Prix Ars Electronica
Photo: Ars Electronica / Martin Hieslmair
Winners 2025
The 2025 Prix Ars Electronica showcases its role as a central hub in the global network of media art with 3.987 submissions from 98 nations. The prize winners of the “Golden Nicas,” which have been selected by an international jury annually since 1987, will each receive 10,000 euros and feature prominently at the Ars Electronica Festival. Congratulations!
New Animation Art
Artificial Life & Intelligence
Digital Musics & Sound Art
u19–create your world
Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity
Isao Tomita Special Prize
The 2025 Jury
2025 Jury Statements
All winners since 1987
New Animation Art
Golden Nica
Requiem for an Exit
Thomas Kvam (NO), Frode Oldereid (NO)
“Towering almost four meters high, Requiem for an Exit confronts visitors with a solitary head mounted on a steel exoskeleton, its skin a living projection, its voice an AI-generated baritone that delivers a stark meditation on chaos, suffering, and the limits of human agency.”
Photo: Thomas Kvam
Award of Distinction
Ito Meikyū
Boris Labbé (FR)
“By threading exquisite 2-D craft through the spatial loom of VR, Labbé expands the language of animation and demonstrates how immersive media can be both formally daring and emotionally contemplative. “
Award of Distinction
The Cast of the Invisible
Lau Wai (HK)
“By folding world-building, performance, and self-critique into a concise meta-narrative, The Cast of the Invisible pushes CGI animation beyond spectacle toward a witty, unsettling inquiry into identity in the age of infinite duplication—an inquiry that lingers long after the render finishes. “
Honorary Mention
Abstract Language Model
Andreas Lutz (DE)
“The work offers a stage for latent alphabets to exist and expands animation by using techniques from text-processing algorithms.”
Honorary Mention
ARIA 夢姬
Yu Shien Yang (TW), Jin Keon (TW)
“By leaning into common stereotypes and gender roles found in parts of modern Asian society, the film asks whether those biases seep into the way we build and portray AI.”
Honorary Mention
Bewegungsapparat
Sven Windszus (DE)
“(…) the installation becomes a chilling metaphor: a society blindly sustaining the very motion that leads to its undoing. “
Honorary Mention
Coda
Paul Valentin (DE)
“Timeless and thought-provoking, Coda continuously opens new perspectives, respecting viewer autonomy while deeply engaging us in a haunting meditation on existence, and our endless pursuit of understanding phenomena.”
Honorary Mention
CORE DUMP
Alona Rodeh (IL)
“Part of the artist’s series CITY DUMMIES, this provocative digital fantasy artfully blends abstraction and realism, creating meaningful social and political resonance. “
Honorary Mention
Earths to Come
Rose Bond (US), inti figgis-vizueta (US), Massimiliano Borghesi (IT), Melanie Coombs (AU), Roomful of Teeth (US), PASE (IT)
“In Earths to Come, Rose Bond demonstrates how VR, when combined with hand-drawn animation and immersive sound, can articulate complex emotional and lyrical dimensions with rare sensitivity.”
Honorary Mention
Los Caídos
Juan covelli (CO)
“More than a game, Los Caídos is a decolonial intervention and an act of digital remembrance that challenges dominant narratives and opens space for new, subversive histories to emerge. “
Honorary Mention
NATURAL CONTACTS
Peter Burr (US), Mark Fingerhut (US), Bridget DeFranco (US), Matthew D Gantt (US)
“Blurring the boundaries between software, sculpture, and time-based art, the work invites users into a slow, unsettling reflection on life, death, and digital nature.”
Honorary Mention
Oto’s Planet
Gwenael François (FR)
“Oto’s Planet stands out for its narrative ambition, technical refinement, and evocative, immersive world-building.”
Honorary Mention
Sixty-seven Milliseconds
fleuryfontaine (FR)
“French duo Galdric Fleury and Antoine Fontaine employ CGI and a range of visual-footage styles to immerse viewers in the precise moment when an unarmed 19-year-old was shot in the eye by a police officer.”
Honorary Mention
SUPPER
Erick Oh (US)
“With a cinematic yet abstract sensibility, Erick Oh conjures an atmosphere where sound and image move beyond narrative, guiding us into a contemplative space.”
