History of Prix Ars Electronica / 2008
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GOLDEN NICAS
COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX
Madame Tutli-Putli
Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski. (Directors), Jason Walker (Special Visual Effects) (CA) / National Film Board of Canada
Madame Tutli-Putli rides the night train. Her baggage includes all her worldly possessions and just about every ghost from her past. The steam locomotive-driven journey becomes a commutation between fantasy and reality during which ever-more-peculiar fellow travelers ensconce themselves in the elderly lady’s compartment. Madame Tutli-Putli, a stop-motion film made under the aegis of the National Film Board of Canada, blew the jury away with its technical brilliance, exquisite treatment of details and touching plot. Their response was the 2008 Golden Nica.
DIGITAL MUSICS
reactable
Sergi Jordà (ES), Günter Geiger (AT), Martin Kaltenbrunner (AT), Marcos Alonso (ES) / Music Technology Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
The reactable is an intelligent musical instrument specially conceived for multi-user performances. There’s room for several players at this round table; visible on its surface are geometric figures, each of which symbolizes a specific sound. Moving the figures back and forth, rotating or interlinking them modifies the sounds they produce. With its highly intuitive, user-friendly interface, the reactable can be played by anyone—from little kids to professional musicians. But this is not just some music-making toy; the reactable is a genuine instrument and, accordingly, it takes some practice to get the most out of it. Proof of this was recently provided by Scandinavian artist Björk, who used one on her latest world tour. The reactable has been singled out for recognition with the 2008 Golden Nica in the Digital Musics category.
HYBRID ART
Pollstream – Nuage Vert
Helen Evans (FR/UK), Heiko Hansen (FR/DE) / HEHE
Pollstream – Nuage Vert transforms clouds into projection surfaces. As such, these indefinable, constantly and chaotically changing products of the condensation of water vapor become media bearing political ideas and messages. Or aestheticized symbols of environmental pollution caused by carbon emissions. Pollstream – Nuage Vert was developed in collaboration with experts in laser technology, computer science, electrical engineering, energy generation and air quality monitoring. Development commenced in 2002 and concluded in February 2008 with a performance in Helsinki that impressively demonstrated how art is capable of encompassing an entire city—its public sphere, its industry and its inhabitants—and unfolding sociopolitical relevance. Pollstream – Nuage Vert is the recipient of the 2008 Golden Nica in the Hybrid Art category.
INTERACTIVE ART
Image Fulgurator
Julius von Bismarck (DE)
www.juliusvonbismarck.com/fulgurator
Image Fulgurator is amazing to behold—due in equal measure to its ingenious concept and its simple technical implementation. It makes it possible to manipulate photos and to do so at precisely the moment they’re being shot. This subversive witchcraft functions with any camera—as long as the flash is in use. The Image Fulgurator is synchronized with the flash to project some random message onto the subject being focused on at the moment the picture is snapped. Almost invisible to the naked eye, this ghostly image comes to the fore on the photo that eventually emerges. The Image Fulgurator receives the 2008 Golden Nica in the Interactive Art category.
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
1kg more
www.1KG.orgIn rural regions of China today, there are more than 400,000 elementary and secondary schools, almost all of which are suffering from notorious shortages of personnel, textbooks and other teaching materials. “1kg more” deals with this problem in a way that is as uncomplicated as it is unusual. This wiki doesn’t just call attention to existing shortcomings; it also calls upon travelers to China to pack just one more kilo into their luggage—desperately needed teaching material—and to deliver it where it’s needed. “1kg more” thus makes simple yet effective use of the quotidian mobility of an enormous number of people, and has this quickly made it China’s fastest growing and most effectively networked NGO. Now, it’s being honored with the 2008 Golden Nica in the Digital Communities category.
u19 – freestyle computing
Homesick
Nana Susanne Thurner
Bickering parents and a little girl who’s shocked by this quarrel and seeks refuge in her sister’s room—so much for the back-story of this animated film by 15-year-old Nana Susanne Thurner from Bad Leonfelden. To produce it, she had to draw countless images by hand, scan them into her computer, and then assemble them before real backgrounds. The result is an atmospherically intense short film that tells of a child’s emotional universe. The 2008 Golden Nica in the u19 – freestyle computing category goes to Homesick.
AWARDS OF DISTINCTION
COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX
Kudan
Taku Kimura (JP) / Links DigiWorks inc.
