CATEGORIES

The "Computer Animation / Film / VFX" category has been part of the Prix Ars Electronica since its very inception. It recognizes excellence in independent work in the arts and sciences as well as in high-end commercial productions in the film, advertising and entertainment industries. In this category, artistic originality counts just as much as masterful technical achievement.
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The "Interactive Art" category is dedicated to interactive works in all forms and formats, from installations to performances. At the top of the agenda is artistic quality in the development and design of the interaction as well as a harmonious dialog between the content level and the interaction level—that is, the inherent principles of interaction and the interfaces that implement them. Of particular interest is the sociopolitical relevance of the interaction as manifested by its innate potential to expand the scope of human action. Jurors are looking forward to encountering innovative technological concepts blended with superbly effective design (usability).
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Contemporary digital sound productions from the broad spectrum of "electronica" come in for
consideration in the "Digital Musics" category, as do works combining sound and media, computer compositions ranging from electro-acoustic to experimental music, as well as sound installations.

Regardless of the media or style utilized by the respective artist, utmost consideration is given to the entry’s musical qualities and sound artistry.
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The “Hybrid Art” category is dedicated specifically to today’s hybrid and transdisciplinary projects and approaches to media art.
Primary emphasis is on the process of fusing different media and genres into new forms of artistic expression as well as the act of transcending the boundaries between art and research, art and social/political activism, art and pop culture.

A prime consideration in establishing "Hybrid Art" has been to expand the borders of the existing Prix Ars Electronica categories.
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The "Digital Communities" category will honor important achievements by digital communities well as innovative artistic approaches towards web-based communities. This category focuses attention on the wide-ranging social and artistic impact of the Internet as well as on the latest developments in the fields of social software, ubiquitous computing, mobile communications andwireless networks. Special attention goes to community-related “net.art”. "Digital Communities" spotlights bold and inspired innovations impacting human coexistence, bridging the geographical as well as gender-based digital divide and cultural conflicts, sustaining cultural diversity and the freedom of artistic expression or creating outstanding social software and enhancing accessibility of technological-social infrastructure. This category showcases the political and artistic potential of digital and networked systems and is thus designed as a forum for the consideration of a broad spectrum of projects, programs, artworks, initiatives and phenomena in which social and artistic innovation is taking place, as it were, in real time.
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"u19 - freestyle computing" is Austria's largest computer competition for young people. It has been held annually since 1998 as an integral part of the Prix Ars Electronica. Established in 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica is the world's foremost competition in the cyberarts as well as a showcase of artistic excellence and innovation. Prix Ars Electronica's "u19 - freestyle computing" category is a competition for Austrian youth. Only young people age 19 and under who are permanent residents of Austria are eligible to take part.
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Discovering ideas for tomorrow in minds today and focusing on the intersection of art and technology is the aim of this grant. The category’s target group includes creatives from all over the world, older than 19, who have developed as-yet-unproduced concepts in the fields of art, design or technology. The winner receives a stipend in the amount of 7,500 Euro and will be invited to spend 3 months as Researcher and Artist in Residence at the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Judging will be done by a panel of experts. The Ars Electronica Futurelab makes its resources and its staff’s expertise available to support the realization of the project during the term of residency. The awarded concept or the completed work will be presented in the Prix Ars Electronica’s “CyberArts 2009” catalog and as part of the Ars Electronica Exhibition at the 2009 Ars Electronica Festival. Strongly committed to an interdisciplinary approach, and as part of an international network of collaborating institutional associates, the Ars Electronica Futurelab carries out its R&D projects together with artists and scientists from all over the world.
The awarding of this grant is made possible by voestalpine.
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In conjunction with the 2009 Prix Ars Electronica, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research will be awarding a prize honoring an outstanding theoretical work on the subject of “Sound-Image Relations in Audiovisual Art”.

Prix Ars Electronica Media.Art.Research Award wants to further scholarly investigation of media artforms that have not yet gotten established in the context of art museums or in the commercial art world, and of processual, conceptual and interactive art that assumes subversive, situational and committed positions at the interface of art, technology and society.
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