Prix Ars Electronica winners 2003

[anna balint]

[i am glad to discover on the list of awards and distingushed projects 
ubermorgen, Margarete Jahrmann, and Blast Theory as well. congratulations!]

Ars Electronica Center info at aec.at

The Prix Ars Electronica 2003 Award Winners
Detailed information on the winning projects

AWARD WINNERS Computer Animation / Visual Effects

Golden Nica Computer Animation / Visual Effects
Romain Segaud, Cristel Pougeoise / Supinfocom / One Plus One (Frankreich): "Tim 
Tom"
What will happen if two spiral-bound writing pads come to life and turn into 
two jolly young fellows who crave to meet each other? Many unexpected things, 
since their creator does everything to thwart their plans. Tim and Tom have to 
use all their cunning... The resulting animation is a wonderful homage to the 
Tex-Avery style fantasy world of cartoons. A logical and self- contained story 
full of fun and wit in flawless animation won the two young artist-graduates 
from Supinfocom ? France's computer animation elite forge ? this year's Golden 
Nica in Computer Animation as well as 10,000 Euro in prize money.

Distinction Computer Animation / Visual Effects
Koji Yamamura / Yamamura Animation, Inc. (Japan): "Atama Yama (Mt. Head)"
The story: a somewhat portly miser is eating a plate of cherries including the 
nuts, when suddenly a cherry tree starts growing atop his head ? and an 
extraordinary tale starts taking its course.
The short film "Mt. Head" is a modern interpretation of the traditional Japanes 
Rakugo story "Atama Yama". This narrative genre dates back to the Edo period 
(1603?1867) and is described as being absurd and packed with black humor.
Koji Yamamura's animation was a nominee for the 2003 Academy Award in the 
Animated Short category.

Distinction Computer Animation / Visual Effects
Carlos Saldanha / Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox (USA): "Gone Nutty - Ice 
Age"
One of the highlights of the 3D animation movies produced over the past years 
is the feature film "Ice Age" produced by Blue Sky Studios (20th Century Fox). 
Set ? as the title indicates ? in the ice age, the movie is a masterwork of 
character animation. With the advent of the DVD, a new adventure by Scrat the 
Sabertooth Squirrel was presented: Scrat reveals his private stash of nuts. One 
stubborn nut causes Scrat to lose his temper, which in turn triggers an 
avalanche of fun.
"Gone Nutty" by director Carlos Saldanha is a firework of both fun and imagery, 
and a perfect example of what character animation is about.

AWARD WINNERS Digital Musics
"The young and wild" would well sum up the Prix Ars Electronica 2003 results in 
the Digital Musics Category. None of the award winners is older than thirty, 
and all of them are distinguished by a tendency not to go out of the way of any 
musical experiment in order to push the world of digital music to its limits. 
Another remarkable and unparalleled fact is that the jurors selected two women 
for the awards. By the way, 27 year old Ami Yoshida from Japan is the youngest 
female musician to win a Golden Nica in the history of the Prix Ars 
Electronica. On the other hand, the only male among the top three can look back 
upon a remarkable Prix Ars Electronica career: Florian Hecker was first on the 
panel of jurors for the u19 category, last year he joined the jury in the 
Musics section, finally this year he entered as an artist ? and managed to win 
a Distinction.

Golden Nica Digital Musics
Ami Yoshida, Sachiko M, Utah Kawasaki / F.M.N. Sound Factory (Japan): "Astro 
Twin / Cosmos"
White noise, tuning pitches and a voice more reminiscent of a howl than of 
singing: these are the ingredients from which the Astro Twins Ami Yoshida and 
Utah Kawasaki mix their shrill performances ? disturbing at first hearing, but 
fascinating as one becomes accustomed. Ami Yoshida, however, is not only one 
half of the Astro Twins; under the name of "Cosmos" she also appears on the 
musical stage together with Sachiko M. With her daring performances and her 
highly individual style, Ami Yoshida wins the Golden Nica for the ?Astro Twins? 
and ?Cosmos? double album.

Distinction Digital Musics
Florian Hecker / Mego (Germany/Austria): "Sun Pandämonium"
Florian Hecker is a core member of the "mego" label that won a Distinction in 
1999. Since 1996, he has left his mark on the style of this much-talked- about 
artists' group. He focuses on live performances and on the development of 
artistic uses for new production formats like MP3. His CD "Sun Pandämonium" 
shows the enormous bandwidth of what is summed up under the "noise" heading in 
digital jargon.

