Prix Ars Electronica
The 2012 Winners

(Linz, May 8, 2012) A total of 3,674 entries from 72 countries were submitted for prize consideration to the 2011-12 Prix Ars Electronica. This year’s most popular category was Digital Musics & Sound Art (834), followed by Computer Animation / Film / VFX (721), u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD (675), Interactive Art (547), Hybrid Art (472), Digital Communities (313) and [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant (112). The official awards ceremony will, as always, be held in conjunction with the Ars Electronica Gala on August 31, 2012 at the Brucknerhaus Linz.

Seven Competition Categories

Launched in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica is the acknowledged trend barometer in the international media art scene. Each year, juries composed of well-known experts single out outstanding work for recognition and honor their creators with Golden Nicas, the “Oscars of media art.” The competition’s seven categories celebrate the vibrant diversity of contemporary media art: HYBRID ART, COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX, INTERACTIVE ART, DIGITAL MUSICS & SOUND ART, DIGITAL COMMUNITIES, [THE NEXT IDEA] voestalpine ART AND TECHNOLOGY GRANT and the u19 CREATE YOUR WORLD category for Austrian young people.

Partners and Sponsors

The Prix Ars Electronica is produced by Ars Electronica Linz and the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company’s Upper Austria Regional Studio. Cooperating partners are Brucknerhaus Linz and the OK Center for Contemporary Art. The Prix Ars Electronica is supported by the City of Linz and the Province of Upper Austria. Lead sponsor is voestalpine, the donor of a grant to foster the development of visionary ideas. Additional sponsors are Liwest Kabelmedien GmbH, BFI, KulturKontakt Austria, Pöstlingberg Schlössl, Casinos Austria, Sony DADC and LINZ AG.

The Golden Nicas

Computer Animation / Film / VFX

Rear Window Loop / Jeff Desom (LU), Rear Window Loop
http://www.jeffdesom.com

“Rear Window Loop” is a spinoff of Hitchcock’s 1954 classic “Rear Window.” The film, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, is about a photojournalist who, after breaking his leg in an accident, is confined to a wheelchair. Out of boredom, he spends his time looking out his back window observing the goings-on in the courtyard of his Greenwich Village apartment building. Jeff Desom condenses Hitchcock’s masterpiece into a three-minute time-lapse video in which the famous rear window scenes of the original are assembled into a new collage yielding a panorama of the apartment complex that includes tilt-shift and other photographic effects. “Since everything was shot from pretty much the same angle, I could fit the individual scenes into a single panorama of the entire rear courtyard without much distortion,” Desom said of his work.

Rear Window Loop / Jeff Desom / Printversion / Album

Interactive Art

Memopol 2 / Timo Toots (EE)
www.timo.ee

“Memopol 2” depicts various information about a person whose ID or passport is inserted into the machine. “Memopol 2” combs international databanks and the WWW, and then shows the data it has harvested thereby on a large-format display. In these times in which we leave behind digital traces wherever we go online, and background checks by search engines and social network sites have long since become a part of everyday life, “Memopol 2” confronts us with our virtual likenesses.

Memopol 2 / Timo Toots / Printversion / Album

Digital Musics & Sound Art

Crystal Sounds of a Synchrotron / Jo Thomas (UK)
www.jothomas.me

A synchrotron accelerates elementary particles to extremely high speed. One result of this is to produce a multifaceted, ever-changing cacophony. Jo Thomas concentrated on the injection of electrons. She captured and arranged micro-melodies that are as transient as the electron injections themselves. During this 38-minute work, the listener becomes completely absorbed, not least of all due to the 5.1. Sound that gets across the dry, almost sterile atmosphere with enormous compression.

Crystal Sounds of a Synchrotron / Green Lens Studios, London / Printversion / Album

Hybrid Art

bacterial radio / Joe Davis (US) with support of Tara Gianoulis and Ido Bachelet

Artist-researcher Jo Davis is being honored with this year’s Golden Nica for “Bacterial Radio.” The receiver’s circuitry consists entirely of genetically modified bacteria, which were introduced into a genetically engineered variety of an orange puffball sponge in order to cultivate electric circuit boards on a culture medium. Variants of the gene were then optimized in such a way that the proteins are capable of enriching other substances, especially metallic conductors and semiconductors such as germanium and platinum.

Bacterial Radio / Joe Davis / Printversion / Album

Digital Communities

Syrian people know their way / Syrian people know their way
http://sha3b3aref.blogspot.com/, https://www.facebook.com/Syrian.Intifada

A group of graphic artists, filmmakers, musicians and bloggers were determined to use all means at their disposal to support the democratic uprising in Syria. Via social media and powerful visual statements, they get across their political and theoretical approaches in order to offer future prospects to as many people as possible and thereby give them the opportunity to become part of a free Syria.

