3. 9. 18:30

An evening totally dedicated to the artists themselves. The 2010 Ars Electronica gala featuring the presentation of the Golden Nicas to the Prix Ars Electronica prizewinners is one of the Festival’s highlights.

Please note, that due to the limited seats you will need a separate invitation or a seat reservation for the Gala.

The Golden Nicas and Prizes go to:

• Nuit Blanche
  Arev Manoukian (CA)
  Golden Nica Computer Animation / Film / VFX
• rheo: 5 horizons
  Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP)
  Golden Nica Digital Musics & Sound Art
• Ear on Arm
  Stelarc (AU)
  Golden Nica Hybrid Art
• The EyeWriter
  Zach Lieberman, James Powderly, Tony Quan, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue (US) and Theo Watson (UK)
  Golden Nica Interactive Art
• Chaos Computer Club
  Golden Nica Digital Communities
• Automatisierter Drehfußballtisch
  Stefan Polic, Michael Moitzi (AT) / HTL BULME
  Golden Nica u19 – freestyle computing
• Hostage
  Frederik De Wilde (BE)
  Winner [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant

Project Management: Bianca Petscher
Project Assistance: Lukas Dullnig
Screendesign: checksum5 (Joreg, Rainer Kohlberger)

Julius von Bismarck’s (DE) “Image Fulgurator” got a Golden Nica in the Interacitve category. credit: rubra

The 24th edition of the Prix Ars Electronica attracted 3,083 submissions from 70 countries and thus impressively reflects the entire dynamic and multifaceted spectrum of the cyberarts. Seven juries composed of internationally renowned experts convened to select the winners of six Golden Nicas, 12 Awards of Distinctions, 1 [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant and 71 Honorary Mentions. These honors along with prize money totaling 117,500 Euros will be presented to the winners at the Ars Electroncia Gala.

Prix Forum Hybrid Art
3. 9. 13:00 – 14:30

The prize winners in the “Hybrid Art” category:

• Stelarc (AU) – Ear on Arm / Golden Nica
• Paul Vanouse (US) – Ocular Revision
• Julian Oliver (NZ/DE), Danja Vasiliev (RU/DE) – Men in Grey

Participants of the Forum:

• Jens Hauser (DE/FR) – Member of the Jury
• Stelarc (AU)
• Paul Vanouse (US)
• Julian Oliver (NZ/DE), Danja Vasiliev (RU/DE)

Prix Forum Digital Communities
4. 9. 10:30-12:15

The prize winners in the “Computer Animation / Film / VFX” category:

• Chaos Computer Club – http://www.ccc.de/ / Golden Nica
• Map Kibera – http://mapkibera.org/
• the ubiquitous #unibrennt cloud – http://unibrennt.at

Prix Formum Digital Communities is part of the Open Source Life Symposium

Prix Forum Interactive Art
5. 9. 13:30 – 15:00

The prize winners in the “Interactive Art” category:

• Zach Lieberman, James Powderly, Tony Quan, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue (US) and Theo Watson (UK) – The EyeWriter / Golden Nica
• United Visual Artists (UK) – Chorus
• Julijonas Urbonas (LT) – Talking Doors

Participants of the Forum:

• Jussi Ängeslevä (FI) – Member of the Jury
• Zach Lieberman, James Powderly, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue (US) and Theo Watson (UK )
• United Visual Artists (UK)
• Julijonas Urbonas (LT)

Prix Forum Computer Animation / Film / VFX
5. 9. 15:30 – 17:00

The prize winners in the “Computer Animation / Film / VFX” category:

• Arev Manoukian, Stephanie Swedlove (Producer) and Marc-Andre (visual effects) (CN) – Nuit Blanche / Golden Nica.
• Sam O’Hare (UK/US) / OOVFX – The Sandpit
• Jean-Christophe Lie (FR) / Prima Linea Productions – The Man in the Blue Gordini [L‘Homme à la Gordini]

Participants of the Forum:

