-space (Gerfried Stocker and Horst Hörtner) to bring their installation Winke, Winke! to Vienna.
His involvement with Ars Electronica, which over the following 25 years included a range of roles as consultant, curator, juror, and artist, started in 1996 with the concept for the SKY Media Loft in the Ars Electronica Center. From 2004 until 2007 he served on the Prix Ars Electronica jury for the Digital Communities category, which he had helped to create.
Robert Adrian X Herbert W. Franke With Gerfried Stocker With Jimmy Wales With Derrick de Kerckhove
Under the title Designing the Creative Societies of the Future, he conceptualized the conference, workshop program and publication for the Creative Industries Convention in Graz, Austria, in 2010.
He curated the conference Open Source Life at the 2010 Ars Electronica Festival, with speakers including Saskia Sassen, Derrick de Kerckhove, John Thackara, among others.
When the Swiss artist HR Giger was selected as the Featured Artist for the 2013 Ars Electronica Festival, Andreas J. Hirsch curated both the exhibition “HR Giger – The Art of Biomechanics” at Lentos Art Museum and the project “HR Giger’s World” for the Deep Space at the Ars Electronica Center.
Together with Gerfried Stocker, he published the book The Practice of Art and Science in 2017, and in 2021 – together with co-editors Gerfried Stocker and Markus Jandl – the book The Practice of Art and AI, both Hatje Cantz, Berlin.
Andreas J. Hirsch is the author of the 2019 book Creating the Future – A Brief History of Ars Electronica 1979–2019 and the 2021 book Alchemists of the Future – Ars Electronica Futurelab – The First 25 Years and Beyond.