2012 NEMart Contest

The 2012 NEM Art Contest firmly establishes the NEMart as a high profile fixture in the NEM Summit programme.

This year, we will build on the success of the previous two competitions to invite applications for real demonstrators/proof of concepts which clearly show the exciting opportunities which exist when technology and art/design conjoin.

Interactive entertainment experiences, new design-led applications for social well-being, novel ways of telling stories using digital media – this is an open call for you to submit your vision in demo form of anything which pushes the boundaries of art/design/technology possibilities.

We particularly welcome those applications which show partnership potential, although it is also equally acceptable to submit solo.
We also especially welcome those submissions which have not been demonstrated before.
However, we will not exclude those which have previously been demonostrated in a public context.

Entries will be split into the following 5 categories:

• Visual
• Audio/Music
• Performance
• Immersive
• Stories

There may, of course, be cross-over between categories. We leave it to your discretion to choose one category.

Entries will be evaluated based on the following 7 criteria, on a scale of 0 to 5.
1. Conceptual Design : how much does the demonstrator/proof of concept reflect insightful engagement with its chosen topic? What makes it a useful/elegant solution?
2. Artistic Merit : How far does the piece make a statement or make the user reflect on an issue?
3. Distinctiveness : How much does it express a unique sensibility? What’s different about it?
4. Impact : How much does it lead to new ideas and possibilities? If you could wave a magic wand, what would be the future of this experience?
5. Technical Elegance : How far does the work address currently relevant technical issues?
6. Innovation : How does the piece explicitly encourage the use of new/innovative technology, or the application of existing technology in an innovative way? In what way are you pushing the boundaries? What is it that you are pursuing?
7. Interactivity : How is the piece intuitive? Satisfying? A fun user experience?
8. Accessibility: How easy is it to use? What is the context for people engaging in this experience? Where will they be when they use it/interact with it?

2012 NEMart Jury

• Prof. Ovgu Ozturk Ergun – Intelligent Multimedia Analysis Laboratory, Istanbul
• Merve Deveciler – Turk Telecom
• Jovanka Adzic – Telecom Italia
• Jean-Dominique Meunier – Technicolor
• Roger Torrenti – Sigma Orionis
• Pierre-Yves Danet – Orange Labs
• Melvut Dinc – Sobee, Turkey
• Rowena Goldman – BBC R&D
• Virva Emilia Auvinen – Nokia, Berlin

About the NEMart Contest

Art has always been a precursor of what is going to change our lives. Mixing art, science and technology will both open opportunities for artists to use NEM technologies to express their creativity and encourage researchers to push the limits of networked and media science to support artists’ creations. We hope that these events will result in artistic talent discovery and new businesses.

“NEM Art Contest” had been launched at the attention of artists from Europe and the rest of the world making innovative use of networked and electronic media technologies (based on texts, pictures, music, videos; referring to the most advanced – and whenever relevant – networked technologies: 3D, virtual reality, web, communications networks, etc.).

The NEM Art Contest objectives are:

• to contribute to the promotion of the NEM ETP and of its Summit,
• to promote innovation in the NEM technologies area,
• to make advanced applications using NEM technologies more tangible,
• to enhance the NEM web sites with the presentation of candidates and winners of this contest.

The first “NEMart contest” was organised in 2010 in order to foster innovation in the NEM area through cooperation between artists and scientists. The initiative was successful with many interesting entries submitted by organizations and individuals from Europe and other parts of the world, following the release by NEM of an open Call for Art. 17 entries were shortlisted and invited to exhibit in a dedicated area of the 2010 NEM Summit exhibition. 5 were selected by the jury to share a prize of €5,000 awarded at the event’s closing ceremony courtesy of the event’s two main sponsors (BBC and Technicolor).

During the closing session, the winners of the NEMart Award, which shared a 5,000 euros prize, have been announced:

• THIG – GreenNEM non anthropocentric social network
• The Cut-up – Enthusiastic artist-scientist collaboration
• mHashup – Uniting civilizations through NEM
• LIVECELL – An interactive and convincing experience
• The Art Lab Progetto Retica by Cinzia Vigna

http://www.vimeo.com/30374088

NEM Art Contest 2010

The second edition of the NEM Art Contest has been successfully organised during the NEM Summit 2011 which was held on September 27-29, 2011 at the Politecnico di Torino in Torino. 21 artworks have been selected by a jury composed of NEM Summit sponsors, European Commission representatives and artists to exhibit at the 2011 NEM Summit.

During the closing session, an award was delivered to the piece of art that makes the most innovative use of networks and media to Virva Emilia Auvinen (www.virva.biz) for her work on “Isabella – The Secret Recipes” that blended real historic references into a beautifully illustrated game concept that makes history and learning come alive for children.

Beside the winner of the 2011 edition of Art Contest, 5 other artworks have been selected as finalistes:

• Afghan War Diary

• Oscilla

• Loopjam

• Surround Video

• Virtual Maestro

The 2010 Award was delivered to The Art Lab Progetto Retica by Cinzia Vigna, an example of how creating experience for the users can have an impact and can produce a change of perspective, enabling to new action.

Please contact us at contest@nem-summit.eu should you have any questions or need any further information.