History of Prix Ars Electronica / 2009
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GOLDEN NICAS 09
COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX
HA'Aki
Iriz Pääbo (SE/CA) / National Filmboard of Canada
“HA'Aki” is an expressionistic short film whose images and soundtrack were created simultaneously. Filmmaker Iriz Pääbo (CA) uses the term “animbits” to describe the cinematic vocabulary with which she depicts an ice hockey match. Though she herself isn’t all that big a fan of this sport—one that can get excessively raucous at times—the artist let herself be inspired by Eric Nesterenko, a hockey star of the 1960s and ‘70s. The result is a wonderfully unorthodox interpretation of Canada’s national sport. “HA'Aki” was awarded the Golden Nica in the COMPUTER ANIMATION / VISUAL EFFECTS category.
DIGITAL MUSICS
Speeds of Time versions 1 and 2
Bill Fontana (US)
This new version of “Speeds of Time” is a sculptural sound map of the bells of Big Ben. A network of microphones starting from the clock tower itself and spreading out to surrounding rooftops and terraces around Parliament Square and beyond simultaneously trace the contours of the temporal deformation of the bells. The speed of sound is 1116.4 feet per second. When you take into consideration the distances of all the microphone locations and divide those distances by the speed of sound, the result is a sequence of natural acoustic delays creating a multi-dimensional sound image of Big Ben that is actually a live sound map of this part of London.
HYBRID ART
Natural History of the Enigma
Eduardo Kac (US) with his scientific partners Neil Olszewski, Department of Plant Biology and Neil Anderson, Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
“Natural History of Enigma” is Eduardo Kac’s account of the common origin of species. He extracted a gene from his own DNA and then used it to replace its counterpart in the DNA of a petunia. The result of this gene transplantation is a new form of life: “Edunia,” a cross between a human being and a petunia. To perform this engineering feat, Eduardo Kac didn’t choose just any old gene; he selected the one responsible for identifying foreign bodies. The fact that, following this gene transplantation, the new element was then “recognized” as the organism’s own also underscores the fact that a new form of life had been created thereby. “Natural History of Enigma” is the recipient of the Golden Nica in the HYBRID ART category.
INTERACTIVE ART
Nemo Observatorium
Lawrence Malstaf (BE), Courtesy Galerie Fortlaan 17 - Gent (BE)
http://www.fortlaan17.com/eng/artists/malstaf
The “Nemo Observatory” is captivating in a way that is simultaneously disconcerting and hypnotic. Lawrence Malstaf (Belgium) utilizes five fans and a walk-though PVC cylinder to create a localized cyclone. Thousands of bits of polystyrene fly about through the air, with the observer situated right in the middle of it all—literally in the eye of the storm. Regardless of whether he/she focuses on particles whirling all about or looks past the flurry of material off into the distance, the tempestuous circumstances seem to exert an extraordinarily calming effect. This high-energy spectacle suddenly becomes a uniform, almost spellbinding sensory impression. With his “Nemo Observatory,” Lawrence Malstaf has succeeded in producing a high-impact allegory—an apt symbolic representation of our ever-more-rapidly changing world and our attempt to maintain our composure amidst the storm. The Golden Nica in INTERACTIVE ART goes to “Nemo Observatory.”
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
HiperBarrio
http://hiperbarrio.org“HiperBarrio” is a community of young bloggers that developed out of what were initially two independent initiatives in Medellín, Colombia: Álvaro Ramírez’ video blogging workshops and the media workshops of Juliana Rincón and Jorge Montoya. They then joined forces to form four groups whose activities included blogging, workshops and events. The ConVerGentes group has succeeded in establishing itself locally as well as getting integrated into international networks. Thanks to a very active lineup of offerings, “HiperBarrio” is in the process of expanding its activities both on site and far beyond. In going about this, the proprietors formed a partnership with the Universidad Católica del Norte. “HiperBario” has been singled out for recognition with the Golden Nica in the DIGITAL COMMUNITIES category.
Media.Art.Research Award.