Taku Kimura’s KUDAN tells the story of a man who receives a peculiar packet from the mailman one day: a helmet that morphs him into the “Kudan.” This transformation into a half-steer, half-man opens up a whole new perspective for him on the world in which he lives. He finds himself in a seemingly endless forest full of gigantic trees whose roots are all interconnected and entwined. Each of these trees is a human being who, in turn, is interrelated via “words” with all other human beings. Then, suddenly, the man makes a horrifying discovery: he sees mysterious creatures starting to saw on one of the tree’s roots. And not just any tree—the tree of his son. The father takes up a desperate fight to help his boy ... In a most impressive manner, Taku Kimura relates the essential significance of communication, by means of which an individual is capable of connecting up to others. Or not doing so. Taku Kimura’s KUDAN receives a 2008 Distinction.
Musicotherapie
Amael Isnard, Manuel Javelle, Clément Picon (FR) / Supinfocom
The protagonist in this surreal animated film is a chimpanzee who is very much willing to work but is extremely sensitive to noise. His efforts to do his job as a physician are thwarted by an all-too-present background blare. A host of fellow-creatures—the fly in his office buzzing in circles above his head, the octopus rummaging around in the kitchen, the TV-viewing lion—and every single act performed by the patients he treats make noises that blend together into a “symphony of everyday life.”
DIGITAL MUSICS
the benchmark consort
hans w. koch (DE)
“the benchmark consort” is an unusual performance in which commercially available laptops turn into musical instruments. The music lineup consists of a piece entitled “more&more,” software whose name essentially describes what it does. Once it’s installed, more&more unavoidably places excessive demands on even the fastest computer, which then produces sounds as a reaction to the overload. Every one of the benchmark consort’s musicians has the same software installed on his/her laptop, and their collaboration constitutes an orchestra of a very different sort. Thus, Hans W. Koch’s “the benchmark consort” reconfigures the computer as a musical instrument in a highly unconventional way and his efforts have earned him a 2008 Distinction.
Core Sample
Teri Rueb (US)
Core Sample is a GPS data-based audio tour that deals with the history and landscape of Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. This tiny piece of land that was degraded to Boston’s garbage dump for almost a century was recently reopened to the public. The island’s past—buried under a thick stratum of clay—is no longer visible, and it’s future is not yet evident either. But Core Sample makes both audible. Visitors can borrow a small computer including an attached set of headphones and, thus equipped, set out on an audio tour of the island. Depending on the visitor’s specific location, he/she has access to a GPS-customized selection from among over 250 sounds. Statements by past and current island residents, workers and scholars augment the acoustic experience. Teri Rueb’s Core Sample is being honored with a 2008 Distinction.
HYBRID ART
bleu remix
Yann Marussich (CH)
Yann Marussich’s Blue Remix is an impressive live performance created in cooperation with physicians and chemists. For one hour, the artist remains motionless in a seated position while a blue fluid oozes from his mouth, his nose and the pores of his skin. Blue Remix received a 2008 Distinction.
micro.flow
Julius Popp (DE)
“micro.flow” focuses on human intelligence and the question of how our brain processes information. Two fluids are pumped into a container; however, these fluids cannot blend together. “micro.flow” uses a camera to observe the reaction within its own interior and thereby comes to understand not only the characteristics of the two fluids but itself too.
INTERACTIVE ART
a plaything for the great observers at rest
Norimichi Hirakawa (JP)
“a plaything for the great observers at rest” opens up to the observer a variety of different perspectives on our solar system, and does so without the observer changing his/her location. Just like moving our eyeballs, it’s possible to switch between a geocentric and a heliocentric point of view. It’s a matter of the “core of the world” ...
Absolut Quartet
Jeff Lieberman, Dan Paluska (US)
The Absolut Quartet is an invitation to enter into a creative dialog with a robot orchestra. There’s a trio of robots, and the human user makes it an even quartet. The latter gets things started by composing a motif and inputting it via the Internet; this lays the musical groundwork for a unique three-minute concert by the user’s robotic bandmates. The performance is recorded and saved to memory in a Web gallery. Absolut Quartet makes the Internet an interface that enables users to conceive works of art in the real world and store them in the virtual one. Moreover, the complexity of the robotic instruments is truly impressive: for instance, a six-meter-long marimba (a subspecies of xylophone) that’s played by 40 two-armed robots firing tiny rubber balls with astounding accuracy at the instrument’s wooden bars. Or a tonal array of 35 wineglasses made to reverberate by a robotic finger flitting above them. Via Internet, the human creator can take in the performance of his/her piece. Absolut Quartet receives a 2008 Distinction.
