Since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has served as an interdisciplinary platform for everyone who uses the computer as a universal medium for implementing and designing their creative projects at the interface of art, technology and society.
The Prix Ars Electronica, the Ars Electronica Festival, the Ars Electronica Center – Museum of the Future and the Ars Electronica Futurelab are the four divisions that comprise the Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, whose specific orientation and long-term continuity make it a unique platform for digital art and media culture.
The competition is organized by the Ars Electronica Linz GmbH and ORF’s Upper Austria Regional Studio in collaboration with the OK Center for Contemporary Art and the Brucknerhaus Linz, and the prizes are awarded during the Ars Electronica Festival each year.
With 45.328 entries since 1987 and prize money in 2010 totalling 117,500 Euros, the competition offers the largest cash purse for cyberarts worldwide.
Since media art is such a highly dynamic field, criteria for the categories have to be constantly modified and adjusted to societal and technological developments, and so updated to meet new demands.
The Prix Ars Electronica calls for entries and awards prizes in the following categories:
- Computer Animation / Film / VFX
- Interactive Art
- Digital Musics & Sound Art
- Hybrid Art
- Digital Communities
- u19 – freestyle computing
- [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant
The call for the Prix Ars Electronica goes out every year in December, submissions are accepted up into March. International juries select the winners for each category in April.
Events of the Prix Ars Electronica during the Ars Electronica Festival
During the Ars Electronica Festival in September, the Golden Nicas, Awards of Distinction and Honorary Mentions are awarded with pomp at the Ars Electronica Gala.
The winners of the Golden Nicas and Awards of Distinction are also invited to present their projects at the Prix Ars Electronica Forums which are held over a number of days.
The Ars Electronica Festival presents the CyberArts Exhibition annually as one of its main shows. It showcases a selection of winning projects of the latest Prix Ars Electronica. The Museum of the Future, on the other hand, devotes a special exhibition for an entire year to the projects from the youth competition “u19 – freestyle computing”.
Formatted specially for the Festival, the award-winning works from the category “Computer Animation / Film / VFX” are shown at the Ars Electronica Animation Festival with the Electronic Theatre.
The “Digital Musics & Sound Art” winners present their works in the form of concerts conceived as part of the programme of Ars Electronica Nightlines.
Documentation
Information about the prize-winners and their projects as well as the jury statements are published each year in the CyberArts catalogue (which includes a DVD) and is distributed worldwide by Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Details on prize-winners, winning projects and jury statements since the competition was established in 1987 can also be found in the Prix Ars Electronica’s large online archive.
Prix Ars Electronica is organized by Ars Electronica Linz GmbH and ORF Upper Austria in collaboration with Brucknerhaus Linz and OK Center for Contemporary Art. Prix Ars Electronica is made possible through the support of the City of Linz and the Province of Upper Austria. The competition is sponsored by voestalpine. Special thanks to BFI, Liwest Kabelmedien GmbH, KulturKontakt Austria, Pöstlingberg Schlössl, Casinos Austria, Sony DADC and Linz AG.
Idea & Concept
Idea: Hannes Leopoldseder
Concept: Christine Schöpf, Gerfried Stocker
Head of Department Festival Ars Electronica/Prix Ars Electronica: Martin Honzik
Organisation Prix Ars Electronica: Bianca Petscher
info@prixars.aec.at, 0043-732-7272-79
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