Eye hEar: Music, Art, Film & the Culture of Synaesthesia
Simon Shaw-Miller (UK)
DThis year's Media.Art.Research Award goes to Simon Shaw-Miller, an art historian and senior lecturer at Birkbeck College in London, for his unpublished manuscript entitled “Eye hEar: Music, Art, Film & the Culture of Synesthesia.” This detailed and comprehensive treatment of the visual aspects of music revives the interdisciplinary concept of synaesthesia, particularly focusing on its career in the early 19th and 20th centuries. Furthermore, Shaw-Miller proposes a methodology with which differences among transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary practices can be understood. Especially effective is the work’s combination of detailed case studies and theoretical investigations of the aesthetic differences between visual and acoustic artforms. His almost encyclopedic approach displays the great breadth of the author’s knowledge of various epochs and genres as well as of philosophical aesthetics. This text proceeds further along the theoretical and historical path that Shaw-Miller set out on in “Visible Deeds of Music: Art and Music from Wagner to Cage,” a work published in 2002 by Yale University Press. In each instance, the special way of considering the respective subject is that of the art historian who “looks at” music. This makes possible a degree of interdisciplinarity that is not always recognized by the established disciplines involved in these subjects—for instance, art history, musicology, media studies and philosophy.
u19 – freestyle computing
In den Tiefen
Matej Petrek (AT)
“In the Depths” deals with three fish that have grown weary of the eternal darkness of the deep sea and set out in search of light. Or, to be precise, a mysterious “Big Light” that’s said to be located somewhere far above them. On the way there, the trio meets up with another fish who tells them of the danger lurking up there in the form of human beings. Nevertheless, the three pay no heed to the warnings and continue on their way. And indeed: no sooner do they arrive at the surface than they nearly fall victim to the keels and propellers of passing tankers, but they manage to avoid the lethal hazards and finally catch sight of the blazing bright light of the sun. Then, they spontaneously decide to transport the “Big Light” back with them to the bottom of the sea. They shoot a harpoon into the sun and begin to tow it under, but as soon as it’s submerged in the sea’s watery billows, the glowing sphere is extinguished. Now, all that remains for the three friends is the return voyage back to the eternal darkness of their home deep below the ocean’s surface.
[the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant
Open_Sailing_Crew
http://www.opensailing.net“Open Sailing” is the vision of an organic architecture that constitutes a laboratory for techno-social experiments. As nothing less than a process for surmounting all possible natural and human-generated catastrophes, this ambitious undertaking’s aims include fostering the human spirit of inventiveness and strengthening social solidarity. The ultimate mission of “Open Sailing” is to take on challenges like overpopulation, climate change and energy conflicts with do-it-yourself technologies: Instinctive_Architecture, Energy_Animal and Life_Cable are some of the new approaches that are being developed and tested. The immediate objective is facilitating R&D within the mobile, nomadic system of “Open Sailing”—a floating city consisting of solid, well-appointed buildings surrounded by oceanic fields. With navigation controlled by a Swarm_Search_Engine, the floating city is continually steered in the direction of what is at any particular instant the safest location. The physical configuration of the floating platform is constantly undergoing rearrangement to assure the most efficient management of information, energy and other resources. The Linzer version of this organic platform is designed to have a diameter of approximately 30 meters and to provide living space for five persons. “Open Sailing” calls into question the way we are currently populating and exploiting our planet, and asks if it could be possible to coexist in a harmonious interrelationship with one another and with our environment. The developers of “OpenSailing” think that the answer is YES, and are working in Great Britain, France and Morocco on initial prototypes. Implementing the seemingly impossible is not only the declared goal of “Open Sailing” but of voestalpine too. In its efforts to actively advance innovative developments, voestalpine is a congenial partner of the Prix Ars Electronica as a whole and [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant category in particular.
