Kunstfabrik 4.0

TRANSFORMATION

In light of the economic, social and cultural changes currently taking place, the Kunstfabrik 4.0 cultural association aims, through this project, to utilise the former factory building on the paper mill site in Steyrermühl as a means of responding to current developments. Art and culture often act as seismographs when it comes to identifying new trends and changes. Art and culture can address changes and the uncertainties that accompany them in an unconventional and unconventional way.

Much of the world around us is in a state of upheaval; much of what was once considered certain has long since become obsolete. We live in an age in which we can no longer rely on anything. This uncertainty applies to all areas of life: even the regulated world of work, which has been in place for over 100 years, will have had its day in the coming years. Jobs are becoming more flexible and less regulated, and many will be made redundant through rationalisation. Just as, at the turn of the 19th century, the industrialisation of textile factories and iron and steel production – and later the assembly lines of the automotive industry – cost thousands of people their jobs and plunged them into abject poverty, today, however, it seems we are once again facing a complete upheaval of the world of work.

Not even electrification or the first wave of computerisation shook the world of work to the same extent as the rapidly advancing artificial intelligence and the accompanying new era of Industry 4.0 and Work 4.0.