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
PatientsLikeMe
www.patientslikeme.comPatientsLikeMe is a website serving chronically ill men and women all over the world. The diagnosis and the course an illness takes, treatment methods and their success are documented here in detail, whereby each patient sketches his/her own illness profile, which is then made available to all other fellow-sufferers. PatientsLikeMe also hosts numerous discussion forums designed to enable patients to engage in mutual exchange. PatientsLikeMe thus combines information offerings with social interaction.
Global Voices Online
In this age of a globalized communications society, there are simply no events or issues that do not become the subject of commentary by millions of critics worldwide. It’s impossible to pay heed to them all. Global Voices is the attempt to channel this permanently swelling flood of information. Here, an international team of bloggers seeks out and comments on all the information that is sufficiently newsworthy to merit such treatment—especially when these stories aren’t being sufficiently played up by establishment mass media.
u19 – freestyle computing
uterus = raum= universum
Susanne Legerer
On an ultrasound image, we can examine the interior of the uterus, and make out its dimensions, its translucence and its outer limits. This project investigates analogies between this microcosm and the gigantic macrocosmic space of the universe. The image-generating technologies—the ultrasound procedure and the Hubble Telescope—are scrutinized and compared on the auditive level. The world is reflected by a grain of sand just as the universe corresponds to the uterus. The uterus, a highly socially charged female transformation space, becomes a reflection of the universe.
eEx Network Discovery
Emanuel Jöbstl
emiswelt.em.funpic.de/planet_dev/xnd_release.zip
Emanuel Jöbstl’s eEx Network Discovery is a program that can graphically depict networks and save the resulting information for future use. It registers all the computers and devices with which a connection is established—whether input manually or via network scans.
Merchandise Prize u14
Koyangi
Selina Fanninger
Koyangi means cat in Korean and is also the name of Selina Fanninger’s website. There, the featured attractions are her drawings. At age six, Selina Fanninger got started drawing with mouse and computer. She then graduated to a graphics tablet. At this time, she also launched her first website. She designed “Koyangi” in 2006.
Merchandise Prize u10
Der vergessene Schatz (The Forgotten Treasure)
Simon Menschhorn, Max Menschhorn
In this three-minute animated film by Simon and Max Menschhorn, a scuba-diving LEGO figure discovers an undersea treasure, but on his way home, he forgets it in the train. It’s not until the next day that he becomes aware of his loss. Then he goes to the train station and picks up his treasure chest. This short film consists of 1,250 photos. Simon was responsible for moving the figures and constructing the LEGO set; Max did the photography.
HONORARY MENTIONS
Computer Animation / Film / VFX
Ratatouille
Brad Bird (US) / Pixar Animation Studios
www.pixar.com
Please Say Something 1-10
David OReilly (IR) / Holy Ghost Productions
www.davidoreilly.com
onde sonore
Martina Stiftinger, Hans-Peter Gratz (Music) (AT) / FH-Hagenberg
The Chemical Brothers ‘Salmon Dance’
Framestore CFC (UK)
www.framestore-cfc.com
LUX (Shine) Neon Girl
Framestore CFC (UK)
www.framestore-cfc.com
Smirnoff ‘Sea’
Framestore CFC (UK)
www.framestore-cfc.com
Oktapodi
