The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria).
In 2005, the Golden Nica, the highest prize, was awarded in six categories: "Computer Animation/Visual Effects," "Digital Musics," "Interactive Art," "Net Vision," "Digital Communities" and the "u19" award for "freestyle computing." Each Golden Nica came with a prize of €10,000, apart from the u19 category, where the prize was €5,000. In each category, there are also Awards of Distinction and Honorary Mentions.
The Golden Nica is replica of the Greek Nike of Samothrace. It is a handmade wooden statuette, plated with gold, so each trophy is unique: approximately 35 cm high, with a wingspan of about 20 cm, all on a pedestal. "Prix Ars Electronica" is a phrase composed of French, Latin and Spanish words, loosely translated as "Electronic Arts Prize."
The "Computer Graphics" category (1987–1994) was open to different kinds of computer images. The "Computer Animation" (1987–1997) was replaced by the current "Computer Animation/Visual Effects" category in 1998. New York artist and musician John Fekner received honorary awards for Concrete People and The Last Days of Good and Evil in 1987 and 1988.
1987 "Figur10" by Brian Reffin Smith, UK
1988 "The Battle" by David Sherwin, US
1989 "Gramophone" by Tamás Waliczky, HU
1990 "P-411-A" by Manfred Mohr, Germany
1991 "Having encountered Eve for the second time, Adam begins to speak" by Bill Woodard, US
1992 "RD Texture Buttons" by Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin, US
1993 "Founders Series" by Michael Tolson, US
1994 "Jellylife / Jellycycle / Jelly Locomotion" by Michael Joaquin Grey, US
1987 "Luxo jr." by John Lasseter, US
1988 "Red's Dream" by John Lasseter, US
1989 "Broken Heart" by Joan Staveley, US
1990 "Footprint" by Mario Sasso and Nicola Sani, IT
1991 "Panspermia" by Karl Sims, US
1992 "Liquid Selves / Primordial Dance" by Karl Sims, US
1993 "Lakmé" by Pascal Roulin, BE
1994 "Jurassic Park" by Dennis Muren, Mark Dippé and Steve Williams, US/CA
Distinction: "Quarxs" by Maurice Benayoun, FR
Distinction: "K.O. Kid" by Marc Caro, FR
1995 "God's Little Monkey" by David Atherton and Bob Sabiston, US
1996 "Toy Story" by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Ralph Eggleston, US
1997 "Dragonheart" by Scott Squires, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), US
1998 The Sitter by Liang-Yuan Wang, TW
Titanic by Robert Legato and Digital Domain, US
1999 Bunny by Chris Wedge, US
What Dreams May Come by Mass Illusions, POP, Digital Domain, Vincent Ward, Stephen Simon and Barnet Bain, US
2000 Maly Milos by Jakub Pistecky, CA
Maaz by Christian Volckman, FR
2001 Le Processus by Xavier de l’Hermuzičre and Philippe Grammaticopoulos, FR
2002 Monsters, Inc. by Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Pete Docter and David Silverman, US
2003 Tim Tom by Romain Segaud and Cristel Pougeoise, FR
2004 Ryan by Chris Landreth, US.
Distinction: Parenthèse from Francois Blondeau, Thibault Deloof, Jérémie Droulers, Christophe Stampe, France
Distinction: Birthday Boy from Sejong Park, Australia
2005 Fallen Art by Tomek Baginski, Poland.
Distinction: The Incredibles from Pixar
Distinction: City Paradise by Gaëlle Denis (UK), Passion Pictures (FR)
2006 458nm by Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Tom Weber, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Distinction: Kein platz Für Gerold by Daniel Nocke / Studio Film Bilder, Germany
Distinction: Negadon, the monster from Mars, by Jun Awazu, Japan
2007 Codehunters by Ben Hibon, (UK)
2008 Madame Tutli-Putli by Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski. (Directors), Jason Walker (Special Visual Effects), National Film Board of Canada
2009 HA'Aki by Iriz Pääbo, National Film Board of Canada
2010 Nuit Blanche by Arev Manoukian (Director), Marc-André Gray (Visual Effects Artist), National Film Board of Canada
2011 Metachaos by Alessandro Bavari (IT)
2012 Rear Window Loop by Jeff Desom (LU)
Distinction: Caldera by Evan Viera/Orchid Animation (US)
Distinction: Rise of the Planet of the Apes by Weta Digital (NZ)/Twentieth Century Fox
2013 Forms by Quayola (IT), Memo Akten (TR)
Distinction: Duku Spacemarines by La Mécanique du Plastique (FR)
Distinction: Oh Willy… by Emma De Swaef (BE), Marc James Roels (BE) / Beast Animation
This category is for those making electronic music and sound art through digital means. From 1987 to 1998 the category was known as "Computer music." Two Golden Nicas were awarded in 1987, and none in 1990. There was no Computer Music category in 1991.
1987 - Peter Gabriel and Jean-Claude Risset
1988 - Denis Smalley
1989 - Kaija Saariaho
1990 - None
1991 - Category omitted
1992 - Alejandro Viñao
1993 - Bernard Parmegiani
1994 - Ludger Brümmer
1995 - Trevor Wishart
1996 - Robert Normandeau
1997 - Matt Heckert
1998 - Peter Bosch and Simone Simons (joint award)
1999 - Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) and Chris Cunningham (joint award)
2000 - Carsten Nicolai
2001 - Ryoji Ikeda
2002 - Yasunao Tone
2003 - Ami Yoshida, Sachiko M and Utah Kawasaki (joint award)
2004 - Thomas Köner
2005 - Maryanne Amacher
2006 - Eliane Radigue
2007 - Mashiro Miwa
2008 - Reactable by Sergi Jordà (ES), Martin Kaltenbrunner (AT), Günter Geiger (AT) and Marcos Alonso (ES)
2009 - Speeds of Time versions 1 and 2 by Bill Fontana (US)
2010 - rheo: 5 horizons by Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP)
2011 - Energy Field by Jana Winderen (NO)
2012 - "Crystal Sounds of a Synchrotron" by Jo Thomas (GB)
2013 - frequencies (a) by Nicolas Bernier (CA)
Distinction: SjQ++ by SjQ++ (JP)
Distinction: Borderlands Granular by Chris Carlson (US)
2007 - Symbiotica
2008 - Pollstream - Nuage Vert by Helen Evans (FR/UK) and Heiko Hansen (FR/DE) HeHe
2009 - Natural History of the Enigma by Eduardo Kac (US)
2010 - Ear on Arm by Stelarc (AU)
2011 - May the Horse Live in me by Art Orienté Objet (FR)
2012 - "Bacterial radio" by Joe Davis (US)
2013 - Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, Koen Vanmechelen (BE)
[the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant
2009 - "Open_Sailing" by Open_Sailing Crew led by Cesar Harada.
2010 - "Hostage" by [Frederik De Wilde].
2011 - Choke Point Project by P2P Foundation (NL).
2012 - qaul.net - tools for the next revolution by Christoph Wachter & Mathias Jud
2013 - Hyperform by Marcelo Coelho (BR), Skylar Tibbits (US), Natan Linder (IL), Yoav Reaches (IL)
Honorary Mentions: GravityLight by Martin Riddiford (GB), Jim Reeves (GB)
Prizes in the category of interactive art have been awarded since 1990. This category applies to many categories of works, including installations and performances, characterized by audience participation, virtual reality, multimedia and telecommunication.
