Prix Ars Electronica, the annual ‘international competition for CyberArts’, has extended its submission deadline for 2014. Submissions can now be made until 19 March through the Ars Electronica website.
Launched in 1987, the competition has grown significantly in the intervening years, from 700 submissions in three categories in the first year to over 4,000 across seven categories in 2013.
The world’s oldest and most high-profile ‘media art’ competition, Prix Ars Electronica has a five-person jury of for each category. The jurors meet over five days, when they evaluate, critique and discuss each entry before selecting the prize winners. The highest award given is a ‘Golden Nica’, which includes cash prizes ranging from 5,000-10,000 euros.
Due to the level of entries, beginning this year the competition is introducing a combination of annual and biennial awards. For the 2014 Prix Ars Electronica there are six categories. These include: Computer Animation / Film / VFX; Interactive Art; Digital Communities; u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD; and [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant.
Visionary pioneers
The 2014 competition also sees the introduction of a newly created category, Visionary Pioneers of Media Art. The Golden Nica for Visionary Pioneers of Media Art will single out influential and innovative individuals working with art and technology, as well as those who Ars Electronica describes as making ‘key contributions to our current social reality with all of its specific forms of communication and cultural techniques’. The jury selecting each year’s winner will consist of artists who have been awarded a Golden Nica since 1987.
The Prix Ars Electronica competition is one aspect of the work of the Ars Electronica organisation, based at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. The next annual Ars Electronica Festival in Linz is expected to be on 4-8 September 2014 (dates to be confirmed). It will take place in and around the Ars Electronica Center and will include a showcase of competition winners.
Article originally published on welcometosync.com