Honorary Mention
World at Stake
Total Refusal (Susanna Flock, Adrian Jonas Haim, Jona Kleinlein) (AT)
“World at Stake subverts the logic of sports and spectacle within video games to explore powerlessness in the face of global crisis.”
Artificial Life & Intelligence
Golden Nica
Guanaquerx
Paula Gaetano Adi (AR)
“Promoting new forms of knowledge, togetherness and social change, we wish to honor the extraordinary scope and ambition of this work, which envisions robotics as a technology of liberation and invites us to poetically engage with our past in order to create a different, pluriversal future.”
Photo: Pavel Romaniko. Guanaquerx | Paula Gaetano Adi
Award of Distinction
Anatomy of Non-Fact. Chapter 1: AI Hyperrealism
Martyna Marciniak (PL)
“As the first chapter of an ongoing exploration of image-based disinformation, the work takes the figure of the fake Balenciaga Pope as a starting point to map out a vast and entangled web of art historical, pop cultural, and media theoretical references.”
Award of Distinction
XXX Machina
Erin Robinson (GB), Anthony Frisby (GB)
“(…) a bold exploration of our erotic desires as they are increasingly shaped by AI technologies. (…) By literally giving them a face—in this case the artist’s own—Robinson critically engages with a machine-driven fantasy that draws on vast databases of disenfranchised sexual imagery.”
Honorary Mention
Artificial Archive: SCRYING INTIMACIES
Rodell Warner (TT)
“This project addresses the interiority and liberation of these people from limited historic representations and under-imagined lives.”
Honorary Mention
Atlas of Queer Anatomy
Kuang-Yi Ku (TW)
“The jury was particularly impressed with the Atlas as a beautiful demonstration of the strengths and advantages of post-disciplinary collaborative research.”
Honorary Mention
Cedar Exodus
Iyad Abou Gaida (LB), Em Joseph (US), Jumanah Abbas (IE), Ecorove (LB)
“By juxtaposing the historical myth of the plant with its present day ecological precariousness, it offers an urgent insight into living through a polycrisis: the fates of people and the land they inhabit are codependent, reinforcing, and intertwined.”
Honorary Mention
CripShip: Disability Saves Society from BigTech
Joseph Wilk (GB)
“CripShip provides us with a palpable demonstration that the world is better when it’s inclusive. It facilitates players in envisioning and therefore creating the futures we want. CripShip is play as activism.”
Honorary Mention
Dynamics of a Dog on a Leash
Takayuki Todo (JP)
“(…) from the military origins of robots and their current use in conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, to the way in which we project living agency (…), the robot dog in this installation is indeed held back by a thin and unreliable ‘chain of ethics’.”
Honorary Mention
Fluid Anatomy
Ioana Vreme Moser (RO)
“The work is special because it looks at the past and challenges ideas about technology. Instead of making us feel nostalgic, it shows us a different path for technology. One that is slower, softer, and more connected to the real world.”
Honorary Mention
Flying Cream
aniara rodado (CO)
“(…) Flying Cream is a rich and nuanced material manifesto against the erasure of knowledge, foregrounding the pleasure of and care for bodies that continue to be made invisible—trans and peri-/postmenopausal women and non-binary people.”
Honorary Mention
Plato’s Prisoners
Cody Lukas (DK)
“The work highlights how closely these disembodied brains resemble the early stages of human cognition—while receiving little to no ethical protection. It confronts us with an urgent question: At what point does cellular life become worthy of ethical consideration?”
Honorary Mention
Fine-Tuning Human Sense 2.0 from the Sensory Datascape Series
Hoonida Kim (KR)
“By positioning digital tools as “implants” that fine-tune rather than simply extend perception, the project offers a nuanced reflection on how we co-evolve with technology.”
Honorary Mention
The Post-Truth Museum
Nora Al-Badri (DE)
“The Post-Truth Museum addresses timely questions within postcolonial debates regarding the restitution of plundered artefacts in Western museums and institutions.”
Honorary Mention
Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_
Loïs Soleil (FR)
“The project functions as a razor-sharp calling out of the necropatriarchal power regime, in which male bodies have a sovereign monopoly and right to violence.”
Honorary Mention
YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING / ARE YOU SOULLESS TOO?
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (GB)
“It reflects our current political landscape and the increasingly precarious democracy of our times, as well as the asymmetry of our current systems, which interpret and sometimes overrule collective decisions.”