Awards of Distinction 09
COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX
SKHIZEIN
Jeremy Clapin, Jean-François Sarazin (FR) / DARK PRINCE
One evening, Henry’s life took a completely unexpected turn—he was hit by a 150,000-ton meteorite. Henceforth, he had to get used to the fact that, based on his perception, everything in his world had been displaced exactly 91 cm. Whatever he does—flush the toilet, answer the telephone, open the door—every single act has to be shifted by precisely 91 cm. In the aftermath of this event, he spends his evenings awaiting the next meteorite’s impact in the hope that this could reverse his handicap. But what ultimately transpires is even worse ...
The Nest That Sailed The Sky
Glenn Marshall (UK), Music by Peter Gabriel
Glenn Marshall is the graphic artist responsible for Peter Gabriel’s music video “The Nest that Sailed the Sky.” The animation transports viewers into magnificent fantasy worlds in which plantlike organisms sprout, send out shoots and proliferate. The video was created with Processing, an open-source programming language & environment.
DIGITAL MUSICS
NABAZ’MOB
Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé (FR)
A nabaztag is a “rabbit” that’s 23 cm tall and weighs 418 g. But we’re not talking about just any rabbit here: this bunny features a WLAN internet connection and can communicate via voice, light signals and wiggling its ears. "NABAZ'MOB" is an opera composed by Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé especially for 100 nabaztags. Its subject matter is the growing importance of teamwork, decision-making and control—and, simultaneously, the problems increasingly associated with them—in our ever-more-complex world.
"Active Field" for ten violins and ten-channel 1-bit music
Tristan Perich (US)
http://www.1bitmusic.com
In his arrangements of classical music with simple 1-bit audio accompaniment, Tristan Perich probes the foundations of digital sound. Inspired by the aesthetics of mathematics and physics, he presents low-fi 1-bit electronic music—the lowest possible digital representation of audio. On stage, Perich combines the performance style of a classical musician with output via loudspeakers hooked up to microchips, whereby the equipment is converted into all sorts of acoustic instruments.
HYBRID ART
EarthStar
David Hines (UK), Joyce Hinterding (AU)
“EarthStar” examines the elementary, mystical qualities of the sun. Installation visitors are treated to an up-close-and-personal encounter—seeing, hearing and smelling the heavenly body that dominates our solar system. A hydrogen-alpha telescope captures fantastic images of the sun’s chromosphere; VLF antennas pick up the star’s radiation, which is converted by an amplifier into a soundtrack. And while all that’s going on, the installation space is being suffused with synthetic aromas meant to suggest ozone.
The New York Times Special Edition
Steve Lambert (US) member of Because We Want It
One week after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, there appeared a perfectly counterfeited special edition of the New York Times reporting the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that’s not all. The whole issue was devoted exclusively to good news, the kind of stories people would like to read on a daily basis. This paper, dated 9 months in the future, stands for the vision of a more righteous world.
INTERACTIVE ART
when laughter trips at the threshold of the divine
Osman Khan, Kim Beck (US)
A park, children playing, people strolling—and, amidst them, an automatic sliding door. In “when laughter trips at the threshold of the divine,” Osman Khan and Kim Beck investigate how people encounter public places; at the same time, the artists turn this process upside down. In setting up this automatic sliding door, they’ve placed a common everyday object into a completely new context, which, in turn, calls upon those encountering it to play, to experiment, to reflect.
www.idealcities.com
www.osmankhan.com
default to public
Jens Wunderling (DE)
JJens Wunderding’s “default to public” explores the discrepancy between people’s modes of self-revelation online and their simultaneous desire for privacy in the real world. This project focuses on the micro-blogging site Twitter that enables users to post entries about themselves in a variety of ways—for instance, via internet or SMS. Due to Twitter’s basic settings and conditions of use, most of the entries—often of a very private nature—can be viewed by users worldwide. “default to public” consists of an ongoing series of objects and interventions linking the physical world to the online sphere in unexpected, narrative ways to create awareness of this proliferating self-exposure.
