For the fourth year, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) x Ars Electronica Awards continue to celebrate and advance the practices of emerging and mid-career Latin American artists working with technology in the field of new media and digital art. Recipients receive up to $30,000 in support to develop a new project, which premieres at the annual Ars Electronica Festival. Additionally, the completed works become part of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO)’s renowned permanent collection of modern and contemporary Latin American art.
“Once again, CIFO and Ars Electronica join forces to amplify the visibility of artistic projects from Latin America that explore global challenges at the intersection of culture and contemporary society. The projects selected for this edition offer two unique perspectives on the singular beauty and fragility of endangered ecosystems and communities in the face of power and geopolitical imperatives.”
Sergio Fontanella, Director of Operations & Collections of CIFO
For 2025, 128 submissions were received from nominated artists across 15 Latin American countries. A distinguished selection committee, consisting of experts in contemporary and new media art—including Sergio Fontanella (Director of Operations & Collection, CIFO), María Fernández (Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies, Cornell University), José-Carlos Mariátegui (Founder, Alta Tecnología Andina), Christl Baur (Head of Ars Electronica Festival), and Laura Welzenbach (Head of Ars Electronica Export)—reviewed the proposals. Their extensive deliberation ensured that the awarded projects reflect the most compelling and innovative artistic approaches of the year.
“The fourth edition of the CIFO x Ars Electronica Awards reflects the growing impact of this initiative, as evidenced by the remarkable diversity and depth of the projects submitted. The selection process was both rigorous and inspiring, highlighting works that critically engage with contemporary technological, environmental, and societal challenges. This year’s awarded projects exemplify artistic ingenuity, drawing from local contexts while addressing universal concerns, showcasing the strength and relevance of Latin American digital art on the global stage.”
Christl Baur, Head of Ars Electronica Festival
Alongside the award recipients, the selection committee also acknowledged three remarkable proposals that reached the final stage of consideration: one by FIBRA Colectivo (PE), consisting of Gianine Tabja, Lucia Monge, and Gabriela Flores del Pozo, another by Claudia Valente (AR) this time collaborating with Hernán Borisonik and Gonzalo Silva, and a third by Fernanda López Quilodran (CL). These works stood out for their artistic excellence and critical engagement, further highlighting the richness of Latin America’s new media and digital art landscape.
Through this collaboration, CIFO and Ars Electronica reaffirm their commitment to fostering groundbreaking artistic practices, strengthening connections between Latin American artists and the international art and technology community.
Winners 2025
Bacteria Cloud of Clouds / Natalia Rivera (CO)
30,000 US dollar prize money
Bacteria Cloud of Clouds is an art-science project that explores the rich microbiodiversity present in the clouds of three of the rainiest places on Earth—Lloró, Quibdó, and Tadó, located in Colombia’s biogeographical Chocó. These regions, drenched in constant rainfall, are teeming with life, including microorganisms that play a crucial role in atmospheric processes. Scientific studies on bioprecipitation have revealed that bacteria not only exist in clouds but also influence weather patterns, forming an intricate connection between life and climate.
This installation brings together fog generated from rainwater and a digital visualization of open-source genetic information from cloud microbiomes. Inspired by the concept of seed banks that preserve plant life for the future, Bacteria Cloud of Clouds envisions a digital seed of life from the clouds—an archive that safeguards biodiversity while offering a speculative approach to co-creating future ecosystems. The project challenges us to rethink our relationship with nature, acknowledging that alternative ways of engaging with life and the environment already exist. By imagining the possibility of culturing clouds and fostering life within them, the work opens a poetic and scientific dialogue about preservation, transformation, and interspecies co-existence.
Photo: Bacteria cloud of clouds. Preview of the installation. Image generated with Adobe Firefly / Natalia Rivera.
Natalia Rivera (CO) is an artist and researcher working with digital and bio media, focusing on bio-digital interfaces and the intersection of art, science, and technology. Their practice creates non-anthropocentric narratives that explore the politics and poetics of living systems through bio-aesthetics, queerness, and anarchic methodologies. Rivera co-founded the Mutante laboratory (2012-2024) in Bogotá and the global network Suratómica, and has collaborated in experimental art and science spaces, including the Suratómica Residency at CERN in 2019. They studied design at the National University of Colombia and hold a master’s degree in Visual Communication from the New Media Class at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK).
https://natalialarivera.wordpress.com
Jerónimo Reyes-Retana (MX) / Void in Resonance
15,000 US dollar prize money
In Void in Resonance, Jerónimo Reyes-Retana explores the concept of colonial voids—territories and communities subjected to cartographic erasure in the name of modernization and industrial expansion. His work focuses on El Campo Pesquero de Playa Bagdad, a marginalized community at the easternmost edge of the Mexico-U.S. border, where the Río Bravo meets the Gulf of Mexico. At the heart of this community lies an oyster field, a vital economic resource now imperiled by the presence of SpaceX’s spaceport, just four kilometers away.
As massive rocket launches take place on the U.S. side of the border, the sonic shock waves ripple through Playa Bagdad, impacting human bodies, local ecosystems, and vernacular architecture. Yet, despite the intensity of these disturbances, they remain largely ignored by regulatory agencies, leaving the community vulnerable to the silent force of transboundary sonic violence.
Drawing from over three years of fieldwork and collaboration with local residents, Void in Resonance is a mixed-media film installation that captures the lived experience of a SpaceX launch through the perspectives of those working in the oyster fields. The work challenges the dominant narrative of a so-called “new era of space exploration,” revealing it instead as an expansion of corporate-driven outer space industrialization—one that mirrors historical patterns of colonial displacement and environmental degradation.
Photo: Void in Resonance, 2025, Film Still, Credit: Jerónimo Reyes-Retana
Jerónimo Reyes-Retana (MX) is a researcher, artist, and community organizer whose work explores the poetics of infrastructure and the politics of noise in Latin American contact zones—regions shaped by environmental, geopolitical, and social tensions. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as Museo Tamayo, Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez, Museo Anahuacalli, and the Texas Biennial, among others. His writings have been published by The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), Centro de la Imagen, and Storefront for Art and Architecture. He has received grants from Museo Jumex and FONCA-CONACYT. Reyes-Retana is currently a doctoral candidate in Critical Media Practices at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin.
jr-r.xyz
About the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO)
Ella Fontanals-Cisneros established the non-profit Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) in 2002. The foundation’s mission is to support and foster cultural understanding and educational dialogue among Latin American artists and global audiences. CIFO serves as a platform for emerging, mid-career and established Latin American artists through the Grants & Commissions Program, including the new CIFO-Ars Electronica Award; the CIFO Collection; and other related art and cultural projects in the United States of America and internationally.