Ars ElectronicaS+T+ARTS PRIZE2017 Honorary Mentions 2017 Honorary Mentions 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 Grand Prize Honorary Mentions Nominations 2017 Honorary Mentions treelab Marcus Maeder, Roman Zweifel The goal of our artistic-scientific research project trees: Rendering Ecophysiological Processes Audible, was to connect sounds that occur in trees with ecophysiological processes and thus investigate and render perceptible processes in plants that are not noticeable to humans. The acoustic emissions of a tree in the Swiss Alps were recorded with special acoustic sensors, and all other non-auditory ecophysiological measurement data were sonified–that is, translated into sounds and music. The recordings and sonified measurements were implemented in a number of different media art installations under the preamble “treelab", which at the same time served as a research environment, in order to display and examine the temporal and spatial connections between plant sounds, physiological processes, and environmental conditions in an artisticscientific observation system. Sentient Veil Philip Beesley Sentient Veil is a jewel-like canopy containing multiple miniature sound processors interwoven with hundreds of digitally controlled lights installed within the historic galleries of the lsabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The work pursues intimacy and sensitivity through intricate miniature components and layers of diffusive, hovering material close to the scale of a human body. Sentient Veil is composed of digitally fabricated cellular textile lining floating over the ceiling surface of the gallery. The work is composed of finely detailed interlinking skeletal components containing distributed computational controls with soft LED lighting and whispering interactive sound functions. Research Institute for Arts and Technology Research Institute for Arts and Technology Production in the 21st century works with distributed authorship and identities-artists present their processes “coded” in the fragmentations of global networks. Contemporary artistic output is developed out of collective inquiries, research processes are results of distributed agency between humans, machines, and programs. There is nothing more than to leave ‘traces’, not to produce “final” products but “process artefacts”. RIAT - The Research Institute for Arts and Technology - welcomes and embraces the ephemeral nature of meatspace, as it only consists of collectively held and performed visions of desirable futures. Out of Exile Nonny de la Peña, Emblematic Group When Daniel Ashley Pierce is confronted about his sexual orientation by his family in a “religious intervention,” the scene becomes startlingly dramatic and violent. Using real audio combined with virtual reality to put the audience inside the story, Out of Exile is a powerful parable of the kind of hostility faced by so many in the LGBTQ community. nonvisual-art Lisa Buttinger nonvisual-art is an image that, at first glance, seemingly doesn’t even exist optically. But upon closer inspection, an enchanted world appears—a hidden domain brought to light by light. The image materializes via the refraction of light on the surface of elements made of cellophane foil and air bubbles trapped in an adhesive substance. The positioning of these elements on an LED panel seems to have occurred randomly but is actually the result of precise calculation, and this yields a surprising visual experience. Mimus: Coming face-to-face with our companion species Madeline Gannon Mimus is a giant industrial robot that's curious about the world around her. Unlike in traditional industrial robots, Mimus has no pre-planned movements–she is programmed with the autonomy to roam about her enclosure. Mimus has no eyes, however she uses sensors embedded in the ceiling to see everyone around her simultaneously. lf she finds you interesting, Mimus may come over for a closer look and follow you around. But her attention span is limited–if you stay still for too long, she will get bored and seek out someone else to investigate. Library of Ourselves BeAnotherLab Library of Ourselves is an interdisciplinary and distributed project to create transformative encounters between communities in conflict. It was built using The Machine To Be Another (TMBA), a highly adaptable Creative Commons system that bridges cognitive science and virtual reality techniques to create empathic-driven experiences. [IGNIS AER AQUA TERRA] Yuima Nakazato This is based on a long-term project towards a vision for the future in which Yuima Nakazato would like to realize: "to each individual, his own design". lf clothing can be created without being sewn, the concept of designing, manufacturing, and distribution will change greatly. Designing for specific individuals will be made possible. Each item in this collection is created without a single thread or needle, each formed simply of thousands of components, which we name Units. The patterns depicted show the Units that make up each piece. Blink: Humanising Autonomy Adam Bernstein, Raunaq Bose, Leslie Nooteboom, Maya Pindeus Blink involves material embedded into the four corners of the autonomous vehicle, which display the silhouettes of pedestrians around the vehicle to show that the vehicle has acknowledged their presence. lf the intention of the pedestrian is unclear, Blink flashes their silhouette and emits a tone to ask the pedestrian what they want to do. The pedestrian can then directly communicate their intent back to the vehicle with a gesture, to which the vehicle responds by changing the color of their silhouette to either red or green (depending on gesture and speed of the vehicle) and emitting another accompanying tone to acknowledge the pedestrian's intent. 3arabizi Keyboard Hadeer Omar 3arabizi is an Arabic chat language used for texting or writing in Arabic. The users don't speak the language, they simply use their hands and fingers to communicate in it on different platforms.