• Jürgen Hagler (AT) – Member of the Jury
• Arev Manoukian (CA)
• Sam O’Hare (UK/US) / OOVFX
• Jean-Christophe Lie (FR) / Prima Linea Productions

Prix Forum Digital Musics & Sound Art
6. 9. 13:30 – 15:00

The prize winners in the “Digital Musics & Sound Art” category:

• Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP) – rheo: 5 horizons / Golden Nica
• Michel Décosterd, André Décosterd (CH) / Cod.Act – Cycloïd-E
• Martin Bédard (CA) – Champs de fouilles (Excavations)

Participants of the Forum:

• Christina Kubisch (DE) – Member of the Jury
• Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP)
• Michel Décosterd, André Décosterd (CH) / Cod.Act
• Martin Bédard (CA)

Stelarc (AU)
Golden Nica Hybrid Art

The “Ear on Arm” project is the artist’s take on trends in the development of devices attached to the body or embedded in it. Stelarc is an Australian artist who has had an ear-shaped configuration of tissue and cartilage implanted onto his forearm as a potential means of communication. The additional ear is equipped with a microphone and a built-in transmitter and thereby represents the double function of the skin as reception & transmission mechanism. According to the artist, this additional ear is “a prosthesis [that] is not seen as a sign of lack but rather as a symptom of excess.”

www.stelarc.va.com.au

Ear on Arm / Stelarc credit: Nina Sellars

Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP)
Golden Nica Digital Musics & Sound Art

Kurokawa conceives his audiovisual works as timebased sculptures. The work’s title, “rheo,” is derived from the Greek word meaning “river” or “to flow.” In this sense, the audio & video recordings of real landscapes undergo seamless transitions into graphic analyses or re-syntheses of them. The result is a sort of landscape “under observation.”

www.ryoichikurokawa.com

Zach Lieberman, James Powderly, Tony Quan, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue (US) and Theo Watson (UK)
Golden Nica Interactive Art

“The EyeWriter” enables people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease) to engage in creative activities by just using their eyes, the only body part that’s not paralyzed by this degenerative nerve disorder. Tony Quan, an artist afflicted with ALS, can now draw tags from his hospital bed. These works can then be applied to the cityscape or rendered in India ink by various output devices. Developed by an international network of experts, this system attests to what a collaborative alliance can accomplish nowadays.

www.eyewriter.org

Martin Bédard (CA)
Award of Distinction Digital Musics & Sound Art

“Champs de fouilles” (Excavations) was commissioned to mark the 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec. The soundtrack consists of so-called field recordings from Quebec—above all, sounds of excavations. The electroacoustic structures and timbres, which are processed in this piece into a highly complex, multilayered creation, repeatedly allow the listener to “glimpse the original sound.” Bédard has created a composition of great density and beauty in which  authentic audio material and electronic processing enter into a successful synthesis.

www.pointdecoute.ca

Paul Vanouse (US)
Award of Distinction Hybrid Art

“Ocular Revision” is a performative biotechnological art installation in the form of a live scientific experiment in which DNA segments are processed into images and patterns by a device developed by the artist himself. This technically demanding work is a critical confrontation with a highly controversial subject—the so-called genetic fingerprint or genetic portrait, the purportedly unalterable proof of identity that Mother Nature is said to have inscribed into each human body.

www.paulvanouse.org

Félix Luque Sánchez (ES)
Honorary Mention Interactive Art

“Chapter One: The Discovery” is an interactive sculpture embedded in a story. The premise—that an installation visitor gets involved in a narrative before getting to see the work of art—has surprising effects. The project is thus played out in the visitor’s own mind as well as in the installation space, as the visitor becomes a character in this story about future developments gone awry and extraterrestrial technologies. The elegance of “Chapter One: The Discovery” is the outcome of the combination of interactivity and narration, of the orchestration of the exhibition experience as a narrative.

www.othersounds.net

TheGreenEyl 2009 (Willy Sengewald, Dominik Schumacher, Gunnar Green [DE], Frédéric Eyl [FR])
Honorary Mention Interactive Art