Distinction Digital Musics
Maja Ratkje, Jazzkammer: John Hegre, Lasse Marhaug (Norway): "voice"
The Norwegian experimental artist Maja Ratkje operates exclusively with her 
voice ? no wonder that "voice" is the title of her first solo album. Improvised 
and composed parts are fused into an entity that may be confusing for the 
listener. The vocalist who has been awarded several prizes in her home country 
tackles the task of fathoming the human voice in combination with electronic 
media by taking them to the absolute limits of feasibility and sometimes 
endurance. "Not a CD for the heart, but remarkable in any case," is what one 
critic wrote of "voice."

AWARD WINNERS Interactive Art

Golden Nica Interactive Art
Blast Theory (United Kingdom): "Can You See Me Now?"
"Can you see me now?" by the British artists collective Blast Theory plays with 
the omnipresence of humans on the basis of various portable electronic devices 
such as mobile phones, GPS, wireless LANs, digital cameras, etc., as well as 
with overlaying real and virtual spaces. In that respect, "Can you see me 
now?" is part of a series of works that investigate digital mobility from a 
cultural point of view.
The playground in "Can you see me now?" is a defined part of a city, both as a 
city map on the virtual level and in reality. The teams playing against each 
other are the online computer players on one side, and four "runners" equipped 
with the above set of devices on the other. All participants are represented by 
avatars. The runners' task is to find the online players who hide within the 
virtual space. If the online player is "seen", i.e. the hiding- place is 
reached by a runner, then it's "Game over!"

Distinction Interactive Art
Maywa Denki / Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Japan): "Tsukuba series"
Maywa Denki is a Japanese artists' collective and simultaneously an electronic 
gesamtkunstwerk in its own right. Engineering skills, wit, a wealth of ideas 
and musicality combined with a unique performance style are the characteristics 
of Maywa Denki.
The products from their workshop ? a huge variety of custom created musical 
instruments ? demonstrate both the group's playfulness and its know-how. With 
their performances, the Tosa Brothers have conquered the concert halls in Japan 
and abroad.

Distinction Interactive Art
Margarete Jahrmann, Max Moswitzer (Austria): "Nybble-Engine-Toolz"
"Nybble-Engine-Toolz" is a peer-to-peer server network. The installation's 
software converts network processes into three-dimensional abstract movies and 
projects them in a cinema-like fashion onto a semicircular surround screen. 
Additionally, real-time generated surround sounds are played. This setup closes 
the loop of the installation: participants sit on a central "surfer sofa" as if 
they were in their own living-room. They use game-pads to enter a shooter game 
environment where "bullets" from data objects, action bots and other players 
whiz around. Every hit on an object triggers network processes; at every shot 
an anti-war mail is created and sent.
www.climax.at

AWARD WINNERS Net Vision/Net Excellence
Net Vision

Golden Nica Net Vision
Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena, Yury Gitman (Venezuela/USA): "Node Runner" 
www.noderunner.com
"Noderunner" is in itself an exemplar of an emerging culture ? a culture where 
smart and wireless environments are as much an object of play as is an open 
grass field or an open lake. Two teams running against time must log into as 
many nodes as they can and submit photographic proof to a weblog which acts as 
a document of their score. As individuals and businesses put WiFi, or IEEE 
802.11, networks into their homes and offices, excess wireless signal spills 
over onto the street. "Noderunner" turns this distributed wireless spill-over 
into a playing field.
The first "Noderunner" game was played in New York City the summer of 2002 in 
conjunction with Eyebeam and NYCwireless, as seen on Tech TV. Yury Gitman and 
Carlos Gomez have since been awarded artist residencies at Eyebeam to continue 
the development of "Noderunner". They will redesign the "Noderunner" site to 
act as an international scoreboard and resource site to promote the playing of 
"Noderunner" in any city. Additionally they will organize seasonal (winter, 
fall, summer) New York City "Noderunner" games as well as help interested 
parties in other cities, like San Diego and Dublin, play.