Digital Musics & Sound Art
Golden Nica
Organism
Navid Navab (CA), Garnet Willis (CA)
“The work unfolds as a continuously evolving encounter between a historical artifact and nonlinear material objects found today. Sound is not composed in the traditional sense but arises through friction, drift, and transductive resonance. The pendulum’s gravitational system triggers delicate sonic responses—shimmering, unpredictable, and emergent—inviting the audience into an experience of instability, chance, and emergence.”
Photo: Miha Godec
Award of Distinction
BLA BLAVATAR vs JAAP BLONK
Jonathan Chaim Reus (NL)
“The project stands out as a strong example of how artists can actively and creatively influence the development of AI, not only by using the technology but also by contributing fundamentally to its design and purpose.”
Award of Distinction
Mineral Amnesia
Ioana Vreme Moser (RO)
“The work is highly relevant. The relevance of the work is alarming. In times when truth is manipulated and humanistic values eroded, it reflects societal decline.”
Honorary Mention
ANIMAL [for body and sound]
Ash Fure (US)
“Ash Fure releases impressive energy through the appearing sounds and her direct physical interaction with the audible, and the powerful performance also includes an artistic statement—for the physical presence of the human being in music performances, in contrast to AI models and algorithms.”
Honorary Mention
Before the Red
Yixuan Zhao (CN)
“Exploring the symbiosis between a self-trained AI system, contemporary musical performance, and audiovisual artistic expression, the project articulates novel forms of artistic practice that emerge from the interplay of these domains.”
Honorary Mention
Bora: Bora
Zhao Zhou (NL)
“Bora: Bora reveals the hidden energies that constantly flow around us—often unnoticed, but deeply felt. The jury was impressed by this opportunity to experience sound art playfully in the open air without any barriers to entry and to perceive nature with a form of sensuality.”
Honorary Mention
From0
Superbe (BE)
“From0 deconstructs the voice to reconstruct it within a new field of audible intelligibility—an act that might become a cyclical, nonlinear nature of memory and perception. The work embraces loss of control as a generative force, allowing something unanticipated and novel to emerge. “
Honorary Mention
KINDASA
Nurah Farahat (EG)
“KINDASA is a work inspired by the philosophies of 12th-century engineer and polymath Ismail Al-Jazari. It explores new methods of real-time audio/visual processing, reimagining his legacy through contemporary performance.”
Honorary Mention
MONTE
Luciano Piccilli (AR)
“The sound sculpture MONTE explores the relationship between identity and memory with regard to the Paraná rainforest at the border between Brazil and Paraguay, an area that is at the same time one of the most biologically important ecosystems, as well as one of the most endangered rainforests in the world.”
Honorary Mention
New Ruins
Abo Abo (IT)
“New Ruins, an audio-visual performance by Abo Abo (Daniele Carcassi) and Tania Cortés Becerra, exemplifies the impact of new AI and machine learning technologies on live electronic music performance.”
Honorary Mention
ON AIR
Peter van Haaften (CA), Michael Montanaro (CA), Garnet Willis (CA)
“The resulting sonic and visual rhythmic patterns create a mesmerizing environment. Though conceptually simple, the technically sophisticated execution fills viewers with a sense of wonder and awe.”
Honorary Mention
OSMIUM: An electro-mechanical live performance ritual
OSMIUM (INT)
“The result convinces through a compelling energy rooted in both the audible sounds as well as the interaction of the group members within the performance.”
Honorary Mention
The Call
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst (US)
“The Call demonstrates how contemporary artistic practices can critically reflect on the evolving relationship between cultural heritage, society, and emerging technologies. “
Honorary Mention
Transplanetary Frequencies Station
Gabriela Munguía (MX)
“(…) a poetic act of collective resonance and hope, imagining new forms of ecological and cosmic connection without knowing an existing receiver. An exemplary form of community building.”
Honorary Mention
UNDER BOOM
Louis Braddock Clarke (GB)
“The project’s sonic and presentational qualities create an immersive and thoughtful artistic experience, translating complex phenomena into an emotionally resonant form.”
u19–create your world
Young Professionals
(14 – 19 years)
Golden Nica – Young Professionals
Das Ziegenkäsemachen aus der Sicht der Ziege
Nico Pflügler (AT), Aleksa Jović (AT), Gilbert Gnos Productions (AT)
“It is a post-postmodern film that celebrates the medium so much, dissecting it and reassembling it so much that it’s hard to keep up—and that’s precisely the point. Between slow cinema and meme aesthetics, between body horror and a barrage of quotes, a work emerges that not only shows what is being told, but how it can be told. A film that knows what TikTok is—and yet remains cinema.”