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
Piratbyrån
http://www.piratbyran.org/Piratbyrån (Pirate Bureau) is a Swedish organization that supports the individual in the fight against copyright and intellectual property through the sharing of information and cultural artifacts. A coalition of artists, activists and theorists, Piratbyrån strives to educate the general public by presenting a broad, citizen-centered view of the facts & circumstances beyond the narrow views of lobbying associations. Piratbyrån’s technological infrastructure consists of a web server, a network of IRC channels and blogs. It also hosts forums and newsgroups dealing with file sharing and software piracy, and organizes various events such as conferences and lectures.
WikiLeaks
http://wikileaks.orgUncensored material and secret documents can be posted online to WikiLeaks, a website structured according to the wiki principle. A variety of encoding mechanisms are in place to assure that information sources remain anonymous and to make it impossible to trace them. The aim is to provide critics of the status quo in the countries of the former Soviet Union, in Asia and elsewhere with the opportunity to upload confidential information or documents to the internet and to thus make them available for discussion and analysis. Numerous well-known print media outlets worldwide have already made use of information that was originally made public on WikiLeaks.
u19 – freestyle computing
“Having A Wonderful Time”
Tarek Khalifa (AT)
Tarek Khalifa, an 18-year-old from Vienna, has been honored with an Award of Distinction in the u19 – freestyle computing category for his colorful, two-minute flash animation accompaniment to Tiny Tim’s song “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight.” The chief protagonist is a cartoon character who enjoys life to the fullest in spite of all the adversity he faces.
Sound Machines
Benedikt Hageneder, Matthias Jungwirth, Christoph Matscheko, Sigrid Probst, Doris Wimmer, Anna Kitzmüller, Ulrike Rossrucker, Martina Hutterer, Stephanie Figl, Dominik Rainer, André Mayr, Daniela Leitner, Thomas Rupp, Daniela Schmid, Helene Wild, Viktoria Preuer (AT)
Class 5A of Linz’s HLW parochial vocational high school developed 16 individual Sound Machines. The interactive works were programmed with Flash and function in any browser. Users can experiment with a wide array of sounds and music fragments. The object is to categorize them, rearrange them, and compose music with them. Going about this is facilitated by various sound patterns that are visualizations of what the user hears. The range of possibilities includes Alpine yodeling, playing the harp, and scratching on turntables. What the students aimed to achieve was to make mixing sounds as intuitive as possible and, above all, to come up with a playful way of dealing with licensing rights.
Merchandise Prize u10
Sieben auf einen Streich
Volksschule Neußerling
Raphael Birngruber, Laura Fischerlehner, Richard Prommer, Kerstin Füchsl, Lukas Prammer, Martin Donner, Jakob Hacklbauer (AT)
Merchandise Prize u14
Lego Chemie
Hauptschule Dr.-Aloys-Weissenbach Telfs
Elena Kihr, Gerald Körber, Johannes Christler, Marcel Pfurtscheller, Simon Neurauter, Philip Mader, Matthias Zeni, Andreas Muigg, Simon Draxler, Tolga Cosar, Fachlehrer Andreas Bellony (AT)
Honorary Mentions 09
Computer Animation / Film / VFX
The Dark Knight
Dominique Vidal (FR) / BUF Compagnie
www.buf.com
Dix
Bif (FR) / Autour de Minuit Productions & The Mill
http://blog.autourdeminuit.com
WALL*E
Andrew Stanton (US) / Pixar Animation Studios
www.pixar.com
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Intro Cinematic
Jeff Chamberlain, Phillip Hillenbrand (CA) / Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
www.blizzard.com
Urs
Moritz Mayerhofer (DE)
www.urs-film.com
FRENCH ROAST
Fabrice O. Joubert (FR) / Pumpkin Factory / Bibo Films
www.frenchroast.fr
Boris
Daniel Lundquist (AT)
www.uglyanimations.com
CHICK
Michal Socha (PL) / Platige Image
http://www.thechickfilm.com/en/
The Spine
Chris Landreth (CA) / National Film Board of Canada
