Winner of UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2003 Announced
25-07-2003 (Paris)
Mwanya Chanda, a 25-year-old artist from Zambia, is the first winner of the UNESCO Digital Arts Award, which was this year launched under the theme "Digital Pluralism", promoting digital technology and artistic creativity to foster intercultural dialogue. Chanda was selected out of the 122 applications from 49 countries all over the world.
The Prize, an award of US$5000 plus a six months artist-in-residency at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in Japan, was given to his "Caught in the Web" project, that the Jury considered as an "ideal example of digital pluralism". Chanda's project centers on the use of internet-based technologies as communication tools, much as the African drum once allowed subtle long-distance communication between distant village communities.
The second prize of US$3000 has been awarded to URTICA, an art and media research group from Serbia and Montenegro for a project entitled "Mouse Says: click! and Human Says: eek!", a rather playful computer-based lexicon of what is described as "primal communication".
The third prize of US$2000 goes to Cobi Van Tonder from South Africa for "Ephemeral Gumboots", a project using sensor-equipped rubber boots to illustrate digital variations in global music and dancing.
The jury has also presented eight honorary mentions to the following artists:
Andrea Polli (USA)
Markku Reunanen (Finland)
Hung Shek Ngan (Canada/Hong Kong)
Jiro Ishihara (Japan)
Kristi Trinier (Canada)
Margaret Tan (Singapore)
John Gerrard (Ireland) & Robert Praxmarer (Austria)
Padipark Mesomboonpoonsuk (United Arab Emirates)
The jury, that held its meeting at IAMAS in Ogaki, Gifu, last week, is composed of the following members:
Elaine Ng (President of Jury Committee, Independent curator in contemporary and new media art, China)
Ibrahima Ndiaye (Professor, Universite Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal)
Diana Domingues (Professor, University of Caxias do Sul, Brazil)
Gerfried Stocker (Director, Ars Electronica, Austria)
Azza El-Hassan (Independent filmmaker, Palestine)
Itsuo Sakane (President Emeritus, IAMAS)
Hiroshi Yoshioka (Professor, IAMAS)
Kae Hirai (Member of the Board of Directors, National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan)
Christa Sommerer (Associate Professor, IAMAS)
Tereza Wagner (Deputy team leader, Digi-Arts Project, UNESCO Headquarters)
UNESCO's Digital Arts Award is organized within the framework of UNESCO's Digi-Arts Portal and the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts to encourage the work of young digital artists around the world.
The award that is organized in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), Japan, and given by the Director-General of UNESCO consists of a first prize of USD 5,000 plus a six-month as artist-in-residence at IAMAS. The second and third prizes consist of awards of USD 3,000 and USD 2,000 respectively.
The award money is being provided by the Higashiyama Fund set-up and managed by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ)
The UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2004 will be organized within framework of ISEA 2004 in Stockholm, Tallinn, Helsinki on 14-22 August 2004. (http://www.isea2004.net/).
The second prize of US$3000 has been awarded to URTICA, an art and media research group from Serbia and Montenegro for a project entitled "Mouse Says: click! and Human Says: eek!", a rather playful computer-based lexicon of what is described as "primal communication".
The third prize of US$2000 goes to Cobi Van Tonder from South Africa for "Ephemeral Gumboots", a project using sensor-equipped rubber boots to illustrate digital variations in global music and dancing.
The jury has also presented eight honorary mentions to the following artists:
The jury, that held its meeting at IAMAS in Ogaki, Gifu, last week, is composed of the following members:
UNESCO's Digital Arts Award is organized within the framework of UNESCO's Digi-Arts Portal and the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts to encourage the work of young digital artists around the world.
The award that is organized in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), Japan, and given by the Director-General of UNESCO consists of a first prize of USD 5,000 plus a six-month as artist-in-residence at IAMAS. The second and third prizes consist of awards of USD 3,000 and USD 2,000 respectively.
The award money is being provided by the Higashiyama Fund set-up and managed by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ)
The UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2004 will be organized within framework of ISEA 2004 in Stockholm, Tallinn, Helsinki on 14-22 August 2004. (http://www.isea2004.net/).
Related themes/countries
· Serbia: News Archives 2003
· Zambia: News Archives
· South Africa: News Archives 2003
· Japan: News Archive
· Prizes: News Archives 2003
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