1st Prize for Interactive Category at LÚMEN_EX
The winning works the second edition of LÚMEN_EX, Prizes for Digital Art of the University of Extremadura have been announced. The contest included two categories: Minimaciones, or noninteractive pieces of digital animation whose duration does not exceed five minutes; and Interactive, for virtual works that required interaction with the user. In the first category, the first prize of 2,500 Euros was awarded to the Barcelonian artist, Merino Albert, with the work The City and the second prize, 1,000 Euros, went to Cacereño Chema Rodriguez Durán, with Death Theater. On the other hand, the New Yorker Andy Deck, with EcoPurá, won the first prize (2,500 Euros) in the Interactive category. The second prize (1,000 Euros) went to Pelayo Méndez Flórez, also from Barcelona, for a piece titled ACITEOP/Poetic Dysfunctions of the Language. The awarded works, as well as finalists, will comprise an exhibition presented by the UEx in the Frontier and Latin American Museum of Contemporary Art. At the opening the prizes will be given.
Description of work –
EcoPurá work addresses the superabundance of marketing hype aimed at convincing consumers that every company is ‘green.’ Logically this is not true, and the viewer is left to discover that the software and website, although it looks somewhat real, is satirical in nature. The term “Image Manipulation Program” is a double entendre that refers both to the literal image software and the process of misrepresenting the environmental impact of products, manufacturing, and distribution of goods and services. As with many works by Andy Deck, the public participation in the work will be compiled into a retrospective format that surveys the ideas and messages contributed by the ‘visiting artists’ who use the software.