A cluster of empty porcelain cups of different shapes and sizes scattered around a table emit quiet sounds through a small hole in the middle. Picking up the plate and pressing it to one’s ear, one hears the plates and bowls explaining small story fragments from different cultures relating to eating, and the rituals around the dinner table. The plates are equipped with custom electronics that sense the arrangement of the plates, revealing different stories according to their constellation.

www.thegreeneyl.com

LAb[au]
Honorary Mention Interactive Art

The Framework f5x5x5 sculpture is a kinetic and luminous sculpture. The installation’s raster of 375 fixed and kinetic aluminum frames provide the framework for this interactive and generative sculpture. Thematically, the work confronts architectural concepts of congestion, flow etc. with spatial sensing technologies through programmed “lumino-kinetic” devices.

lab-au.com/projects/f5x5x5

Hee-Seon Kim (KR)
Honorary Mention Interactive Art

Home uses a telescope to watch real-life footagefrom a database of news articles, private lives and documentary material that was transmitted through mass media channels. Combining a minimal stage design with two projections and an observation balcony, Home presents a caricature of social voyeurism and ubiquitous curiosity, where the search for deeper connection between the fragments is only in the eye of the beholder.

www.khm.de/~sun/2009_eng/home01e.html

Allison Kudla (US)
Honorary Mention Hybrid Art

This system uses a custom-built computer-controlled four-axis positioning table to “print” bioarchitectural constructions out of moss and seeds. Suspended in a clear gel growth medium, the moss begins to grow and the seeds sprout. The algorithmically generated patterns drawn by the system are based on the Eden growth model and leverage mathematical representations of both urban growth and cellular growth, thereby connecting the concept of city with the concept of the organism.

www.allisonx.com

Jonathan Schipper (US)
Honorary Mention Hybrid Art

Birth and death are only a rewind button away. That videotape can be both rewound and fast forwarded, endlessly replaying the best events again and again. This ironic and fascinating beautiful sculpture captures the moment, in which a bottle shatters to pieces on the floor. The computer controlled robotic arms allow you to stop the scene, to wind back and forth and watch it in different positions.

oppositionart.com

Thomas Thwaites (UK)
Honorary Mention Hybrid Art

The Toaster Project is the result of the attempt to make an electric toaster from scratch – literally from the ground up. Starting with digging up the raw materials from abandoned mines around the UK, processing them at home, and finally forming them into a product that can be bought for just £ 3.94. The toaster cost £ 1187.54, took nine months to finish and exposes the fallacy in a return to some romantic ideal of a pre-industrialized time.

www.thetoasterproject.org

Daan van den Berg (NL) / Studio Daan
Honorary Mention Hybrid Art

The “elephantiasis virus” causes random deformities, like lumps, cracks and humps, which only show up when the customer prints his product at home with his 3D printer. Three-dimensional printing at home might sound like science fiction, but is expected to spark off a new revolution.

www.studiodaan.nl

Zimoun (CH)
Honorary Mention Digital Musics & Sound Art

Zimoun’s sound sculptures and installations are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry. Zimoun creates sound pieces from basic components, often using multiples of the same prepared mechanical elements to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns.

zimoun.ch

Julius Stahl (DE)
Honorary Mention Digital Musics & Sound Art

The installation consists of resonating wire walls hanging in the room. Spotlights project precise shadows of the wire walls onto the floor and the walls of the exhibition room. Emerging from the resonation of the wire, a dynamic framework of objects, sound, light and the space of the exhibition is created.

www.juliusstahl.de

2. 9. 10:00 – 19:00
3. 9. – 6. 9. 10:00 – 21:00
7. 9. – 10.9. 16:00 – 22:00
11. 9. 10:00 – 18:00

A selection of the works of the Prix Ars Electronica. Click here to see details about the exhibited works.

