3,677 entries were submitted from 106 countries for 2017 Prix Ars Electronica prize consideration. The Computer Animation/Film/VFX category led the way (1,157 entries), followed by Hybrid Art (1,063), Digital Musics (792) and u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD (665). The Golden Nica statuettes will be bestowed upon the prizewinners at the Ars Electronica Gala on September 8, 2017 in Linz’s Brucknerhaus.
You’ll find the complete list of all jury statements for those singled out for recognition with Golden Nicas, Awards of Distinction and Honorary Mentions in 2017 at www.aec.at/prix/en/gewinner/jury-statement/
Computer Animation / Film / VFX
Golden Nica
Everything / David OReilly (IE)
“(…) a unique and innovative approach to animation that pushes the boundaries between linear, nonlinear, and interactive experience. (…) also serves a highly educational purpose and includes an important political statement (…)“ (Statement of the Jury)
Award of Distinction
Out of Exile / Nonny de la Peña (US), Emblematic Group (US)
“(…) a visceral experience, and very powerful.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Light Barrier 3rd Edition / Mimi Son (KR), Elliot Woods (UK) / Kimchi and Chips
“With this prize, the jury would like to encourage others to further technologies and ways we create and experience animation.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Honorary Mentions
Best of Luck with the Wall / Josh Begley (US) / Field of Vision
Blade Runner – Autoencoded / Terence Broad (GB)
Branded Dreams / Studio Smack (NL)
Double King / Felix Colgrave (AU)
find my way home (kyttenjanae’s tumblr) / kyttenjanae (US)
Nighthawk (Nočna ptica) / Špela Čadež (SI)
Order From Chaos / Maxime Causeret (FR)
Scavengers / Joseph Bennett (US), Charles Huettner (US)
The absence of Eddy Table / Rune Spaans (NW)
The Institute of Isolation / Lucy McRae (AU)
Hybrid Art
Golden Nica
K-9_topology / Maja Smrekar (SI)
“K-9_topology is a true hybrid artwork with profound bio-political message and is certain to bring a lot of discussion to the audience from both art and science sides.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Award of Distinction
A Study into 21st Century Drone Acoustics / Gonçalo Freiria Cardoso (PT), Ruben Pater (NL)
“The Jury recognized and appreciated the project’s critical stand and goal to spread awareness and contribute to the debate in connection to future technologies and their relation to warfare.“ (Statement of the Jury)
The America Project / Paul Vanouse (US)
“Vanouse produces the very icon of the melting pot, the US Flag, as the result of a live scientific experiment (…)“ (Statement of the Jury)
Honorary Mentions
Autoradiograph / Masamichi Kagaya (JP)
Dust Blooms: a research narrative in artistic ecology / Alexandra R. Toland (US)
Glaciator / Joaquín Fargas (AR)
imaginary rhetoric / Soichiro Mihara (JP)
Luminiferous Drift / Evelina Domnitch (BY), Dmitry Gelfand (US)
M2 Hospital / Forensic Architecture (GB)
Microbial Design Studio: 30-day Simit Diet / Karen Hogan (US), Mike Hogan (US), Orkan Telhan (US)
Open Source Estrogen / Mary Maggic (US), Byron Rich (CA)
The Intelligent Guerilla Beehive / AnneMarie Maes (BE)
Digital Musics & Sound Art
Golden Nica
“(…) an outstanding book and CD compilation project.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Award of Distinction
Gamelan Wizard / Lucas Abela (AU), Wukir Suryadi (ID) und Rully Shabara (ID)
“(…) a skillful piece of interactive design in the public space.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Corpus Nil / Marco Donnarumma (IT/DE)
“The striking scenography of the performance deconstructs the body, inviting the audience to witness the birth of a sonically augmented cyborg creature.“ (Statement of the Jury)
Honorary Mentions
$1’s Worth / Young Eun Kim (KR)
A City Searches For A Microphone / Ludwig Berger (DE), Alexander Pospischil (DE)
Acoustic Additive Synthesizer / Krzysztof Cybulski (PL)
Almost there. / Todd Anderson-Kunert (AU)
Bug’s Beat / Yumi Sasaki (JP), Dorita Takido (JP)
Lorenzo Senni ‘Persona’ / Lorenzo Senni (IT)
