In Joe Davis' fascinating Bacterial Radio project, genetically modified microbes are combined into electrical circuits designed to convey sound. It's one of the interesting projects that will be on display next week at Ars Electronica, one of the largest and most well-known art and technology festivals in the world.

Bacterial Radio won the Golden Nica, the event's top prize, in the Hybrid Art Category. The image gallery above showcases some of the most intriguing art projects heading to the annual festival that has been attracting thousands of artists, engineers and thinkers to Linz, Austria, since 1979.

The gallery includes other Golden Nica winners like:

• Jeff Desom's Rear Window Loop, a meticulous condensation of Hitchcock's classic Rear Window into three spellbinding minutes.

• Memopol-2, a sinister "social machine" by Estonian artist Timo Toots that takes a passport or ID card from a visitor and produces a dossier of personal information gleaned from the internet.

• Jo Thomas' physics data-sonification project, Crystal Sounds of a Synchotron.

Another major highlight of the festival is Japanese artist Seiko Mikami's giant, eerie installation Desire of Codes, which includes six robot arms equipped with video cameras and 90 "mechanical feelers" with built-in surveillance cameras.

Ars Electronica 2012 runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.