“u19 – freestyle computing” is Austria’s largest computer competition for young people. Held annually in conjunction with the Prix Ars Electronica, u19 has established itself since its founding in 1998 as the link between the spirit of youthful creativity and our world’s high-tech future. Over the years, thousands of Austrians youngsters age 19 and under have taken part. The honored projects spanned a wide arc once again this year, ranging from perennial favorites like animated films and videos, to Web 2.0 applications and virtual worlds, all the way to extremely elaborate robotics experiments and complex interactive software.

www.u19.at

Goldene Nica / Golden Nica
Automatisierter Drehfußballtisch
Stefan Polic, Michael Moitzi HTL BULME

Auszeichnung / Distinction
eEx Network Applications
Emanuel Jöbstl

Auszeichnung / Distinction
Chindogu
Johannes Masanz

Sachpreis u10 / Merchandise Prize u10
Der weiße Hai
Matthias Riedler

Sachpreis u14 / Merchandise Prize u14
Vom Himmel gefallen
Michael Schmidl

Anerkennungen / Honorary Mention

• Brain Computer Interface
  Alexander Berth, Armin Schnürer HTL Leonding, g.tec – guger Technologies
• Over the top: Episode 1
  Tarek Khalifa
• is this Healthy? – vom Barcode zu gesundheitsrelevanten Daten am Handy
  Johannes Schrefl
  http://www.healthy4u.tk
• Terraforming
  Nikolaus Sulzenauer
• ASYL
  Thomas Gatt, Manuel Tilgner
  BG/BRG Sillgasse
• Move It
  Julia Molnar, Bianca Biedrawa, Yuliya Potapova Landstraßer Gymnasium
• more than just a box & trashed
  Florian Grünberger
  
• MediaDropBox
  Romana Dorfer
  mediadropbox.sourceforge.net
• HomeMadiLex . workshop-sounds
  Matthias Bergsmann HBLA für künstlerische Gestaltung Linz
• 3d-dancing-diving-devils
  Tolga Cosar, Elena Kihr, Philip Mader, Matthias Zeni, Johannes Christler Dr. Aloys Weissenbach HS

Idea / Concept / Project Management: Susi Windischbauer

3. 9. 11:00 – 12:30

Award ceremony and presentation of the winning projects as well as the recipients of the Award of Distinction and Honorary Mentions in the u19 –freestyle computing category.

We’re very thankful for our excellent working relationship with our partner KulturKontakt Austria and with ORF Upper Austria

3. 9. 15:00 – 16:15

MediaDropBox
Honorary Mention “u19 – freestyle computing”
Romana Dorfer

Alles ist Noppe
Winners MB21 2010
Kilian und Lukas Helmbrecht

Automatisierter Drehfußballtisch
Golden Nica „u19- freestyle computing“
Stefan Polic, Michael Moitzi

LuZAeterna
Winners Bugnplay – Schweiz
Yasmin König, Frank Ruben

Brain Computer Interface
Honorary Mention „ u19 – freestyle computing”
Alexander Berth, Armin Schnürer / HTL Leonding, g.tec – guger Technologies

3. 9. 16:30 – 17:30

eEx Network Applications
Distinction “u19 – freestyle computing”
Emanuel Jöbstl

Autumn / Ösz
Winners C3 <19 a verseny – Hungary
Vanessa Cseh

HomeMadiLex . workshop sounds
Honorary Mention “u19 – freestyle
computing” / Matthias Bergsmann

Is this Healthy? – vom Barcode zu gesundheitsrelevanten Daten am Handy
Honorary Mention „u19 – freestyle computing“
Johannes Schrefl

Selection of the best works of the Prix 2010

2.9 – 7. 9.

Films that challenge our spatial perceptions, “Dark Stories” that transport us into an absurd world in which the customary criteria of perception have gone completely haywire; cinematographic narratives from different ethnic groups and expressed correspondingly in a variety of substantive formats ranging from the comic-grotesque to the serious-traditional; statements containing political, social, ecological and cultural messages; transformations of states of existence; and films that merge the coordinates at the nexus of music, sound and imagery. The description of our endeavors to create an ordering system is itself an expression of the tremendous diversity of digital design variants in their multifarious areas of application in advertising, film industry special effects, TV, science and art. The Ars Electronica Animation Festival 2010 is meant to provide insights that demonstrate the current state of the art of digital visual design.