Syrian people know their way / Syrian people know their way / Printversion / Album

u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD

state of revolution / Agnes Aistleitner (AT)

The 2012 Golden Nica in the u19 CREATE YOUR WORLD category goes to Agnes Aistleitner from Tragwein in the Province of Upper Austria. In her 14-minute video clip entitled “state of revolution,” she seeks traces of the recent upheavals in Egypt. As an outsider on site, she attempts to consider what transpired, gathering accounts and opinions from people on the streets and in marketplaces. In January 2012, the 19-year-old woman also staged a round-table discussion at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Cairo attended by the Austrian ambassador to Egypt, an Egyptian political scientist and students at the American University in Cairo. The topic: What can the West do for the revolution?

state of revolution / Agnes Aistleitner / Printversion / Album

[the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant

qaul.net – tools for the next revolution / Christoph Wachter & Mathias Jud (CH)
http://www.qaul.net

In these times in which the powers that be in various countries attempt to paralyze the internet and mobile telecommunications, or natural catastrophes can lead to protracted power outages, “qaul.net” questions the security of existing communications channels and shows possible alternatives. In doing so, “qaul.net” makes use of an open communications principle whereby computers or mobile devices with WLAN can form spontaneous networks to enable users to get into contact with one another. This means that chat and Twitter functions as well as the streaming of films are no longer dependent on the internet and mobile telecommunications providers. “qaul.net” can be simply propagated as the need arises and freely modified by the open source community. “qaul.net – tools for the next revolution” is the recipient of this year’s [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant.

qaul.net - tools for the next revolution / Christoph Wachter, Mathias Jud / Printversion / Album

A pdf with the long version of this text, including all the Awards of Distinctions, Honorary Mentions aswell as statistics can be found here.

Video Rear Window Loop / Jeff Desom

CERN welcomes its first artist in residence

(Linz, Geneva, 13.3.2012) Creative collisions have begun at CERN with the arrival of Julius von Bismarck as the laboratory’s first Collide@CERN artist in residence. A rising star of the international arts scene, von Bismarck will team up with theoretical physicist James Wells as he works alongside the lab’s engineers and scientists for the next two months before moving to the Ars Electronica Futurelab in Linz, Austria for the second part of his residency. Von Bismarck and Wells will give a public presentation in CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation on 21 March. Doors open at 18:45.

“Particle physics and the arts are natural partners, both explore our place in the universe and both examine what it is to be human,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “We are delighted to welcome Julius von Bismarck as our first artist in residence and we look forward to his creative interrogations and interactions with our science.”

First winner of the first Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN Award

Julius von Bismarck is the winner of the first Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN residency award, which attracted close to 400 entries from 40 countries around the world. He was given the award by an international jury for “his proposal and work, which manipulates and criticises our notions of reality in unpredictable ways, often with inventive use of video, objects and public interventions”. His works are also characterised by his fascination with complex philosophical and scientific ideas.

“Putting an artist in a place where thousands of scientists are looking for things that nature has never exhibited before is very exciting and, of course, I wanted to be that artist,” said von Bismarck. “I am fascinated by making things perceivable which were never perceived before, and CERN is potentially a goldmine for unperceivable or even unimaginable things.”

First presentation of Julius von Bismarck and James Wells on March 21

The public event on 21 March will be opened by CERN Director General Rolf Heuer joined on videoconference by Gerfried Stocker, Artistic Director of Ars Electronica. Julius von Bismarck and James Wells will make individual presentations of their work and then discuss their forthcoming creative collisions at CERN. CERN’s cultural specialist, Ariane Koek will chair the discussion and take questions from the audience.

“It is interesting that after the Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN jury made the award to Julius von Bismarck, we discovered that he comes from a family of particle physicists and had to choose between going into the arts or science,” said Koek. “This clearly shows how creativity, intuition and ingenuity goes across the arts and science, which are both expressions of what it is to be human in this world.” During the residency, the public will be able to follow and comment on the experience and interchanges on a blog featuring Julius von Bismarck, James Wells and Horst Hoertner, von Bismarck’s production mentor at Ars Electronica where he is Director of the transdisciplinary Futurelab, location for the last month of the residency. Following his residency, von Bismarck will showcase work and ideas developed during his time at CERN at both this year’s Ars Electronica Festival in September and at CERN.

Julius Von Bismarck

Von Bismarck lives and works in Berlin, and recently studied with the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson at his Institute for Spatial Experiments. Prior to that was on the MFA programme of Hunter College, New York. In 2008, he won the Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica 2008 for his work ‘Image Fulgarator.’

Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN

“Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN” targets creative men and women who feel inspired by CERN and would welcome the opportunity to deal with the ideas and/or technologies of particle physics, and with CERN as a setting for scientific encounter. The only condition with which the selected artist must comply is that the work of art itself or the presentation of it must be in digital form. The initial term of “Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN” has bet set for three years. This partnership and creative collaboration between CERN and Ars Electronica commenced with the 2011 Ars Electronica Festival.

pdf press release “CERN welcomes its first artist in residence”

Julius von Bismarck / rubra / Printversion / Album

(Linz, 16.1.2012) Atemberaubende Computeranimationen stehen diesen Donnerstag im Mittelpunkt von Deep Space LIVE. Christine Schöpf und Jürgen Hagler, beide in der Jury des Prix Ars Electronica, zeigen ein Best of der beim Prix Ars Electronica 2011 eingereichten Arbeiten der Kategorie „Computer Animation / Film / VFX“. Read more

The Third & The Seventh / Alex Roman / Printversion / Album

(Linz, December 9, 2011) 178,000 museum visitors, 83,976 festival guests, 3,611 Prix submissions from 74 countries, the very successful launch of the new CREATE YOUR WORLD festival for young people and the start of a three-year collaboration with CERN, a 33% increase in project assignments on the books of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, excellent attendance at exhibitions in Venice and Berlin, and a high-profile show about to open in Osaka—Ars Electronica’s achievements in 2011 are a source of great pride. And the financial bottom line was positive as well, with total revenues rising by 13.7% from €11.1 million to €12.6 million. The facility’s own funds will thus contribute an estimated 17.4% of its operating costs in this calendar year. Read more

Ars Electronica Center / Lois Lammerhuber, Nicolas Ferrando / Printversion / Album

(Linz / Geneva, December 6, 2011) The first Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN was today awarded to the 28-year-old German artist, Julius Von Bismarck for the quality of his ideas and his ability to make playful creative collisions between the arts and science. With a growing international reputation for his diverse and experimental artistic practice, Von Bismarck was given the award by the jury for “his proposal and work which manipulates and criticises our notions of reality in unpredictable ways, often with inventive use of video, objects and public interventions”. His works are also characterised by his fascination with complex philosophical and scientific ideas. Read more

Julius von Bismarck / rubra / Printversion / Album

(Linz, October 25, 2011) The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society opens today. Sponsored by Google and operated jointly by Berlin’s Humboldt University, Berlin University of the Arts, and the Social Science Research Center Berlin, the new research facility will work closely with the Hans Bredow Institute to focus on issues having to do with the internet and Information Society as a whole. The official opening ceremony is being attended by German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the presidents of all partner institutions and Google Chairman David C. Drummond. The event will be followed by a symposium featuring a prestigious lineup of participants. “Exploring the Digital Future” also includes a presentation of outstanding projects honored by the Prix Ars Electronica. Read more

Prix Ars Electronica und Chaos Computer Club / rubra / Printversion / Album

(Linz, May 27, 2011) 3,611 projects from 74 countries were submitted for prize consideration to the 2011 Prix Ars Electronica. The Digital Musics & Sound Art category tallied the most entries (717), followed by Computer Animation / Film / VFX (684), u19 Create Your World (637), „Interactive Art“ (566), „Hybrid Art“ (471), „Digital Communities“ (407) and „[the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant“ (129). The 35 jurors took three days to evaluate all submissions and to select this year’s prizewinners. The 2011 Golden Nicas honor entries from Italy, Norway, France, Chile, Austria and a duo from New Zealand and Russia. A project from The Netherlands is this year’s recipient of [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant. Awards of Distinction go to works from Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Italy, Japan and Austria. Read more

The Third & The Seventh / Alex Roman / Printversion / Fotos Prix Ars Electronica 2011

(Venice, February 27, 2011) “Create Your World” is the programmatic title of the show Ars Electronica has curated for the Venice Biennale’s 2^nd Kids’ Carnival running February 26-March 8, 2011. This exhibition showcases the creative work being done by today’s young generation of artists. It has been intentionally conceived to challenge and to encourage—by young people, for young people. Read more

Chindogu, Johannes Masanz / Printversion / Album “Create Your World”

(Linz, 10.2.2011) Funny commercials, thrilling stop-motion animation and a touching short about the abrupt end of a romantic liaison between two snails are among the great animated films honored by Prix Ars Electronica over the last 24 years. Highlights include “Luxo jr.” starring the animated desk lamp that garnered Pixar the very first Golden Nica in 1987, the dinosaur blockbuster “Jurassic Park,” and “Monsters Inc.,” a work that took in $525 million at the box office on its way to becoming one of the most successful animated films of all time. Rounding out the “Fascination Animation” lineup are several making-of documentaries providing behind-the-scenes looks at how animation designers perform their magic. Read more

The Man in the Blue Gordini / Jean Christophe Lie, Prima Linea Productions / Printversion / Fotos Animation

(Linz, February 1, 2011) 3,083 Prix submissions, 90,227 Festivalgoers and 162,438 visitors to the Center, exhibitions in Tokyo, Berlin and Mexico City with attendance topping 300,000, approximately €1 million in R&D funding for the Futurelab, 7% growth in staff size, and the third best financial results in Ars Electronica’s history—this brief overview of our activities last year is a story of success. Read more

ASIMO Honda & Ars Electronica Guys / rubra / Printversion / Fotosammlung Ars Electronica