Golden Nicas for Hong Kong Protest Movement and Artists in Los Angeles, Vienna and Graz

The Golden Nica in the category “Digital Communities” goes to the Hong Kong protest movement. In the category “Interactive Art +” the Golden Nica is awarded to artist Lauren Lee McCarthy, who lives and works in Los Angeles. The top prize in the category “Computer Animation” goes to artist Miwa Matreyek, also of Los Angeles, while VALIE EXPORT is honored with a Golden Nica for lifetime achievement in art and feminism as a “Visionary Pioneer of Feminist Media Art.” The Golden Nica for the category “u19 – create your world” was won by Lisa Rass, Franziska Gallé, Jona Lingitz and Anna Fachbach, all of them pupils at the HTBLVA-Graz Ortweinschule.

The Prix Ars Electronica 2020 brought together a total of 3,209 submissions from 90 different countries. With 1,236 works, the category “Interactive Art +” received the most submissions, followed by “Computer Animation” with 930 submissions and “Digital Communities” with 373 submissions. The category “u19 – create your world” which is open to “Young Creatives” (all under age 14) and “Young Professionals” (between 14 and 19) throughout Austria, received 670 submissions.

Members of the renowned Prix Ars Electronica jury this year were: Peter Burr (US), Birgitta Hosea (SW/UK), Mathilde Lavenne (FR), Erick Oh (KR/US) and Mimi Son (KR) (category “Computer Animation”), DooEun Choi (KR/US), Sabine Himmelsbach (DE/CH), Vladan Joler (RS), Haytham Nawar (EG) and Stefan Tiefengraber (AT) (category “Interactive Art +”), Thomas Gegenhuber (AT/DE), Chiaki Hayashi (JP), Dietmar Offenhuber (AT/US), Irini Papadimitriou (GR/UK) and Farah Salka (LB) (category “Digital Communities”), and Sirikit Amann (AT), Gerald Hartwig (AT), Conny Lee (AT), Karl Markovics (AT) and Irene Posch (AT) (category “u19 – create your world”).