ANIMATIONS Ars Electronica

25-26.10 | 17:00-18:30 Hevre+1 in English | free
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As every year, we present the latest trends in digital animation in the form of screenings of short films and animations awarded during the Ars Electronica Animation Festival in Linz. Nearly one-third of the almost 900 submissions were projects created with AI — a record number.

The awarded animations will be shown on Saturday and Sunday in a 75-minute screening featuring the following two thematic blocks:

  • Best of Prix Ars Electronica 2024, New Animation Art
    The program features seven animations, six of which received prizes in this year’s competition. Two Golden Nica winners, one Award of Distinction, and three Honorary Mentions offer a vivid snapshot of the current landscape of animation art. Most of the works employ innovative technologies to deliver compelling socio-political commentary and incisive reflections on urgent issues of our time: the climate crisis, data surveillance, the invisible human labor behind AI training, the erosion of image credibility, the commodification of transnational education, and the search for fresh visions of culture, nature, and space. Two additional works enrich the program — one exploring the quantum realities of our multidimensional universe, the other unfolding a poignant story of friendship and transformation.
  • Science and Data Visualizations
    Through animation, scientific concepts become more than just data — they turn into stories that move and inspire. Animation translates complex ideas into visually comprehensible narratives, making them accessible to broad audiences. From exploring the center of the Milky Way and the dynamics of stars orbiting a supermassive black hole, to depicting DNA replication or global warming trends over time, the selected animations break down intricate phenomena into coherent segments. Such visualizations often reveal “hidden” aspects of our world, making us aware of processes that evolve too slowly (climate change) or too quickly (DNA replication) to be observed directly. Some of the works are factual and educational, while others weave scientific data into emotional narratives.

 

Free entrance.

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Smoke and Mirrors | Beatie Wolfe _GB | 4’20’’ // Golden Nica Winner

Smoke and Mirrors is an unusual blend of music video and science visualisation. This short and poignant work emphasizes the magnitude of the climate crisis, by presenting not only scientific facts about global warming but also the dangerous ideological positions which have been denying it over the past few decades. Rising methane levels are therefore illustrated alongside historical advertising slogans employed by oil companies meant to endanger credibility of climate emergency. The visualization is based on NASA’s Blue Marble image and set to Oh My Heart, which was released as the world’s first bioplastic record by Beatie Wolfe.

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Unknown Quantum Objects | Alessandro Bavari _IT | 13’

Unknown Quantum Objects is an experimental animation exploring 13 of the 64 dimensions believed to exist beyond the three established space-time dimensions. Through animation, Bavari enables us direct experience of an otherwise highly theoretical and abstract concept. He provides a visual representation of concepts that lack tangible visual forms, but can be imaginatively brought to understanding through this medium.

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Stained | Jeremy Kamal _US | 2’11’’ // Award of Distinction

Stained is a short speculative CGI film depicting a utopian future where America’s landscapes are transformed by Black culture. The film follows a sensitive tea master that uses colored flora to mark territory. Based in a world where symbiotic relationships with technology allow Black Americans to transform “natural” and synthetic environments.

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Bye Bear | Jan Bitzer _DE | 10’40’’

In Bye Bear we step into a decaying 1980s motel, where a group of unusual friends gathers for one last celebration. At the heart of the party is Bear—a robot with an unusual dream: to shed its metallic shell and become a real bear. Bye Bear is a surreal story about friendship, transformation, change, and the ceremony of a long goodbye. The friends celebrate together and bid each other farewell. Bear’s transformation into a real bear reaches its conclusion on this very night.

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Thank You for Your Souvenir, UK! | Los _CN | 3’ // Honorary Mention

Thank you for your Souvenir, UK! shows the experience of a Chinese student who spends a year in the UK grappling with cultural displacement and a sense of non belonging. Through this deeply personal film, the artist poses an essential question: are international students valued as contributors to the system, or are they merely being exploited as resources? The film’s raw and honest portrayal will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.

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Unknown Label | Nicolas Gourault _FR | 16’34’’ // Honorary Mention

Unknown Label is a documentary about the experience of online micro-workers from the Global South who annotate images used to train self-driving cars. The film begins with a simple animation illustrating the process of segmentation—a crucial step in AI training where images are divided into distinct objects, such as separating cars from pedestrians or roads. This meticulous task, performed by human workers, allows AI systems to recognize and interact with their environments. The film highlights the discrimination they face, with the animated visuals evolving in complexity to mirror the complexity of the labor. The story culminates in a city-scale 3D data visualization, revealing the hidden human effort behind AI systems.

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Washed Out: The Hardest Part | Paulo Trillo _US // Golden Nica, AI in Art Award

The music video for the album “The Hardest Part” by the band Washed Out marks a groundbreaking achievement, as it is the first fully generative video created with OpenAI’s SORA text-to-video model. This is why it was awarded the Golden Nica for AI I in Art. Spanning several decades, the video begins in the early 80s and follows a young couple throughout their whole life. By embracing the hallucinatory, dreamlike qualities of SORA, the video manages to capture the fleeting and elusive nature of memories.

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Science and Data Visualizations

  • A Journey to the Center of the Milky Way: Stellar Orbits Around Its Central Black Hole | NCSA Advanced Visualization Lab _US | 3’19’’
  • DNA Replication of the Lagging Strand | Peter Mindek _SK, Tobias Klein_DE, Alfredo De Biasio _IT | 2’45’’
  • Following the Upper and Lower Limbs of the AMOC | Felicia Brisc _DE,  Nuno Serra_PT | 3’45’’
  • NASA Climate Spiral, | Mark SubbaRao _US | 30’’

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The Ars Electronica Animation Festival in Linz has been a cornerstone of the Ars Electronica September program since 2005. It features a wide range of screenings and diverse events dedicated to animation. The festival offers an overview of current trends in digital animation worldwide, showcasing distinctive strategies and unique perspectives. The 2024 selection of award-winning works presents a diverse spectrum at the intersection of animation, art, and technology — outstanding films submitted to the Prix Ars Electronica 2024 competition.

The Prix Ars Electronica, organized by Ars Electronica Linz GmbH & Co KG, is made possible by support from the City of Linz.
Special thanks for additional support go to Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and OeAD.
The Ars Electronica ANIMATION FESTIVAL 20224 is organized by Ars Electronica in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg Campus.
The Ars Electronica ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2024 is curated by Juergen Hagler (University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg Campus) and Daniela Duca De Tey (Ars Electronica).
The Ars Electronica ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2024 on Tour was produced in collaboration and with special thanks to the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.