www.nfb.ca/thespine
This Way Up
Smith & Foulkes (UK) / Nexus Productions Ltd
www.thiswayupmovie.com
Audi 'Unboxed'
Russell Brooke (UK), Aaron Duffy (US) / Passion Pictures, 1st Ave Machine
www.passion-pictures.com, www.1stavemachine.com
Harmonix 'Rock Band II'
Pete Candeland (AU) / Passion Pictures
www.passion-pictures.com
DIGITAL MUSICS
Les arbres
Nicolas Bernier (music), urban9 (images) (CA)
http://www.urban9.com/lesarbres.php
http://www.electrocd.com/en/cat/imnt_0816/
http://www.ekumen.com/en/artist/bernier/?c=bio
Relative Realitäten | Relative Realities
Volkmar Klien, Thomas Grill (AT)
http://www.volkmarklien.com/installations/rel_rea.html
Waldstueck
Christoph Korn (DE)
www.waldstueck.net
Truce: Strategies for Post-Apocalyptic Computation
Robin Meier (CH), Ali Momeni (US)
http://alimomeni.net, http://robin.meier.free.fr
PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANICS FANTASY
Lucas Fagin (AR)
www.myspace.com/lucasfagin
Le Tombeau de Freddie / L' Internationale
Formant Brothers (JP)
http://web.mac.com/nsakonda/
Jamming Gear
So Kanno, Kenichiro Saigo (JP)
http://kannoso.org/
Tetraktis
Manuel Rocha Iturbide (MX)
www.artesonoro.net
The Turbulence Sound Matrix: Signe
Steve Heimbecker (CA)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/qubeassm/TSM.html
: am Dienstag um neun sind die Erdbeeren reif
Helmut Mittermaier (DE)
www.guruclub.de/mittermaier
Scherzo
Joe Diebes (US)
www.joediebes.com
Special Mention Digital Musics
Max Neuhaus (US)
www.max-neuhaus.info
HYBRID ART
Sonolevitation
Evelina Domnitch (BY), Dmitry Gelfand (RU)
http://portablepalace.com
Common Flowers - Flower Commons
BCL / Georg Tremmel (AT), Shiho Fukuhara (JP)
www.common-flowers.org
Cosmic Revelation
a Tim Otto Roth & KASCADE Experiment (DE)
http://www.imachination.net/cosmicrevelation/
Silent Barrage
Philip Gamblen, Guy Ben-Ary, Peter Gee, Dr. Nathan Scott & Brett Murray in collaboration with Dr. Steve Potter Lab (Dr. Steve Potter, Douglas Swehla & Stephen Bobic) (AU/USA)
http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/silentbarrage
Mortal Engine
Damien Cooper, Robin Fox , Paula Levis, Gideon Obarzanek (AU), Frieder Weiss (DE), Ben Frost (IS) / Chunky Move
http://chunkymove.com,
Tantalum Memorial
MHarwood, Wright, Yokokoji (UK)
http://www.mediashed.org/TantalumMemorial
The Kinetic Sculpture
ART+COM
www.artcom.de/kinetik
bios [bible]
robotlab (Matthias Gommel, Martina Haitz, Jan Zappe (DE))
www.robotlab.de
ReConstitution
Eric Gunther, Justin Manor, John Rothenberg (US) / Sosolimited
http://sosolimited.com
Corpora in Si(gh)te
Sota Ichikawa(JP), Max Rheiner (CH ), Ákos Maróy (HU) ,Kaoru Kobata (JP), Satoru Higa (JP), Hajime Narukawa (JP), / doubleNegatives Architecture
http://doubleNegatives.jp
The Fragmented Orchestra
Jane Grant, John Matthias, Nick Ryan (UK)
www.thefragmentedorchestra.com
the idea of a tree
Thomas Traxler (AT)
www.mischertraxler.com
INTERACTIVE ART
Red Psi Donkey
Jens Brand (DE)
www.jensbrand.com/
Audience
rAndom International (Stuart Wood (UK), Florian Ortkrass , Hannes Koch (DE)) & Chris O'Shea (UK)
www.random-international.com, www.chrisoshea.org
Perpetual Storytelling Apparatus
Benjamin Maus , Julius von Bismarck (DE)
www.allesblinkt.com,www.juliusvonbismarck.com
Jammer Horn
Willy Sengewald
http://www.thegreeneyl.com/jammer-horn
CONNECT – feedback-driven sculpture
Andreas Muxel (AT)
http://www.andreasmuxel.com,http://connect.andreasmuxel.com
Call Cutta in a box
Helgard Haug, Daniel Wetzel, Stefan Kaegi (DE)
http://www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/de/project_2766.html
Opera Calling
!Mediengruppe Bitnik (CH) and Sven König (DE)
www.bitnik.org,www.opera-calling.com/description
Double-Taker (Snout)
Golan Levin with Lawrence Hayhurst, Steven Benders and Fannie White (US)
http://www.flong.com/projects/snout/
Future Kiss
Lenka Klimesova (CZ)
www.myspace.com/lenyss
The Physical Value of Sound
Yuri Suzuki (JP)
http://www.yurisuzuki.com
In the Line of Sight
Daniel Sauter, Fabian Winkler (DE/US)
http://daniel-sauter.com,http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~fwinkler
Watch Me!