Photo: Aleksa Jović, Nico Pflügler
Award of Distinction
Young Professionals
somes – Plattform für politische Transparenz
Florian Nagy (AT), Tim Herbst (AT), Lukas Zöhrer (AT)
“somes aims to help users make informed decisions about voting for representatives or parties and to promote political dialogue. The project has the potential to improve political education and strengthen democratic participation for all citizens.”
Award of Distinction
Young Professionals
Die moderne Hausfrau
Barbara Reiter (AT), Luna Hörstlhofer (AT), Lucia Kottar-Trimmel (AT), Rosa Gottwald (AT)
“The work demonstrates how deeply rooted certain role models are and how they are being re-enacted today in new guises. It is political, poetic, and consistently composed. A remarkable contribution that convincingly bridges the gap between art, society, and individual reflection.”
HONORARY MENTION
Young Professionals
Beat Assault
Nina Diewald (AT), Lina Mottl (AT), Lucas Hinteregger (AT), Mariella Pranjic (AT), Leonard Dirnhofer (AT)
“The combination of music and PvP gameplay, along with the harmonious graphics and consistent design, results in an interesting and innovative game. In Beat Assault, a good idea meets professional execution!”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Boards without Barriers
Samuel Brunner (AT), David Chencean (AT), Georg Kotzian (AT), Michal Sysel (AT)
“The product developers of Boards without Barriers demonstrate a great deal of empathy—on the one hand, for the need to play and for social participation, and, on the other, for the ergonomic requirements of the specific target group of people affected by Parkinson’s disease, MS, or similar illnesses.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
DETAIL IN LIFE
Sophie Kurz (AT)
“Her self-made, wide-sleeved shirts, symbolizing the lightness of everyday life, feature architecture and locations from across Austria. The underlying idea is to direct attention to the small, special details of life and to appreciate them—a truly inspiring work!”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Humanoid
Benjamin Gruber (AT)
“The focus on accessibility is particularly noteworthy: The idea of making digital content easier for people with disabilities to access through gesture- and voice-based interfaces demonstrates social awareness and vision.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Lines We Draw
Joy Grasser (AT), Elina Kaufmann (AT), Alica Hintermayer (AT), Maya Neidhart (AT)
“The project raises many questions. How far can one go without the other person’s consent? Do rash actions stay in the other person’s memory longer than one might think? Should one be more understanding of individual perception?”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
MagLift – Where Innovation Takes Flight
Daniel Ezike (AT), Ben Trumler (AT), Philipp Weissenbach (AT), Max Zerovnik (AT)
“MagLift – Where Innovation Takes Flight addresses a very specific problem that many people would never consider. In many remote areas, poor road conditions make it impossible to deliver essential medical supplies.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Mal Treffen
Andreas (AT), Daniel (AT), Elias (AT), Felix (AT), Gregor (AT), Jonas (AT), Jonas (AT), Markus (AT), Tobias (AT), HAK St. Pölten (AT)
“The film holds a mirror up to adults without directly attacking anyone. The film’s subtle punchline manages to stick in your mind. It is a model school project that is effective, awakening, and fun.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
MEMES – Alles nur BRAINROT?
Ivan Pejić (AT), Lukas Šokić (AT)
“Through their humorous approach, they manage to inform listeners about current developments in internet culture without coming across as didactic or boring.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Totennebel
Valerian Hobel (AT), Gabriel Berger (AT)
“What we encounter again and again, both in historical and current contexts, is the phenomenon of the dehumanization of war victims. They become numbers or functions. This is the theme of the animation Totennebel.”
