Winners Revealed For CultTech x Ars Electronica Award

This year’s winners of the CultTech x Ars Electronica Award were honored on November 5, 2024, at the inaugural CultTech Summit in Vienna – a two-day event for leading personalities at the intersection of art, technology and business. For their innovative AR game Escape Fake, the Polycular collective receives €10,000 in prize money and long-term mentoring for the further development of the project. One honorary mention was also awarded.

The CultTech x Ars Electronica Award recognizes projects and ideas that embrace digital transformation in the cultural and creative industries and promote sustainable technological developments. With this award, the CultTech Association and Ars Electronica honor initiatives that actively contribute to the accessibility of culture, promote inclusion, and demonstrate how the cultural scene can drive positive change.

The open call for the CultTech x Ars Electronica Award 2024 received 147 submissions from 40 countries. Individuals, collectives and organizations with creative projects and business ideas were eligible to apply.

The jury – consisting of entrepreneur and artist Veronica D’Souza (DK), CultTech Association President Dmitry Aksenov (RU) and Ars Electronica Artistic Director Gerfried Stocker (AT) –  was impressed by the diversity of social, ecological and community-oriented projects with high technological standards.

This year’s award-winning projects deal with the complex distinction between reality and deception, social barriers, empathy and connectedness, as well as truth and sensitivity.

The main prize, endowed with €10,000, is awarded to the AR game Escape Fake by the collective Polycular – Irina Paraschivoiu (RO), Thomas Layer-Wagner (AT), Benjamin Arzt (AT), Julian Watzinger (AT) and Tobias Hoffmann (DE). The immersive game world empowers young people and their educators to debunk fake news and learn counter-strategies. In addition to the prize money, the winners will receive access to special CultTech mentoring for tech initiatives in the cultural scene.

Embracing Places by Margherita Landi (IT) and Agnese Lanza (IT) has been awarded a honorary mention. The project asks how immersive technology can build historical, emotional, social and geographical bridges by making gentle gestures – such as a hug – tangible in a 360° virtual reality setting in different places.

The official award ceremony took place on November 5, 2024 as part of the two-day CultTech Summit at MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.