Yasushi Noguchi, Hideyuki Ando (JP)
http://r-dimension.xsrv.jp/projects_e/watch_me/
DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
HackMeeting
www.hackmeeting.org
PAD.MA
http://pad.ma
Maneno
http://www.maneno.org/
female:pressure
http://www.femalepressure.net/
UbuWeb
http://ubu.com
Canchas - spontaneous soccer fields
http://www.canchas.org
feral trade
www.feraltrade.org
FLOSS Manuals
http://www.flossmanuals.net
Wikiartpedia - The Free Encyclopaedia of Art and Network Cultures
http://www.wikiartpedia.org
Ashoka's Changemakers
http://changemakers.net
Voces Bolivianas (Bolivian Voices)
http://www.vocesbolivianas.org
Special Mention
Grass Mud Horse
Acknowledgements of a contribution to the field / Anerkennung des Beitrags zum Wissensfeld Media.Art.Research Award
Die Ordnung der Klänge
Andi Schoon (CH)
Dickson Experimental
Jan Philip Müller (DE)
[the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant
ClimateScope
Erich Berger (AT/FI), Laura Beloff (FI), Anu Osva(FI)
http://climatescope.net
Toaster to understand today's weather
Tatsuya Narita (JP)
http://www.cutarena.com/
Sachpreise u19 freestyle computing
Sachpreis u10
Sieben auf einen Streich
Raphael Birngruber, Laura Fischerlehner, Richard Prommer, Kerstin Füchsl, Lukas Prammer, Martin Donner, Jakob Hacklbauer (AT)
Sachpreis u14
Lego Chemie
Elena Kihr, Gerald Körber, Johannes Christler, Marcel Pfurtscheller, Simon Neurauter, Philip Mader, Matthias Zeni, Andreas Muigg, Simon Draxler, Andreas Bellony, Tolga Cosar (AT)
u19 - freestyle computing
IOCC – Die Polizei im Rennen gegen die Zeit
Alexander Niederklapfer, David Wurm, Magdalena Wurm, Ehrentraud Hager (AT)
Semantic Tag Cloud
Sinja Hemer, Jasmin Haider (AT)
http://wechselwirkungen.biz/stc/
Melt
Nana Susanne Thurner (AT)
Music Robot
Johannes Masanz (AT)
www.daskonzept.at
Fabian Todt, Maximilian Zinner (AT)
http://www.daskonzept.at
Buddytown.AT
Daniel Stocker (AT)
http://www.buddytown.at
Stop Motion Lightshow
Thomas Niedermaier (AT)
European II ways
Franz Fellinger (AT)
Robot Control with Mobile Phone Motion
Leo Höckner (AT)
CityFlow – Urban Climate Simulation
Oliver Spies, Andreas Mursch-Radlgruber, Michael Kappel, Stefan Pozar (AT)
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