u19 – freestyle computing – Simulation Lab

2006

Ehrentraud Hager (AT)
Alexander Niederklapfer (AT)
David Wurm (AT)
Magdalena Wurm (AT)
Ralph Aichhorn (AT)
Katharina Greul (AT)
Felix Gruber (AT)
Fabian Guschlbauer (AT)
Irene Kriechbaum (AT)
Julius Paul Lugmayr (AT)
1C / GRG1 Stubenbastei (AT)
Emanuel Jauk (AT)
The ThreeCees (AT)
Markus Weber (AT)
Stjepan Milicevic (AT)
Gabriel Freinbichler (AT)
Jiri Kuban (AT)
Lisa Steiner (AT)
Gruppe Piep, Diehlgasse (AT)
Nana Susanne Thurner (AT)
Thomas Hainscho (AT)
Dominik Amschl (AT)

The astounding creative abilities of Austria's up-and-coming young computer buffs are showcased each year in the exhibition of prizewinning works from the Prix Ars Electronica’s u19 – freestyle computing category. In the Ars Electronica Center’s Simulation Lab, you can see the amazing stuff that’s been singled out for honors in 2006 and try them all out yourself.

The Simulation Lab is equipped with 10 mobile laptop tables and a “Smart Board,” and its setup can be customized for use by groups. Three dedicated workspaces provide free Internet access. Visitors can also use the Simulation Lab to try out educational games. Find out more here.

A special exhibit showcasing projects that have been singled out for recognition by “u19 - freestyle computing” is currently on display.

Abenteuer-Arbeitsweg (Adventures on the Way to Work)
(Golden Nica)

Even the inhabitants of LEGO Land have to get up and go to work every morning. One day, a camera crew from the popular TV show “Krmpf Krmpf” accompanied a LEGO action figure on his morning commute. This concept resulted in a 13-minute animated film produced with a digital camera and Magix Video Deluxe 2004/2005.

Ehrentraud Hager, Alexander Niederklapfer, David Wurm, Magdalena Wurm / Krmpf Krmpf Studios

“Abenteuer-Arbeitsweg” served as the model for the Animation Studio on the Ars Electronica Center’s 1st Upper Level. If you’d care to try your hand at creating your own animated film, sign up for one of the animation workshops offered by the Museum of the Future!

Robofisch
(Award of Distinction)

An environmentally friendly robot. Robofisch can collect water samples, take readings of the water’s temperature, clarity and depth, and also do underwater photography. Its built-in computer is a Lego® RCX programmed with ROBOLAB software. A touchsensor does the navigation duty.

Ralph Aichhorn, Katharina Greul, Felix Gruber, Fabian Guschelbauer / ROBOGREINER

Faceology
(Award of Distinction)

Irene Kriechbaum took a series of head shots of her female classmates and morphed them together into the “average face.” She then proceeded to process the individual photos into a video. Blending and merging open up a completely new way of looking at faces.

Irene Kriechbaum

Wunderwelt Candy CAVE
(Award of Distinction – Merchandise Prize)

Julius Lugmayr loves candy, light, color and creative software, and he’s managed to work all of these elements into his remarkable light sculpture. Using a video camera and two beamers, he created a glowing glass ball inside of which you can experience being immersed in a candy wonderland.

Julius Paul Lugmayr

Trick und Politik (Tricks and Politics)
(Award of Distinction – Merchandise Prize)

In their 7-minute-long animated film entitled "Trick und Politik," Stubenbastei High School students take positions on politics and current events. They wrote scripts, drew storyboards and sets, painted and made collages. The final steps were to scan it all and add a soundtrack.

1C GRG Stubenbastei

ac_form
(Honorary Mention)

An interesting innovation for all musicians—“ac_form” is a patch for max/msp & jitter that lets the performer enhance his material live and in real time through re-sampling and synthesis via computer. “ac_form” enables direct interaction between the musician and the software.

Emanuel Jauk

Comic-Life
(Honorary Mention)

"Comic Life" is a music video of a very special sort. Landeck High School students created a flashy animated film to accompany a four-voice canon. They drew cartoon images, photographed the singers and recorded the canon. A lot of individual images finally resulted in a colorful, high-energy animated film.

The TreeCees / 3C BRG Landeck

Die Fische und der Hai (The Fish and the Shark)
(Honorary Mention)

Even for a shark, life in the high seas can get pretty dicey at times! Markus Weber and Stjepan Miliæeviæ started out by creating drawings of a shark’s adventures; then they animated them using Powerpoint and turned their material into a clever, witty presentation.

Markus Weber, Stjepan Milicevic

Donaufischer.at (Danube Fisherman)
(Honorary Mention)

Gabriel Freinbichler has designed a multifaceted website for all those who are just as enthused about fishing as he is. Using PostNuke-CMS and the Pagesetter module, he created a site jam-packed with interesting information about bodies of water and fish, and that also features a fishermen’s forum and a reference work about fishing.

Gabriel Freinbichler

“Ich kauf mir 'ne Rakete”
(Honorary Mention)

The music of the ’20 in an updated package. Jiri Kuban put eight weeks’ work into a very clever animated video of Max Raabe’s song “Ich kauf mir 'ne Rakete.”

Jiri Kuban

Kiwi Monster
(Honorary Mention)

Lisa Steiner’s Kiwi Monster is small, green, fuzzy and loves to eat … you guessed it … kiwis! Lisa’s sister Nina inspired her to create her cute computer monster.

Lisa Steiner

Piep!
(Honorary Mention)

Piep is a little bird in search of friends and a nice, cozy nest, which, it turns out, are not so easy to come across. Students at Vienna’s Diehlgasse Special Ed Center used drawings they made, a TV set and a camera to create an animated film about problems large and small in the life of a little bird.

The Piep Group, Diehlgasse

War
(Honorary Mention)

“War” is a Flash animation about a serious subject. For a one-minute-long film sequence, Nana Thurner needed about 700 images. The soundtrack to the film “care” comes from the group “Der Fette König.”

Nana Susanne Thurner

www.zu-fall.net.ms
(Honorary Mention)

At www.zu-fall.net.ms, everything revolves around numbers. Thomas Hainscho used PHP and Javascript to program scripts that generate random numbers. The frequency with which a particular number comes up is visualized on screen with a variety of different graphics.

Thomas Hainscho

Winamp Remote Control
(Honorary Mention)

A creative idea for remote-controlling MP3s. “Winamp Remote Control” displays the playlist’s titles and let’s you select tracks for playback. An Amtel ATmega 8 microcontroller is the device’s main component. The software for the controller was programmed in Assembler, for the computer in Visual Basic.

Dominik Amschl

At the Ars Electronica Center, you can peruse u19 – freestyle computing prizewinners with the help of Winamp Remote Control.