Distinction Net Vision
David Crawford (Sweden): "Stop Motion Studies" www.lightofspeed.com
It is said that 90% of human communication is non-verbal. In the photographs of 
"stop motion studies", the body language of the subjects becomes the basic 
syntax for a series of Web-based animations exploring movement, gesture, and 
algorithmic montage. Many sequences document a person?s reaction to being 
photographed by a stranger. Some smile, others snarl, still others perform. 
Some pretend not to notice. Underneath all of this are assumptions and unknowns 
unique to each situation.
David Crawford is an internationally recognized designer and teacher. He has 
held posts at some of the most preeminent organizations in the world, including 
WGBH Boston where he is currently working on projects funded by Annenberg/CPB 
and the National Science Foundation.

Distinction Net Vision
Golan Levin / Tmema (USA): "The Secret Lives of Numbers" 
www.turbulence.org/Works/nums/
The authors conducted an exhaustive empirical study, with the aid of custom 
software, public search engines and powerful statistical techniques, in order 
to determine the relative popularity of every integer between zero and one 
million. The resulting information exhibits an extraordinary variety of 
patterns which reflect and refract our culture, our minds, and our bodies.
The authors surmise that their data set is a numeric snapshot of the collective 
consciousness. Herein they return their analyses to the public in the form of 
an interactive visualization, whose aim is to provoke awareness of one's own 
numeric manifestations.

Net Excellence

Golden Nica Net Excellence
Sulake Labs Oy (Finland): "Habbo Hotel" www.habbohotel.com
"Habbo Hotel" is a virtual hotel where you can hang out and make new friends. 
It is designed for 14 to 20 year olds in the UK, but everyone is welcome. 
Launched in January 2001, the site already has a community of nearly three 
million members.
Members create a customized animated character, known as a Habbo who can walk, 
dance, eat, drink and chat in the cafes, restaurants, swimming pools and games 
rooms. Guest rooms are free to own and can be furnished with a wide range of 
purchasable virtual items.
The Habbo youth brand primarily targets the teen community, but is enhanced by 
interactions between members of different ages and cultures. "Habbo Hotel" is 
the ideal vehicle for third party brands to reach the highly desired 12-18 
year-old market in a cost-effective and creative manner. The site is moderated 
24 hours a day, and is backed up by unique safety software to protect members 
from inappropriate or abusive behavior.

Auszeichnung Net Excellence
James Tindall (Großbritannien): "Boards of Canada" www.boardsofcanada.com
James Tindall has designed the official site for the Boards of Canada. The site 
presents really fresh interactive 3D work featuring Boards of Canada music.
For each song from Board of Canada's latest album, a microcosm of its own has 
been created on the internet. "Boards cf Canada" offers the users the 
opportunity of creating their own remixes or sound images from the sounds, 
loops, and samples provided, taking users on a new exploration trip at every 
visit.

Auszeichnung Net Excellence
lia (Österreich): "re-move.org" www.re-move.org
Black and white Shockwave projects allow the visitor to create images as well 
as view previous images. lia's pieces in the re-move series have been refining 
much of her earlier outputs in more focused pieces at turux.
The pieces provide the tools and the framework for elaborating the compositions 
but simultaneously do not allow for a full control of the output, as their 
dynamic nature makes them evolve and mutate and their presentation is void of 
operating instructions of any sort, leading the user to hands-on 
experimentation.

AWARD WINNERS cybergeneration - u19 freestyle computing
With 1,042 works entered for this year's "cybergeneration ? u19 freestyle 
computing" category, the story of success of Prix Ars Electronica's youth 
category is continued.
The competition, sponsored by P.S.K. and supported by ÖKS, saw its sixth 
edition in 2003 and offers young people the opportunity to test and showcase 
their knowledge, cunning, and creativity in the use of computers.

Golden Nica u19 freestyle computing
Georg Sochurek (St. Pölten): "Rubberduck"
"Rubberduck" tells a tale of woe about a little rubber duck's life in the guise 
of a modern fable. 18-year old Georg Sochurek wants to encourage viewers to 
think about topics like being different, malevolence, suffering and sudden 
changes of fate. In pursuing his motivation with the present animation, he 
shows a considerable level of proficiency.

Distinction u19 freestyle computing
Armin Ronacher, Nikolaus Mischofsky (Hermagor): "be a bee "
"be a bee" was developed by 14-year old students Armin Ronacher and Nikolaus 
Mischofsky. The main goal of this game is to market one's own honey in a 
profitable way. Surveying the bees and catering for their training and food are 
just a few of the duties awaiting the player, while an extraneous beehive adds 
to the difficulty of these tasks.

