Prix Ars Electronica • Cyberarts 99




It is not long now until the year 2000, the year that is regarded even today as a metaphor for the future. With the year 2000 the Ars Electronica Festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary in the year 1999, will enter the third decade of its existence. For over 20 years Ars Electronica has not only provided an analysis and commentary on the discourses revolving around the digital transformation taking place at tremendous speed, but has also, especially in its pioneering role, repeatedly introduced provocations and thus impulses for further development.
One of the qualitative cornerstone of the Ars Electronica Festival ist the Prix Ars Electronica. Since it was inaugurated in 1987 by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Upper Austrian Regional Studio it has united the creative forces that formulate the principles of the digital transformation and make them accessible to a wider audience through their work.
From the beginning, the intention of the Prix Ars Electronica has been to provide an open forum and to extend an invitation to artists, researchers and creative people from various disciplines, yet as a competition it is also open for new trends and developments in digital media. Whereas the Prix Ars Electronica 1987 started with the competition categories Computer Graphics, Computer Animation and Computer Music, the section Interactive Art was added in 1990, and in 1995 the category Computer Graphics was replaced by one for the Internet. In keeping with continuing developments, the category Computer Animation was expanded in 1998 into the category for Computer Animation and Visual Effects with double awards. In addition, the Prix Ars Electronica opened up another field for young talent in the same year with the new section ”cybergeneration—u19 freestyle computing.”
Since its inception the Prix Ars Electronica has become a regular focal point every year for artists, designers, researchers and developers around the world. Again and again, its results represent the current state of digital media creativity independent of industrial norms. 1999 heralds a redefinition of the music category, as illustrated by the new designation ”Digital Musics.” Invitations to take part in the competition were extended to representatives from the fields of electronica (Noise, HipHop, Drum&Bass, Techno, DJ Culture, Ambient etc.), Sound and Media and computer compositions.
They say scheduled revolutions never happen, but those that are hoped for, obviously do. It is apparent that revolutionary changes in the area of digital musics do not take place in secret. There are several reasons why the results of the Prix Ars Electronica in the category ”digital musics” are worthy of the attribute revolutionary. For the first time, the award-winning artists do not come from areas associated with universities, but rather from the creative environment around record producers, from small, independent groups of artists. For the first time, the pioneering role of classical electro-acoustic with works conserved on tape has been superseded by live performances with technosound, Drum&Bass, noise and remixes. And for the first time, an Austrian label that has long since achieved international recognition, is among the winners.

Prix Ars Electronica— Cyberarts 99

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Golden Nica
Linus Torvalds—Linux

Distinctions
Jean-Marc Philippe—KEO
Willy Henshall / Matt Moller—Res Rocket

Honorary Mentions
David P. Anderson—SETI@home
Joanna Berzowska—Computational Expressionism
CAAD / Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich—phase(x)3
Help B92 Coalition—Free B92
Eric Loyer—The Lair of the Marrow Monkey
Daniel Julià Lundgren—REaCT
Fumio Matsumoto / Shoei Matsukawa—Ginga
Mark Napier—The Shredder
Nick Philip—Nowhere.com
Ramana Rao / Inxight—Hyperbolic Tree
Christa Sommerer / Laurent Mignonneau—Verbarium
Martin Wattenberg / Joon Yu—Map of the Market

Interactive Art

Golden Nica
Lynn Hershman / Construct Internet Design—Difference Engine #3

Distinctions
Luc Courchesne—Landscape One
Perry Hoberman—Systems Maintenance

Honorary Mentions
Joachim Blank / Karl Heinz Jeron—Scanner++
Christoph Ebener / Frank Fietzek / Uli Winters—Hamster—Symbiotic Exchange of Hoarded Energy
Kouichirou Eto / Canon ARTLAB—Sound Creatures
F.A.B.R.I.CATORS / K-Team—Robots &
Avatars Dealing with Virtual Illusions
Beate Garmer—Descartes oder die Einsamkeit der interaktiven Skulptur
Bill Keays / Ron MacNeil—metaField Maze
Russet Lederman—NYC Thought Pictures: Memories of Place
Eric Paulos—Dispersion
Simon Penny—Traces
Daniel Rozin—Easel
Stefan Schemat / Michael Joyce / Hiroki Maekawa / Dominica Freyer / Burki Carstens / Mike Felsmann / Isabella Bordoni / Roberto Paci Dalò—Augmented Reality Fiction
Christa Sommerer / Laurent Mignonneau—HAZE Express