Julien Bocabeille, Emud Mokhberi, Francois-xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier (Directors), Kenny Wood (Music) (FR) / Gobelins l'école de l'image
www.oktapodi.com
Coke Zero ‘Liar’
againstallodds (SE) / Passion Pictures (UK)
www.againstallodds.se
Mindplotter
Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Tom Weber (DE) / Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
www.polynoid.org
Farmers Insurance: Drowned Circus
Weta Digital Ltd (NZ)
www.wetadigital.com
I Am Legend
Jim Berney (US) / Sony Pictures Imageworks
www.imageworks.com
Spider-Man 3
Scott Stokdyk (US) / Sony Pictures Imageworks
www.imageworks.com
INTERACTIVE ART
touched echo
Markus Kison (DE)
www.markuskison.de/touched_echo/
Globe Fire
Du Zhenjun (CN)
www.duzhenjun.com
Optical Tone
Tsutomu Mutoh (JP)
mutoh.imrf.or.jp
Extended Cognitive Tools
Jun Fujiki (JP)
http://imp.ossible.jp/fujiki/applications_e.html
levelHead
Julian Oliver (NZ/ES)
julianoliver.com/levelhead
Moving Mario
Yan Kit Keith Lam (CN)
www.the-demos.com/movingmario/moving-mario/
It’s fire, you can touch it
Yoko Ishii, Hiroshi Homura (JP)
openframeworks
Zachary Lieberman (US), Theodore Watson (UK)
www.openframeworks.cc
LED Eyelash
Soomi Park (RK)
www.soomipark.com/entry/LEDeyelashes
Appeel
Richard The (DE), Gunnar Green (DE), Frédéric Eyl (FR), Willy Sengewald (DE) / TheGreenEyl
www.thegreeneyl.de
Constraint City / the pain of everyday life
Gordan Savicic (AT/NL)
pain.yugo.at
The Replenishing body
Ross Phillips (UK) / SHOWstudio
www.showstudio.com/project/thereplenishingbody
Augmented Sculpture series
Pablo Valbuena (ES)
www.pablovalbuena.com
HYBRID ART
Frozen Grand Central
Charlie Todd (US)
improveverywhere.com/
Deep Play
Harun Farocki (DE) / Harun Farocki Filmproduktion
www.farocki-film.de
Standard Time
a work by Mark Formanek, realised by Datenstrudel
www.standard-time.com
"Call <-> Response"
tEnt (Hiroya Tanaka + Macoto Cuhara) (JP)
www.tent-info.com/
The "Ahmad Sherif" Project (EG)
www.ahmadsherif.wordpress.com, www.youtube.com/ahmadsherif, www.nowpublic.com/ahmadsherif
Thinking Machine
Martin Riches (DE/GB), Masahiro Miwa (JP)
www.iamas.ac.jp/~mmiwa/
Loca : Set To Discoverable
John Evans (UK/FI), Drew Hemment (UK), Theo Humphries (UK), Mike Raento (FI)
loca-lab.org
Malamp UK
Brandon Ballengée (UK) in scientific collaboration with Dr. Tim Halliday (UK), Dr. Stanley Sessions (USA), and Richard Sunter (UK) commissioned by The Arts Catalyst
Totemobile
Chico MacMurtrie (US) / Amorphic Robot Works
amorphicrobotworks.org
Theatre#_
Mikko Hynninen (FI)
www.mikkohynninen.net
Wave (Dalay)
Alexander Ponomarev (RU)
Salat
Johannes Gees (CH)
www.johannesgees.com
DIGITAL MUSICS
Timepiece Triptych
Pamela Z (US)
www.pamelaz.com
Force Field
Ray Lee (UK)
www.invisible-forces.com
Klangkapsel / Sound Capsule
Satoshi Morita (JP)
www.sonicspacelabs.com
Samplingplong
Jörg Niehage (DE)
www.schroeder-niehage.de/samplingplong.html
Scherzo; Dance.
Howard Kenty (US)
www.hwarg.com/howardkenty
Yu•Tian Cong He
Qin Yi (CN)
qinyishcm.googlepages.com/
Videobrücke Berlin-Stockholm (5 Punkt 1)
Sabine Ercklentz, Andrea Neumann (DE)
Magnetic Flights
Christina Kubisch (DE)
www.christinakubisch.de
breath strati
Yasuno Miyauchi (JP)
Through Fire, Crevice and the Hidden Valley
Jim Denley (AU)
www.splitrec.com
d.v.d
Itoken, Jimanica, Ymg(JP)
www.dvd-3.com/
L’isla des Neumas
Ramón González-Arroyo (ES)
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
Groklaw
www.groklaw.net
Scratch Online Community
scratch.mit.edu
Nico Nico Douga
www.nicovideo.jp
The Freesound Project
Music Technology Group / Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
freesound.iua.upf.edu
Drupal
drupal.org
Yeeyan
www.yeeyan.com
FFFFOUND!