Distinction u19 freestyle computing
Sigrun Fugger, Martin Leonhartsberger (Leonding and Gramastetten): 
"Listheseanalysegerät"
Sigrun Fugger (16) and Martin Leonhartsberger (19) have developed a medical 
analysis device capable of measuring the amount of slide (in professional 
terms: listhesis) between two vertebrae. Their goal was to provide doctors and 
therapists with a visually interesting and easy to understand graphical display 
of the analysis results. A prototype of the device is being tested at the 
Wagner Jauregg State Hospital in Linz.

A Summary of the Honorary Mentions of Prix Ars Electronica 2003
The following works were awarded an Honorary Mention of Prix Ars Electronica 
2003 in the form of a Certificate of Honor:

Computeranimation/Visual Effects

Siri Melchior / Passion Pictures (United Kingdom): THE DOG WHO WAS A CAT INSIDE
Wayne Lytle / ANIMUSIC (United States): Pipe Dream
Thorsten Fleisch (Germany): Gestalt
Eric Armstrong / Sony Pictures Imageworks (United States): The ChubbChubbs
Jordi Moragues / Kunsthochschule für Medien (Germany): MANTIS
Tippett Studio (USA): Tippett Studio 3D Character Animation for Blockbuster 
Entertainment
Jérome Decock, Cécile Detez de la Dreve, Olivier Laneres, Mélina Milcent / 
SUPINFOCOM (France): At the end of the thread
Christoph Ammann / Vancouver Film school(Canada): Untitled
Luc Froehlicher / LA MAISON (France): GDF Dolce Vita
Pete Docter, Roger Gould / Pixar Animation Studio (USA): Mike´s New Car
Satoshi Tomioka / Kanaban Graphics (Japan): Justice Runners
Ludovic Houplain / H5 (France): RÖYKSOPP (Remind me)

Digital Musics

Oren Ambarchi (Australia): TRISTE
Gert-Jan Prins (Netherlands): risk
Mark Wastell, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Taku Sugimoto / confront 
(United Kingdom): foldings
Whitehouse / Susan Lawly (United Kingdom): Bird Seed
Phill Niblock / Extreme Records (Australia): The Movement of People Working
Kevin Drumm (United States): Sheer Hellish Miasma
Rechenzentrum (Germany): Director's Cut
Toshiya Tsunoda / Lucky Kitchen (Japan): pieces of air
Yuko Nexus6 / Sonore Records (Japan): Journal de Tokyo
Rudolf Eb.er (Japan): HUMPA.ZERKÖRPERT
Noriko Tsujiko (France): Hard ni sasete (make me hard)
venetian snares (Canada): nymphomatriarch

Interactive Art

Ross Cooper, Jussi Ängeslevä / c/o biganimal (United Kingdom): Last
Marie Sester (United States): ACCESS
George Legrady / University of California, Santa Barbara (United States): 
Pockets Full of Memories
Marcel.lí Antúnez Roca / PANSPERMIA S.L. (Spain): POL
Scott Snibbe (United States): Deep Walls
Henry Newton-Dunn, Hiroaki Nakano, James Gibson / Sony CSL, Interaction LAB & 
Sony Design Center Tokyo (Japan): BlockJam
Mark Goulthorpe / dECOi Architects (France): Aegis Hyposurface
Iori Nakai / NHK - Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan): Streetscape
Haruo Ishii / Aichi Prefectural Art University (Japan): Hyperscratch ver.12
Sibylle Hauert, Daniel Reichmuth / any affair (Switzerland): instant city - ein 
elektronischer musik bau spiel automat
Agnes Meyer-Brandis / KHM Köln (Germany): earth core laboratory and elf- scan
Justin Manor / MIT Media Lab (United States): CINEMA FABRIQUÉ