Honorary Mention
Young Professionals
Wenn’s Sein Muss
Pupils of the BRG Hallein (AT)
“(…) not only creates comedy in this short film, but also highlights the absurdity of the behavior and the absolute senselessness of toxic masculinity in its escalation”
Young Creatives
(up to 14 years)
u14 prize
Young Creatives
B-Movie „B-VENGERS“
Allgemeine Sonderschule Klosterneuburg (AT)
“B-VENGERS is a cheeky, wonderfully absurd animated film that turns the superhero genre on its head—with anarchic humor, visual clarity, and narrative pacing.”
u14 Award of Distinction
Young Creatives
Damma Zukunft – Ganz ohne Hass
Sozialpädagogische Wohneinrichtung Schloss Leonstein – Projekt „Dammawos“ (AT)
“It reminds viewers of what they are contributing to shaping the future and demonstrates the social skills necessary for successfully focusing on shared intentions.”
u14 Award of Distinction
Young Creatives
Über’s Redn kumman d’Leid zaum. Fußballspielen im Hof
Mathilde Prichenfried (AT), Lieselotte Prichenfried (AT), Dominik Pichler (AT), Karim Naim (AT)
“With a seemingly small story—the ban on playing soccer in the yard—this film unfolds a grand narrative about community, resistance, and self-empowerment.”
u14 Honorary Mention
Young Creatives
KOMA
Pupils of BRG Hallein (AT)
“The difficult and complex topic of a young person’s mental overload is not presented in a sensationalist way in the video, but with sensitivity and depth.”
u12 Prize
Young Creatives
WWS Power Cube
Leopold Kastler (AT)
“The project shows that young people are just as concerned with everyday problems and often find better solutions than many adults.”
u12 Award of Distinction
Young Creatives
Handy Stopp
Pupils in class 2D of the BG Seekirchen (AT)
“The short video Handy Stopp (Cell Phone Stop) shows a fictional commercial about a gadget that slaps users’ fingers when they use their cell phones excessively, in order to reduce their media consumption.”
u12 Honorary Mention
Young Creatives
Unsere GreenCity
Levin Du (AT), Chenming Wu (AT)
“If children can build a functioning city out of pizza boxes, then adults can certainly replicate it worldwide!”
u10 Prize
Young Creatives
PA1NTING
Nea Geršak (DE)
“To illustrate how she immerses herself in her paintings, Nea Geršak used an AI tool to create a video that visualizes her imagination and her love of nature.”
u10 Award of Distinction
Young Creatives
Der rote Rächer
Ilias Christoph Pernsteiner (AT)
“Using powerful, dynamic images, he tells a superhero story with original villains. The story’s timing and frame composition create tension and drama.”
u10 Honorary Mention
Young Creatives
Green Food – Ein nachhaltiger Weg
Pupils of the Europaschule Linz (AT)
“(…) a community project, product development, installation, and educational concept for inquiry-based learning at the same time.”
The Prix Ars Electronica is the world’s most time-honored media arts competition. Winners are eligible for the coveted Golden Nica awards and monetary prizes of up to 10,000 euros in each category. They will also be featured at the Ars Electronica Festival from September 3 to 7, 2025, in Linz, Austria!
Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity
Main Prize
Synthetic Memories
Domestic Data Streamers (ES)
“Synthetic Memories is a socially engaged heritage preservation project that uses generative AI to reconstruct personal memories at risk of being lost—especially those never visually recorded. Through guided interviews, participants recount experiences, which are translated into AI-generated visuals that evolve through collaborative refinement.”
Photo: Domestic Data Streamers
Honorary Mention
AI Nüshu (AI女书)
Yuqian Sun (CN)
“AI Nüshu is a fantastic interactive art project that merges computational linguistics with the cultural legacy of Nüshu—a unique, centuries-old language developed and used exclusively by women in Hunan Province, China.”
Photo: Yuqian Sun
Isao Tomita Special Prize
ebb tide
evala (JP)
“In his sound installation ebb tide, Japanese sound artist evala demonstrates that the simple act of listening can be a transformative experience. He invites visitors to sit on a structure with intentionally minimal visual elements and allows them to be absorbed by the sound.”
Photo: MARUO Ryuichi
PANIC – yes/no
Ars Electronica Festival
September 3 – 7, 2025
Linz, Austria
Ars Electronica is one of the world’s top addresses for media art. At the festival, you’ll meet the Who’s Who of the international media art scene as well as young shooting stars who are just starting to make a name for themselves. First and foremost, we’d like to recommend one of the many exhibitions, the Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition, where you can see the best media art works of the year that have been honored by the international jury of the prestigious competition.