http://ffffound.com/
Readme.cc
www.readme.cc
OpenStreetMap
www.openstreetmap.org
Man With A Movie Camera: The Global Remake
dziga.perrybard.net
Take Back The Tech! Reclaiming ICT to End Violence Against
www.takebackthetech.net
steve: The Museum Social Tagging Project
www.steve.museum
u19 - freestyle computing
Muster Machen Mutig Projekt m3
Schülerhort Wilten
Lorenz Fischer
Laurenz Wieser
Simon Rainer
Johannes Wildauer
Daniel Zimmer
Nikolaus Gregorio- Rohner
Tim Wieser
Jan Kössl
Alexander Hoch
Valentin Engele
Leon Becker
Johanna Schweigmann
Luna Becker
Hannah Gerrier
Johanna Fischer
Lorenz Gerrier
Sacha Efoui- Delplanque
Raphaelle Efoui- Delplanque
Sabrina Fechter
Venus Abdel- Masih
Viola Abdel- Masih
Ayse Türkel
a beautiful lie
Chucky Fuchs und Nina Kutschera
Mr. Orange
Tarek Khalifa
Lanpe - feel informized
Kaltenbrunner Daniel, Dominik Aumayr und Konrad Swietek
Roller Coaster 360
Stefan Toller, Marc Heiss, Florian Reichelt
www.northwindent.com/Rollercoaster360.zip
littleRunner
Andreas Gerstmayr
Gewand und Glaube
HBLA für künstlerische Gestaltung, Linz
Simon Bergsmann
Andreas Breinesberger
Alexandra Erben
Stephanie Fischlmayer
Hanna Geyerlechner
Isabell Haas
Haindorfer Viktoria
Clemens Kammerhuber
Angelika Mitter
Helene Oberndorfer
Kathrin Pruggnaller
Elena Rieser
Herwig Scherabon
Lukas Schönböck
Stefanie Svacina
Nina Weberstorfer
Eva Weinbauer
Olivia Windischhofer
Manuela Anreither
Karina Ebner
Maria Ettel
Bianca Fröller
Susanne Gleiß
Sarah Gstettenhofer
Katrin Hofer
Simone Kern
Heike Kronberger
Sabrina Leitner
Christina Lepschi
Carina Prömer
Andrea Seiser
Pia Weninger
Marlene Wolfmair
Julia Baumann
Jacqueline Böhm
Gerhard Buchegger
Julia Heuberger
Ines Klemm
Katrin Mayer
Doris Panholzer
Martina Pöll
Maria Röcklinger
Sarah Rübl
Sandra Schörgenhuember
Johanna Schwediauer
Elisabeth Time
Sandra Weichselbaumer
Stefan Derndorfer
Stephanie Dierneder
Mona-Lisa Egger-Richter
Theresa Eibl
Daniel Eichinger
Tanja Gleiß
Kristina Haberleitner
Anna Lutzmayer
Marion Moser
Hanna Nedorost
Anna Katharina Radlmair
Sarah Renz
Juliane Schörghuber
Kerstin Zimmerbauer
Verena Häusler
home.eduhi.at/webs/j/default.html
fischtraum:(a
Simon Groihofer
Robo
Sax Christopher
LB-Soft 12
Manuel Löw-Beer
www.lb-soft.at.tf
MEDIA.ART.RESEARCH AWARD
Winning Project 2008
Interact or Die!
Arjen Mulder (Rotterdam, V2 Publishing / NAi Publishers, 2007), co-edited with Joke Brouwer
Interaction is an essential characteristic of all life forms. Interaction takes place between two creatures, and between a creature and its environment. Networks, (inter)relationships and structures form; recollections and assessments drawn from past experience coalesce. Ultimately, interaction is an essential precondition for every social organization. Functionality and practicability are the central criteria of any and all forms of interaction; they determine whether particular forms of interaction remain operational or are abandoned. Interactivity, in turn, is the method of bringing such behavior into a specific form and, at the same time, a particular approach to dealing with it, whereby attention is focused in equal measure on human activity as well as processes taking place in nature and technology. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute has singled out INTERACT OR DIE! for recognition with its 2008 Media.Art.Research Award.
Acknowledgment of a Contribution to the Field 2008
Bodies In Code
Mark B. N. Hansen, Interfaces with Digital Media (New York: Routledge, 2006)
Materializing New Media
Anna Munster, Embodiment in Information Aesthetics (Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College/University of New England Press, 2006)
THE ARS ELECTRONICA ARCHIVE
- Ars Electronica possesses one of the world’s most extensive archives of digital media art from throughout the last 25 years. It consists of the Catalog Archive and material documenting the Ars Electronica Festival (from 1979), the Archive of the Prix Ars Electronica (from 1987), material on Ars Electronica projects as well as biographies of the artists and theoreticians who took part in them. Archive Home