Computer Animation / Visual Effects

Golden Nica / Computer Animation
Chris Wegde—Bunny

Distinctions / Computer Animation
John Lasseter / Andrew Stanton / Pixar—A Bug’s Life
Bob Sabiston / Tommy Pallotta / Flat Black Films—Snack and Drink

Honorary Mentions Computer Animation
Jun Asakawa / Toshifumi Kawahara / Polygon Pictures—Polygon Family
Erwin Charrier / Heure Exquise—Un Temps Pour Elle
Paul Kaiser / Shelley Eshkar / Bill T. Jones—Ghostcatching
Christopher Landreth / Alias|Wavefront—Bingo
William Le Henanff—Ultima Forsan
Patrice Mugnier / Heure Exquise—En Dérive
Didi Offenhuber / AEC FutureLab—Bike
Bruce Pukema / Ronin Inc.—Ronin Romance Classics
Daniel Robichaud / Digital Domain—Tightrope
Christian Sawade-Meyer—Stationen
Seiji Shiota / Tohru Patrick Awa / Polygon Pictures—The FlyBand!
Lev Yilmaz / Emre Yilmaz / Protozoa—Bad Night

Golden Nica / Visual Effects
Vincent Ward / Stephen Simon / Barnet
Bain / Mass.illusions / POP /Digital Domain—What Dreams May Come

Distinctions / Visual Effects
CFC—Computer Film Company—Guiness ”Surfer”
Alain Escalle—A Viagem

Honorary Mentions / Visual Effects
Manuel Horrillo Fernandez / Daiquiri / Spainbox—Alaris ”Aliens”
Fuel—Peter Miles / Damon Murray / Stephen Sorrell—Original Copies
Ray Giarratana / Digital Domain—Photoreal Digital Cars: Metal Desert & Metal City
Geoffrey Guiot / Bruno Lardé / Jerôme Maillot / Heure Exquise—No Way
Juan Tomicic Muller / Daiquiri/Spainbox—Lottery ”Fantasy”
Phil Tippett / Craig Hayes / Tippett Studio—Virus

Digital Musics

Golden Nica
Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) / Chris Cunningham—Come To Daddy

Distinctions
Mego: Christian Fennesz / Peter Rehberg aka Pita—hotel paral.le. / Seven Tons For Free
Ikue Mori—Birthday

Honorary Mentions
Stefan Betke—CD 2
Paul DeMarinis—Fireflies Alight on the Abacus of Al-Farabi II
Rose Dodd / Stephen Connolly—Kinderspel
John Duncan / Francisco López—NAV
Bernhard Günter—the ant moves / the black & yellow carcass / a little closer
Richard Hawtin aka Plastikman—Consumed
MAZK / Zbigniew Karkowski / Masami Akita—Metabolic Speed Perception
Mouse on Mars—Autoditacker
Terre Thaemlitz—Superbonus
[The User] / local area network orchestra—Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers
Tone Rec / Gaëtan Collet / Noëlle Collet / Claude Pailliot / Vincent Thierion—Ten
Ralf L. Wehowsky (RLW)—Tulpas

Cybergeneration—u19

Golden Nica
(conspirat).

Distinctions
Alexander Fischl / Gregor Koschicek—Von Ignoranten, Betriebsystemen und Atomraketen
Phil E. Haindl—Safer Reality

Honorary Mentions
Franz Berger—Webpage der HTL Braunau
Sebastian Endt—Schweineherde
Simon Gaßner—Matura-CD der 8a und 8c
Alexander Kvasnicka—Good Morning
Stefanie Mitter—Clown
Takuya Nimmerrichter—Unser Tag
Simon Oberhammer—Projekt Leben
Benedikt Schalk—Mia topo
Markus Strahlhofer—Area 51—
Back to the Surface
Patrick Toifl—The Tortoise and the Rabbit
Stefan Trischler—Scream
Armin Weihbold—SOS—Simple Security Online

Selected works of the Prix Ars Electronica are being presented in the Cyberarts 99 exhibition at the O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst. You will find a detailed description of the projects in the Prix Ars Electronica book

Cyberarts 99 International Compendium Prix Ars Electronica (H. Leopoldseder / C. Schöpf, eds.) Springer Wien – New York 1999