Net Vision / Net Excellence

Christophe Bruno (France): The Google Adwords Happening - http:// 
www.iterature.com/adwords
ubermorgen.com (Austria): INJUNCTION GENERATOR - http://www.ipnic.org
Agathe Jacquillat,Tomi Vollauschek (Großbritannien): FL at 33 presents >>> 
bzzzpeek.com -http://www.bzzzpeek.com
LAN (Switzerland): SuPerVillainizer - Conspiracy Client - http:// 
www.supervillainizer.ch
INSERTSILENCE (Israel/USA): INSERTSILENCE - http://www.insertsilence.com
Acel Heide, onesandzeros, Philip Pocock, Gregor Strehle (Germany): UNMOVIE - 
http://www.unmovie.net
Antoni Abad (Spain): Z - http://zexe.net
Gil Kuno, Han Hoogerbrugge (USA/Netherlands): FLOW - http:// 
www.unsound.com/flow/
Frederic Durieu, Kristine Malden / LeCielEstBleu (Belgium/USA): PuppetTool - 
http://www.lecielestbleu.com/puppettool
Martin Stiksel, Felix Miller, Michael Beidenbrucker, Thomas Willomitzer / 
last.fm ltd (Austria/Germany): Last.Fm/Flast.Fm - http://last.fm
LAN (Switzerland): tracenoizer - http://www.tracenoizer.org/
Jared Tarbell (USA): Levitated - http://www.levitated.net
OSDNOpen Source Development Network (USA): sourceforge - http:// 
sourceforge.net
Shinya Yamamoto (Japan): SINPLEX SHOW - http://www.sinplex.com

cybergeneration - u19 freestyle computing

Dominik Dorn (17 J., Lustenau, Austria): lyrix.at - Web-Projekt, www.lyrix.at
Georg Gruber (19 J., Inzing, Austria): individual interface - inflex.org - Web- 
Projekt, www.inflex.org
Manuel Fallmann (17 J., Neulengbach, Austria): system interrupted - Animation
Franz Wengler und Christoph Haidinger (19 J., Mattighofen, Austria): Die 
akustische Lesehilfe für Sehbehinderte -Programm
David Hackl (7 J.,Linz, Austria): Die Fliege - Animation
Thomas Hainscho (16 J., Maria Saal, Austria): School's Out For Rosh Hodos Adar 
II - Spiel
Anna Obermeier, Alexandra Voglreiter und Katharina Krummel (13 J., Oeynhausen, 
Austria): i? - was ist eine tolle Seite? - Web-Projekt, u19.ahtak.de
Tobias Schererbauer, Mathäus König und Sebastian Schreiner (18 J., Schärding, 
Austria): Das Studio und die Greenbox - Animation
Schüler des Borg 3 Wien (16 J., Wien, Austria): Klangbilder - Web- 
Projekt,www.borg3.at/klangbilder
Schüler der HBLA für Kunst Linz (15 J., Linz, Austria): Bewegung - Animation
Schüler der HS Steinerkirchen (14 J., Steinerkirchen, Austria): Der Sprung ins 
Ungewisse - Animation

The Jurors of Ars Electronica 2003

Net Vision/Net Excellence
Ed Burton (GB - SodaCreative Ltd., Research & Development Director)
Joshua Davies (USA Interface Designer)
Casey Reas (USA/I - Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Associate Professor)
Steve Rogers (GB - BBC Interactive, Director)
Yukiko Shikata (J - curator)


Computer Animation / Visual Effects
Loren Carpenter (USA - Pixar Studios, Cinematrix)
Olivier Cauwet (F - BUF Compagnie)
Hiroshi Chida (J - Polygon Pictures)
Bob Sabiston (USA - Flat Black Films)
Rita Street (USA - editor "Animation Magazine", journalist)


Digital Musics
Antye Greie (D - artist, composer, author)
Naut Humon (USA - artist, curator, producer)
Alain Mongeau (CDN - Director Mutek Festival)
Markus Schmickler (D - musician, composer)
David Toop (GB - composer, musician, journalist, curator)


Interactive Art
Scott Fisher (USA - media artist, producer, professor)
Tomoe Moriyama (J - curator Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography)
Joe Paradiso (USA - Professor MIT Media Lab)
Christiane Paul (USA - curator Whitney Museum New York)
Stahl Stenslie (N/D - Professor Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln)


u19 freestyle computing
Sirikit Amann (A - Österreichisches Kultur Service (öks)
Tina Auer (A - Times up, artist)
Horst Hörtner (A - Ars Electronica Center, technical director)
Manfred Nürnberger (A - hnconsult)
Martin Pieper (A - FM4)

Chairman of the overall jury: Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder