INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ART BIENNALE WRO 05

[COMPETITION RESULTS]

Statement of WRO 05 Jury

The jury of the 11th International WRO Biennale 2005 was impressed with the range of presented works which accuratly reflects contemporary media art practice. The complexity of this practise which crosses and merges various formats and media, has led us to abandon traditional categories of genre, such as perfomance or video art. In an impressive selection of 74 nominated works in the competition program, the jury has sought out singular artistic presentations that mediate between reflective production and critical intervention. The jury has decided to distinguish nine works of outstanding quality, among which we identified four awards and five honorable mentions.

An honorable mention goes to Flow from the cycle "The Light and the Darkness". The jury would like to cast a light to the staging of digital interventions in the study and reinterpretation of performative movement by Takeshi Kushida from Japan.

An honorable mention goes to Sliding Whites, by Eric Siu Chi-Man, China. For the invitation to participate in a re-mediation of scating views at the optical and poetic interface of analogue and digital media.

An honorable mention goes to Kontestator by Jacek Niegoda. For experimentation with motion in public space that captures shifts in radical movements in Poland and elsewhere.

An honorable mention goes to A Fleur de Peau: Soundinstallation for One Body by Lynn Pook. For sensitive mediation and quality of research in immersive sound experience through experimental landscapes of human skin.

The last honorable mention goes to Bitcrusher by Harald Holba from Austria. The jury appreciates this important attempt at finding artistic and tactile views, which intersect digital animation and serial game culture.

The awards of the 11th International Media Art Biennale Wroclaw 2005 are as follows:

The first of two 3rd prizes goes to Chamanic Interferences by Brian Mackern from Uruguay. The jury wishes to reward this collaborative net.art project that has found new playful modes of interaction, crossbreeding cultures, spiritual production, and experiments in the design of sound and images.

The second of the two 3rd prices goes to Counter by Volker Schreiner, Germany. Through the simple idea of a countdown, Volker Schreiner demonstrates his mastery of montage, drawing us into a reflexive reading of images and creating a real suspense.

The 2nd price goes to ResonanCity by Sara Kolster and Derek Holzer, Netherland and United States. For the exceptional quality of improvised live performance, inter-mediating concrete and electroacoustic sounds with experimentation of image.

The 1st price goes to Cultural Quarter by Mike Stubbs, United Kingdom. For the excellent balance of reality and media, presentation and representation, social voyerism and surveillance within urban life of unspecified British cities. This strong statement exposes relations of power that are constituted by the gaze.

Thanks to Piotr Krajewski for the invitation to serve as jury. All WRO team for the professional organisation of WRO 05. Special thanks to Kascha Bojarska for your wonderful presence and help in all matters.

[WRO 05]

The WRO Biennale, taking place in its two-year rhythm, already for the third time in the 21st century enables its creators making the synthesis of development directions and changes in contemporary art created by means of contemporary communication tools. Works emerged in the new media sphere influence the image of art, inspirations and pervasion connected with appearance of new means of expression that redefine the whole of this sphere. Biennale's competition aims at grasping these achievements that currently co-create the field of contemporary culture and communication. The competition, in particular with so extensive number of participants and covering 1174 works, makes a kind of resume of current artistic activity in the area of new media. The most interesting of them solutions were selected to be presented during the Biennale. The competition program includes exceptionally large number of works - 75, that is the most in the hitherto history of the 11th edition of Biennale.

[IN OSCILLATION]

In oscillation among realizations that have already became classics and are presented during the exhibition of interactive installations in The National Museum "The other book", special screenings, and a set of newest works created between 2003-2005 nominated for the competition presented in The Contemporary Theatre and in Mediatecs, the image of tendencies that are adopted by the creative activity of our era is being formulated. As a matter of fact, the WRO competition is also an exhibition, an exposition of works, whether in the screen form, or in the form of installations or performances, as well as concerts and eventually URLs. In turn, many of nominated competition works projected on screen have the option of alternative presentation in the form of installations and performances.The essence of Biennale's programme is a presentation of competition works in a common exposition creating the image of current tendencies and directions that are taken by artists in the face of technology changes. The intention of WRO curators was to make its presentations become a ground for making available authors' concepts that artists share with spectators/users, the image of ease of artistic solutions liberated from limitations of corporative culture, a picture of shifts, inversions and developments creative towards media and communication technology.

Violetta Krajewska
Program Director
WRO Center for Media Art