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, UK1988 "The Battle" by David Sherwin, US1989 "Gramophone" by Tamás Waliczky, HU1990 "P-411-A" by Manfred Mohr, Germany1991 "Having encountered Eve for the second time, Adam begins to speak" by Bill Woodard, US1992 "RD Texture Buttons" by Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin, US1993 "Founders Series" by Michael Tolson, US1994 "Jellylife / Jellycycle / Jelly Locomotion" by Michael Joaquin Grey, US1987 "Luxo jr." by John Lasseter, US1988 "Red's Dream" by John Lasseter, US1989 "Broken Heart" by Joan Staveley, US1990 "Footprint" by Mario Sasso and Nicola Sani, IT1991 "Panspermia" by Karl Sims, US1992 "Liquid Selves / Primordial Dance" by Karl Sims, US1993 "Lakmé" by Pascal Roulin, BE1994 "Jurassic Park" by Dennis Muren, Mark Dippé and Steve Williams, US/CADistinction: "Quarxs" by Maurice Benayoun, FRDistinction: "K.O. Kid" by Marc Caro, FR1995 "God's Little Monkey" by David Atherton and Bob Sabiston, US1996 "Toy Story" by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Ralph Eggleston, US1997 "Dragonheart" by Scott Squires, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), US1998 The Sitter by Liang-Yuan Wang, TWTitanic by Robert Legato and Digital Domain, US1999 Bunny by Chris Wedge, USWhat Dreams May Come by Mass Illusions, POP, Digital Domain, Vincent Ward, Stephen Simon and Barnet Bain, US2000 Maly Milos by Jakub Pistecky, CAMaaz by Christian Volckman, FR2001 Le Processus by Xavier de l’Hermuzičre and Philippe Grammaticopoulos, FR2002 Monsters, Inc. by Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Pete Docter and David Silverman, US2003 Tim Tom by Romain Segaud and Cristel Pougeoise, FR2004 Ryan by Chris Landreth, US.Distinction: Parenthèse from Francois Blondeau, Thibault Deloof, Jérémie Droulers, Christophe Stampe, FranceDistinction: Birthday Boy from Sejong Park, Australia2005 Fallen Art by Tomek Baginski, Poland.Distinction: The Incredibles from PixarDistinction: 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, GermanyDistinction: Negadon, the monster from Mars, by Jun Awazu, Japan2007 Codehunters by Ben Hibon, (UK)2008 Madame Tutli-Putli by Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski. (Directors), Jason Walker (Special Visual Effects), National Film Board of Canada2009 HA'Aki by Iriz Pääbo, National Film Board of Canada2010 Nuit Blanche by Arev Manoukian (Director), Marc-André Gray (Visual Effects Artist), National Film Board of Canada2011 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 Fox2013 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 AnimationThis 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 Risset1988 - Denis Smalley1989 - Kaija Saariaho1990 - None1991 - Category omitted1992 - Alejandro Viñao1993 - Bernard Parmegiani1994 - Ludger Brümmer1995 - Trevor Wishart1996 - Robert Normandeau1997 - Matt Heckert1998 - Peter Bosch and Simone Simons (joint award)1999 - Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) and Chris Cunningham (joint award)2000 - Carsten Nicolai2001 - Ryoji Ikeda2002 - Yasunao Tone2003 - Ami Yoshida, Sachiko M and Utah Kawasaki (joint award)2004 - Thomas Köner2005 - Maryanne Amacher2006 - Eliane Radigue2007 - Mashiro Miwa2008 - 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 - Symbiotica2008 - Pollstream - Nuage Vert by Helen Evans (FR/UK) and Heiko Hansen (FR/DE) HeHe2009 - 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 Jud2013 - 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 Krueger1991 - "Think About the People Now" project by Paul Sermon1992 - "Home of the Brain" installation by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss1993 - "Simulationsraum-Mosaik mobiler Datenklänge (smdk)" installation by Knowbotic Research1994 - "A-Volve" environment by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau1995 - the concept of Hypertext, attributed to Tim Berners-Lee1996 - "Global Interior Project" installation by Masaki Fujihata1997 - "Music Plays Images X Images Play Music" concert by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Toshio Iwai1998 - "World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War" installation by Jean-Baptiste Barrière and Maurice Benayoun1999 - "Difference Engine #3" by construct and Lynn Hershman2000 - "Vectorial Elevation, Relational Architecture #4" installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer2001 - "polar" installation by Carsten Nicolai and Marko Peljhan2002 - "n-cha(n)t" installation by David Rokeby2003 - "Can You See Me Now?" participatory game by Blast Theory and Mixed Reality Lab2004 - "Listening Post" installation by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen2005 - "MILKproject" installation and project by Esther Polak, Ieva Auzina and RIXC - Riga Centre for New Media Culture2006 - "The Messenger" installation by Paul DeMarinis2007 - "Park View Hotel" installation by Ashok Sukumaran2008 - 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, Tempt12011 - 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 Hanson1996 - "Digital Hijack" by etoySecond prizes: HyGrid by SITO and Journey as an exile1997 - "Sensorium" by Taos Project1998 - "IO_Dencies Questioning Urbanity" by Knowbotic Research1999 - Linux by Linus Torvalds2000 - In the Beginning... Was the Command Line (excerpts) by Neal Stephenson2001 - "Banja" by Team cHmAn and "PrayStation" by Joshua Davis2002 - "Carnivore" by Radical Software Group and "They Rule" by Josh On and Futurefarmers2003 - Habbo Hotel and "Noderunner" by Yury Gitman and Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena2004 - Creative Commons2005 - "Processing" by Benjamin Fry, Casey Reas and the Processing community2006 - "The Road Movie" by exonemoA 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 IndiaDistinction: Free Software Foundation (USA) and Telestreet - NewGlobalVision (Italy)2006 - canal*ACCESSIBLEDistinction:Codecheck (Roman Bleichenbacher CH)Proyecto Cyberela – Radio Telecentros (CEMINA)Honorary Mentions:Arduino (Arduino)Charter97.org – News from BelarusCodeTreeMetaReciclagemMountain ForumNorthfield.orgPambazuka News (FahamuSemapediastencilboard.at (Stefan Eibelwimmer (AT), Günther Kolar (AT))The Freecycle NetworkThe Organic CityUgaBYTES Initiative (UgaBYTES Initiative (UG))2007 - Overmundo2008 - 1kg moreDistinction: PatientsLikeMe and Global Voices Online2009 - HiperBarrio by Álvaro Ramírez and Gabriel Jaime VanegasDistinction:piratbyran.orgwikileaks.orgHonorary Mentions:hackmeeting.orgpad.maManenofemalepressure.netmetamute.orgubu.comcanchas.orgferaltrade.orgflossmanuals.netwikiartpedia.orgchangemakers.netvocesbolivianas.org2010 - Chaos Computer Club2011 - Fundacion Ciudadano InteligenteDistinction:Bentham Papers Transcription Initiative (Transcribe Bentham) (UK). See also the project's Transcription DeskX_MSG2012 - Syrian people know their way2013 - 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)
