UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2007

UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2007
 
Call for participation 

The UNESCO Digital Arts Award 2007, organized in association with the Sharjah Biennial 8 on the theme of "STILL LIFE - Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change", is at the heart of the global dialogue on the role of art as a vital force for positive change to how we shape our environment, whether determined by spatial, geographical properties or by socio-cultural relevancies, and how we respond to our surroundings, immediate and global. Particularly in times when the concepts of space, time, and social relationship from every sphere of life experience are put in flux via communication technologies, artists are dynamically positioned to drive the questions related to contemporary social and environmental concerns with critical and creative thinking and artistic intervention using, among other things, digital tools.

With half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, creating the conditions of people-centred sustainable environments within an increasingly urbanized world is more and more accentuated across the globe. Cities are subject to innumerable pressures that affect their inhabitants, but could also be centres for expression of cultural diversity and places of vitality at the intersections of art, technology, and socio-cultural conditions.

The "Scenes and sounds of my city" programme gives the floor to users to present their own urban dynamics, taking on a local flair or tone or making collective expressions of their ideas and visions related to urban environment through the digital medium of images and sounds.

The UNESCO Digital Arts Award, which forms a special category of the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts dedicated to recognizing outstanding creative achievements by young artists in different fields of arts, aims at promoting cultural diversity and encouraging dialogue between cultures through innovative artistic ideas and forms using new media and technology.

The total award money is US $10.000, which could be divided and delivered to more than one laureate. It is provided by the Higashiyama Fund, managed by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ), and given by the Director-General of UNESCO.

The prize winners will also be invited to the Sharjah Biennial 8 to lead the training workshops within the framework of the Education programme of the Biennial with a selected number of youth and educators from across the globe to probe in depth into how creative digital practises and expressions can foster global conversation and gestures of respect towards the sustainable development of our environment.

The Sharjah Biennial 8 (4 April - 4 June 2007, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates) will present various attempts in visual arts and film that reflect the growing social, political and environmental challenges the world is facing. The biennial will not only stand for these issues as an exhibition site, but will provide a mode of production and transmission, and work as a resource or instigator in this global dialogue. Furthermore, the biennial will also partner with institutions to stimulate wider involvement in particularly amongst those active in education and cultural translation. In this context the Sharjah Biennial 8 has partnered with UNESCO DigiArts to stimulate wider involvement with the main topic of sustainable urban environment at hand.

General Guidelines
• Submitted projects should relate to the theme and topic of the award.
• The applicants must submit one project through the above-mentioned online YDC application.
• The user name and password of the online application would be distributed to the candidates once they have sent their CVs and completed entry forms to the UNESCO DigiArts Team
• Collaborative participation from more than one artist is highly welcomed.
• Young, talented people from under-represented countries are especially encouraged to participate.
 
 
Deadline:
30. December 2006 - preparatory materials
16. December 2007 - final submissions 
 
Contact: 
UNESCO
http://portal.unesco.org
Stránky ceny: Digi - arts
e-mail: digiarts@unesco.org