Inaugural Prix Net Art Awardees:
JODI & Kari Altmann
Rhizome and Beijing-based organizations TASML and CAT/CCIA are proud to announce that the artist duo JODI has been awarded the inaugural 10,000 USD Prix Net Art, an international prize for internet art. A 5,000 USD Award of Distinction was granted to artist Kari Altmann. The prizes are awarded “no strings attached,” on the strength of past work and future promise, respectively.
The Prix Net Art marks the growing relevance of art made on the internet, its potential for new audiences, and its importance to contemporary artistic practice. It celebrates artists who are committed to utilizing the web in all its forms—from social media interventions to hand-coded webpages, and more.
The jury, comprising curators Michael Connor, Samantha Culp, Zhang Ga, and Sabine Himmelsbach, release the following statements on the winners.
Jury statement on JODI:
“For this inaugural edition of the Prix Net Art, the top award was given in recognition of the rich tradition of web-based art. Following the release of the first widely used web browser in 1993, a number of artists embraced the web for its aesthetic and political possibilities, particularly as a way of reaching far-flung publics with a minimum of resources. JODI were key figures in this generation, often disrupting the web—its HTML and other code—in order to make its processes and effects more transparent. Throughout their careers, they have remained committed to the internet as a contested and vital site for artistic practice.”
Jury statement on Kari Altmann:
“The Award of Distinction, in contrast, is given this year in recognition of future directions and possibilities for internet art. Kari Altmann’s practice is especially important in regard to the changing role of the artist in a highly networked culture. Referring to her practice as ‘based in the cloud,’ she works as an artist embedded within internet culture, forming collaborations and sharing images across Tumblr, Instagram, and other social media platforms and apps. Altmann works fluidly across the web and the gallery space, considering each artistic medium as another kind of file format, and each artwork as a node in an evolving, collaborative, and networked system in which she is also a node.”
Prix Net Art co-organizers
Prix Net Art is co-organized by the Center for Art and Technology/CCIA, Rhizome and Tsinghua University Art and Science Media Lab (TASML). Learn more here.
Additional support is provided by the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.
About JODI
JODI, or jodi.org—a Netherlands-based artist duo comprising Joan Heemskerk (b. 1968, the Netherlands) and Dirk Paesmans (b. 1965, Brussels)—pioneered web-based art in the mid-1990s, and continue to work in the widest possible variety of media and techniques. JODI’s work is featured in most art historical volumes about electronic and media art, and has been exhibited worldwide at Documenta-X, Stedelijk Museum, ZKM, ICC (Tokyo), CCA Glasgow, Guggenheim Museum (New York), Centre Pompidou, Eyebeam, FACT (Liverpool), Museum of Moving Image (New York), and more.
About Kari Altmann
Kari Altmann (b. 1983, USA) is an American artist who works fluidly across multiple platforms and formats. Recent featured projects include a solo web commission, Soft Mobility Abstracts, for the New Museum, New York; “Extinction Marathon” for Serpentine Gallery, London; and Art Post Internet at Ullens Center, Beijing. She has done projects for and with Art Dubai, The Goethe Institute, Fade to Mind, Rhizome, Mixpak, DIS Magazine, Nero Magazine, and many more. She also collaborates with peers in many industries as an artist, creative director, and ghost producer. Learn more.