Dark Stories
The dark and shadowy sides of life emerge—abysses, threatening worlds of imagery, black fantasies. We become observers of the realization of death’s approach, of transgressing boundaries, of the discourse on biotech development, of battle scenes and criminal cases. Definitely not a program for the faint of heart!

Experimentation & Abstraction
In this program, viewers are confronted by digitally painted visions. Shifting, interwoven worlds of imagery captivate our perceptions. 2D overlays, motion patterns, fluid simulation, abstraction—the entire spectrum of generated images accompany us through the domain of 21st-century experimental animation.

Inner & Outer Spaces
The inner world interacting with the outer world—this is a theme that has long occupied philosophers, poets and thinkers as well as marketing strategists and ecologists. So it’s logical that the latest possibilities of image design and the storytelling that results from it magically attract the graphic artists of our century. They employ the means made available by their times to take a position on a timeless theme and consistently formulate it anew.

Late Night Stories
When the day makes the transition from grey to black and the shadows grow longer, it’s time for stories that are nothing less than abstruse. This is a world populated by baby skaters, surreal fish, robots, and people who mutate into animals. In short: just the stuff for late-evening entertainment!

Narration as it is
Not all the narratives in this program can necessarily be recommended as bedtime stories, but each demonstrates in its own way its filmmaker’s skill in dramaturgy, design and storytelling. They most certainly are not stories taken from real life—or are they? It depends on how much the audience gets into them.

Positions & Messages
Securities speculation, environmental pollution, conflicts in the family, making a political statement—these are the themes about which this lineup of films has something to say. Emotion, satire, pathos, grotesqueness are the devices the filmmakers use to formulate their messages.

Short Cuts
A real entertainment program—short films that head for their objectives without detours or pussyfooting. Stories from a variety of genres, full of surprises. No subplots or shades of nuance; just the straightforward plot. This program includes ads as well as storytelling from artists’ studios. Comedy is the primary common denominator.

Visual Sounds & Music
The interplay of music and sounds probably has the longest tradition in what used to be called electronic art. In today’s live music scene, this form is being reinterpreted. Nevertheless, since the 1980s, such productions have been far outnumbered by music videos, a format perfectly suited to mass media and TV. This program brings together highly diverse forms with the common denominator of music, sound and visuals. Poetic, witty, sensual.

Transformations from Real to Abstract
The 1980s was the era of morphing—image sequences that evoke the impression of constant transformation. It almost seemed as if no commercial could be made without using it. Today, morphing is nothing special, and has long since ceased to be the only technique that artists use to describe transformations. To accomplish this, filmmakers utilize visual effects, traditional animation or even hypnotic experiments.

Japan Media Arts Festival Selection
Visual imaginativeness and unconventional narrative forms characterize animation made in Japan. This program shows various kinds of Japanese animation from the latest Japan Media Arts Festival, which is the hybrid festival that focuses on Japanese pop culture phenomena such as animation, manga, games and media arts.

young animations
Witty, off-beat, subtle, tragic and serious animated work produced by young filmmakers will be screened during the Festival Ars Electronica. Every year,
gifted young filmmakers submit their movies to u19 – freestyle computing (Austria), bugnplay (Switzerland), MB21 (Germany) and C3<19 (Hungary).
The greatest hits will be featured in young animations.

Curated by: Christine Schöpf (AT) / Jürgen Hagler (AT)
Trailerconcept, Production & Audio: Matthias Isele (DE)
Project Management: Bianca Petscher (AT)
Project Assistance: Lukas Dullnig (AT)

Filming and photographing during the screenings is prohibited.

6. 9. 21:00 – 22:45

Live audiovisual performances of two prizewinners in the 2010 Prix Ars Electronica’s Digital Musics & Sound Art category.

21:00 INJECT by Herman Kolgen (CA), awarded with a Honorary Mention
22:00 rheo: 5 horizons by Golden Nica winner Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP)

http://www.kolgen.net/
http://www.ryoichikurokawa.com/

Filming during the concert is prohibited.