Rekion Voice / Katsuki Nogami (JP), Taiki Watai (JP)
Somatic Echo / Juri Hwang (KR)
volnovod / Dmitry Morozov (RU)
We Are Not Alone / Natasha Barrett (GB), Anthony Rowe (GB)
Wellenwald mit Bunker / David Ebner (DE)
u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD
Golden Nica
nonvisual-art / Lisa Buttinger (AT)
“(…) has developed a new medium, a new material that artists can utilize to form images.“ (Statement der Jury)
nonvisual-art is an image that is simultaneously visible and invisible. Cellophane foils and air bubbles trapped in a layer of adhesive refract in a highly artistic way the light shone onto them. In this way, natural science becomes a tool for graphical depiction. First, a polarizing filter refracts invisible light into visible colors and then forms them into an image. Viewed through 3-D glasses, the image becomes a space. Lisa Buttinger painstakingly constructed this “enchanted world” piece by piece. nonvisual-art was created as a design project at HBLA–High School for Artistic Design Linz. Lisa Buttinger gained the necessary theoretical insights in conjunction with her diploma thesis. (Excerpt press release 21.05.2017)
Award of Distinction
LARES – A Puzzle Action Adventure Game / Florian Buger, Sonja Futterknecht, Maria Raser, David Holy, Mario Kerndler (alle AT)
“(…) video game that could be put on the market in this form without changing a thing. (…) playing this game is quite a sophisticated undertaking.“ (Statement der Jury)
LARES is an action-adventure computer game set in a fantasy world. It’s easy to navigate through, has numerous puzzle elements, offers challenging opponents, and contains multiple levels featuring diverse designs, which together guarantee a game experience that’s both enduring and entertaining. LARES is a collaborative project by a group of students, each of whom contributed her/his respective skills. (Excerpt press release 21.05.2017)
NERVE – Lessons on Demand / Clemens Großberger (AT), Thomas Übellacker (AT)
“(…) a fascinating idea for a concrete problem and topic.“ (Statement der Jury)
NERVE – Lessons on Demand is an up-to-date Web platform developed by Clemens Großberger and Thomas Übelacker. Their aim: Providing online access to previous classroom instruction that a student—for whatever reason: tardiness, absence or to study for an exam—wishes to review. Instructional units are presented in a clearly structured way, and can also be enriched with additional material by the teacher. Furthermore, NERVE makes available a clearly comprehensible, user-friendly application that academic administrators can custom-configure for their particular school. (Excerpt press release 21.05.2017)
netidee SPEZIALPREIS 2017
Big Poop Data (.com) /Robert Miller, Nico Rameder, Daniel Wetzelhütter, Max Wolschlager (alle AT)
“(…) satirical approach to the subject of online privacy and clean technical implementation.“ (Statement der Jury)
The toilet at Metalab in Vienna is the epicenter of the Big Poop Data project. Robert Miller, Nico Rameder, Daniel Wetzelhütter and Max Wolschlager equipped their crapper with a shitload of sensors as a means of gathering information about WC-goers’ use of toilet paper and water, as well as the average length of time they take to do their business. The purveyors of Big Poop Data intend this as a critical commentary on the increasingly pervasive obsession with digital data-gathering, and as an appeal to safeguard our digital privacy. (Excerpt press release 21.05.2017)
Merchandise Prize u14
PSE-Lernspiele / Arian Hoseini (AT), Sasan Hoseini (AT)
Merchandise Prize u10
Ninja Training / Jonathan Wimmer (AT)
Honorary Mentions
CamCar / Christian Brenner (AT), Dominik Hajek (AT), Simon Hofer (AT), Stefan Kral (AT)
Die Fahnen hoch? / Viktoria Furian (AT)
Emergency Exit / Katharina Hollinetz (AT)
Mitwachsende Armprothese / Dominik Ballwein (AT), Samuel Lehner (AT)
You are President / Manuel Achhorner (AT), Josef Adelsberger (AT)
Winners ARCHIVE
The Prix Ars Electronica Archive with all previous winning projects is available to check from here.