Golden Nicas for artists from Great Britain, France, Austria and the USA

(Linz, June 17, 2024) 2950 entries from 95 countries were submitted to the Prix Ars Electronica between January 12 and March 11, 2024. At the end of April, the international jury met in Linz and decided who could look forward to a total of four Golden Nicas, 12 Awards of Distinction, 38 Honorary Mentions, an Award for Digital Humanity, three main prizes and a total of 46,600 euros this year:

The Golden Nica in the “New Animation Art” category (1160 submissions) goes to Beatie Wolfe (GB). Her haunting visualization Smoke and Mirrors addresses the increasing methane concentration in the earth’s atmosphere and the lies of the oil industry.

The Golden Nica in the “Interactive Art +” category (1428 submissions) goes to Diane Cescutti (FR), whose installation Nosukaay combines traditional West African weaving art, mathematics, and computers and traces ancient technology concepts that understood man and machine as a unit.

There were 362 submissions in the Austria-wide category “u19–create your world”. 17-year-old Jakob Gruber received the Golden Nica for his remarkable animation Fluten der Freiheit (Floods of freedom) about the deadly escape routes across the Mediterranean.

The “AI in ART Award” initiated this year goes to Paul Trillo (US), who created the first officially commissioned music video with Open AI’s Sora, Washed Out “The Hardest Part”. The film makes it clear that AI can enhance human creativity rather than replace it.

This year, the “Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity”, made possible by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, goes to the group De Toneelmakerij (NL). With Patchwork Girl, Paulien Geerlings (NL), Jantine Jongebloed (NL), Eva Knibbe (NL), Noelía Martin-Montalvo (ES), and Nina Van Tongeren (NL) have created a lecture performance about sexting, slut-shaming, empowerment, dealing with one’s own sexuality, and the (lack of) ethics on the Internet.

These and other award-winning projects can be seen as part of the Ars Electronica Festival from September 4 – 8 in the Prix Ars Electronica exhibition at Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz. The show opens on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. The Golden Nicas will be officially presented on Thursday, September 5, 2024, from 7:30 p.m. during the Prix Ars Electronica Award Ceremony at Design Center Linz.

This time the Prix Ars Electronica jury included:

• New Animation Art: Kalina Borkiewicz (US/PL), Fanni Fazakas (HU/NZ), Ari Melenciano (US), Georgy Molodtsov (RU/GE), and Chris Salter (US/CH)

• Interactive Art+: Clemens Apprich (AT), Salome Asega (US), Shiho Fukuhara (JP), José-Carlos Mariátegui (PE/UK), and Olga Tykhonova (UA/AT)

• u19–create your world: Sirikit Amann (AT), Conny Lee (AT), Emil Klostermann (AT), Anahita Neghabat (AT), and Anna Wielander (AT)

Prix Ars Electronica 2024 – New Animation Ar
Golden Nica

Smoke and Mirrors / Beatie Wolfe (GB)

“Smoke and Mirrors* exemplifies how data can be wielded not just to inform but to disrupt narratives, urging viewers to reconsider their perspectives on urgent societal issues.”

Excerpt from the jury statement

Smoke and Mirrors poignantly contrasts the oil industry’s marketing campaigns with the alarming rise in methane levels in the atmosphere. A four and a half minute animation shows the rapid growth since 1970 and misleading slogans such as “Lies they tell our children” (Mobil, 1984), “Unsettled science” (ExxonMobil, 2000), “Oil Pumps Life” (American Petroleum Institute, 2017) or “Net-Zero” (Shell, 2023), with which oil companies around the world are fueling doubts about science and its measurements.

Beatie Wolfe’s visualization is based on the iconic “Blue Marble” photo of the Apollo 17 crew from 1972. The climate data comes from the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA and the European Environment Agency. The animated globe is accompanied by “Oh My Heart” – the first record made from sustainable bioplastics, which Beatie Wolfe produced together with musician Michael Stipe and Brian Eno’s “EarthPercent”. The title Smoke and Mirrors alludes to the depiction of methane emissions, but also to our careless treatment of nature itself.

Beatie Wolfe receives a Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Smoke and Mirrors.