Presentation of the awards, February 10th, 8.30 pm
The award ceremony of this year’s transmediale.01 for the categories Video, Interactive and Artistic Software took place on Saturday evening. Together with all the shortlisted artists, artist’s groups and numerous international guests, the State Minister for Culture and Media Prof. Julian Nida-Rümelin awaited the announcement of the prizewinners. In his introduction, Nida-Rümelin pointed out the necessity to consider and foster media art as an integral part and critical mirror of the information society.
The prize in the category Artistic Software, a prize which was awarded at the transmediale for the first time at an international festival, was split between Adrian Ward/Signwave (UK) for his program „Auto-Illustrator“ [www.signwave.co.uk] and Netochka Nezvanova for her very idiosyncratic internet browser „Nebula.M81 – Autonomous“ [www.eusocial.com]. The prize in the category Interactive went to Herwig Weiser and Albert Bleckmann (D) for their installation „zgodlocator“ [phosphen.org/zgodlocator]. The prize in the category Video was split as well between Istvan Kantor (CDN) for „BROADCAST“ and Sylvie Laliberté (CDN) for „L’Outil n’est pas toujours un marteau“.
The laudatory speeches were held by Prof. Siegfried Zielinski of the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln for the Interactive Award, Prof. Anne-Marie Duguet of the Sorbonne in Paris for the winners of the Video Award and Gerfried Stocker of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz for the award in the category Artistic Software.
Prior to the festival, three international juries of media experts shortlisted 18 works and decided on the prize winners. All 18 projects were presented by the artists in the afternoon of the day of the award ceremony. “Young artists could put their work into contest on a par with the stars of the international media art scene”, explained the new artistic director of the transmediale Dr. Andreas Broeckmann, “thus, the transmediale.01 supports the development of quality standards in media art and enables new and surprising discoveries.”
The prizes, each worth 10.000 DM, were sponsored by different companies (Artistic Software by PLEX, Video by av.f medienprojekte, Interactive by CONGA Communications). The winners of the software prize are pioneers of a new artistic genre: artistic creation by programming software. “Auto-Illustrator“ is a graphic program in which the tools are resisting the user’s routine and develop their own will. “Nebula.M81 – Autonomous“ is a net-based browser program which transforms the webpage’s HTML code into animated text, graphics or sound. Chris Csikszentmihalyi (US), Antoine Schmitt (F), Golan Levin (US) and Daniela A. Plewe (D) received honorable mentions for their software projects.
The provoking video “BROADCAST“ by Istvan Kantor stages sexuality and force as ways of self assertion in a world of media overload. The demolition grounds in the periphery of urban technical society become the headquarters for an excessive performance of a machine-sex action group. “L’Outil n’est pas toujours un marteau“ presents a story of life as ultra-pop: Sylvie Laliberté muses on the meaning of life and ways to improve the imperfections of creation. Pekka Niskanen (FIN), Simon Ellis (UK), Kit Hung (HK) and Manon Labrecque (CDN) received honorable mentions for their works.
In the interactive installation “zgodlocator“, landscapes of metallic granules are activated by magnets and get transformed into dynamic structures of sound and material. The granules derive from recycled computer junk which here is revived anew in some primordial technoid situation. Honorable mentions for their works in the category Interactive went to: Blast Theory (UK), Anne Niemetz (D), Marnix de Nijs and Edwin van der Heide (NL), Time’s Up (A) and Daniel G. Andújar (E). For his work “Phoney ™“, Andújar also received the anonymously sponsored prize lux ziffer #01, whose statement says: “lux ziffer is an award for those who fight and feed the dragon“. “Phoney ™“, like a modern information weapon, illustrates the dangers in an information socitey which has become obsessed about security concerns.
7000 visitors and 400 artists, scientists, producers and journalists met at 30 regularly sold out events at transmediale.01. The visitors had the opportunity to find out about the position of electronic art and media culture and get inspired by the artworks and screenings. With this transmediale.01, curator Susanne Jaschko is convinced to “have provided important impulses for the future of creative work with new media.” On Sunday, February 11th, the festival finishes its program with a video screening on the festival’s theme DIY [do it yourself!].
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