1990 - "Videoplace" installation by Myron Krueger
1991 - "Think About the People Now" project by Paul Sermon
1992 - "Home of the Brain" installation by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss
1993 - "Simulationsraum-Mosaik mobiler Datenklänge (smdk)" installation by Knowbotic Research
1994 - "A-Volve" environment by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau
1995 - the concept of Hypertext, attributed to Tim Berners-Lee
1996 - "Global Interior Project" installation by Masaki Fujihata
1997 - "Music Plays Images X Images Play Music" concert by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Toshio Iwai
1998 - "World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War" installation by Jean-Baptiste Barrière and Maurice Benayoun
1999 - "Difference Engine #3" by construct and Lynn Hershman
2000 - "Vectorial Elevation, Relational Architecture #4" installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
2001 - "polar" installation by Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan
2002 - "n-cha(n)t" installation by David Rokeby
2003 - "Can You See Me Now?" participatory game by Blast Theory and Mixed Reality Lab
2004 - "Listening Post" installation by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen
2005 - "MILKproject" installation and project by Esther Polak, Ieva Auzina and RIXC - Riga Centre for New Media Culture
2006 - "The Messenger" installation by Paul DeMarinis
2007 - "Park View Hotel" installation by Ashok Sukumaran
2008 - Image Fulgurator by Julius von Bismarck (Germany)
2009 - Nemo Observatorium by Laurence Malstaf (Belgium)
2010 - The Eyewriter by Zachary Lieberman, Evan Roth, James Powderly, Theo Watson, Chris Sugrue, Tempt1
2011 - Newstweek by Julian Oliver (NZ) and Danja Vasiliev (RU)
2012 - "Memopol-2" by Timo Toots (EE)
2013 - Pendulum Choir By Michel Décosterd (CH), André Décosterd (CH)
Distinction - Rain Room by rAndom International (GB)
Distinction - Voices of Aliveness by Masaki Fujihata (JP)
In the categories "World Wide Web" (1995 – 96) and ".net" (1997 – 2000), interesting web-based projects were awarded, based on criteria like web-specificity, community-orientation, identity and interactivity. In 2001, the category became broader under the new name "Net Vision / Net Excellence", with rewards for innovation in the online medium.
1995 - "Idea Futures" by Robin Hanson
1996 - "Digital Hijack" by etoy
Second prizes: HyGrid by SITO and Journey as an exile
1997 - "Sensorium" by Taos Project
1998 - "IO_Dencies Questioning Urbanity" by Knowbotic Research
1999 - Linux by Linus Torvalds
2000 - In the Beginning... Was the Command Line (excerpts) by Neal Stephenson
2001 - "Banja" by Team cHmAn and "PrayStation" by Joshua Davis
2002 - "Carnivore" by Radical Software Group and "They Rule" by Josh On and Futurefarmers
2003 - Habbo Hotel and "Noderunner" by Yury Gitman and Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena
2004 - Creative Commons
2005 - "Processing" by Benjamin Fry, Casey Reas and the Processing community
2006 - "The Road Movie" by exonemo
A category begun in 2004 with support from SAP (and a separate ceremony in New York City two months before the main Ars Electronica ceremony) to celebrate the 25th birthday of Ars Electronica. Two Golden Nicas were awarded.
2004 - Wikipedia and "The World Starts With Me"
2005 - "Akshaya", an information technology development program in India
Distinction: Free Software Foundation (USA) and Telestreet - NewGlobalVision (Italy)
2006 - canal*ACCESSIBLE
Distinction:
Codecheck (Roman Bleichenbacher CH)
Proyecto Cyberela – Radio Telecentros (CEMINA)
Honorary Mentions:
Arduino (Arduino)
Charter97.org – News from Belarus
CodeTree
MetaReciclagem
Mountain Forum
Northfield.org
Pambazuka News (Fahamu
Semapedia
stencilboard.at (Stefan Eibelwimmer (AT), Günther Kolar (AT))
The Freecycle Network
The Organic City
UgaBYTES Initiative (UgaBYTES Initiative (UG))
2007 - Overmundo
2008 - 1kg more
Distinction: PatientsLikeMe and Global Voices Online
2009 - HiperBarrio by Álvaro Ramírez and Gabriel Jaime Vanegas
Distinction:
piratbyran.org
wikileaks.org
Honorary Mentions:
hackmeeting.org
pad.ma
Maneno
femalepressure.net
metamute.org
ubu.com
canchas.org
feraltrade.org
flossmanuals.net
wikiartpedia.org
changemakers.net
vocesbolivianas.org
2010 - Chaos Computer Club
2011 - Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente
Distinction:
Bentham Papers Transcription Initiative (Transcribe Bentham) (UK). See also the project's Transcription Desk
X_MSG
2012 - Syrian people know their way
2013 - El Campo de Cebada by El Campo de Cebada (ES)
Distinction: Refugees United by Christopher Mikkelsen (DK), David Mikkelsen (DK)
Distinction: Visualizing Palestine by Visualizing Palestine (PS)
