Medialab-Prado receives an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2010

Image of Interactivos?'08: Vision Play (Madrid, 2008)

Medialab-Prado has won an Honorary Mention this year from the jury at Ars Electronica, the Austrian institution whose awards are considered the Oscars of Electronic Art worldwide. The announcement was made at a press conference held on May 17, 2010 at the organization’s headquarters in Linz (Austria), and the awards ceremony will take place during the 32nd annual Ars Electronica Festival, held from 2-7 September 2010.

Ars Electronica has given annual awards since 1987 to the most outstanding projects in digital culture worldwide, including interactive works and installations, digital communities, sound art, and computer animation. In the case of Interactivos? from Medialab-Prado, an exceptional award was given to a platform for experimentation and collective creation of prototypes of interactive installations, whose success has been proved throughout nine international workshops held in various cities around the world (Madrid, New York, Lima, Mexico, Gijón and San Sebastián) over the past four years.

Since Interactivos? was held for the first time in 2006, it has had remarkable success with its open innovation model, in which ten ideas chosen through a public open call are developed by groups of collaborators from all over the world. They attend the workshop to contribute their knowledge to carrying out the projects. During the two-week workshop, a context for collective learning and living and working together is created that generates surprising results.

To date, 17 workshops have been held around the world adhering to the Interactivos? methodology, giving rise to over 150 projects including augmented reality games, data visualization, performing arts, experimental video games, and sound installations. Artists, designers, educators, researchers, scientists, sociologists, etc. have taken part, each contributing their varying types of knowledge and specializations, making a very productive and enriching learning and creation environment.

The next Interactivos? workshop will be held at Medialab-Prado from 7-23 June 2010, titled "Interactivos?'10: Neighbourhood Science" [+info]