News

2023.06.14

 

Oneroom-Babel, by media artist SANGHEE, a student at the Korea National University of Arts (President Daejin Kim), won a special prize in the New Animation Art category at the world's most prestigious media art competition, Prix Ars Electronica 2023.

The ‘Prix Ars Electronica’ is the international competition program of the Ars Electronica Festival and the world's most prestigious media art competition. Since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has been recognizing the work of media art artists, groups and projects to watch every year.

※ Streaming link to the winners' announcement: https://www.youtube.com/live/dWlT-ZjcH9Y?feature=share

Link to category winners' websites: https://ars.electronica.art/prix/en/winners

Link to the introduction of One Room Babel's work: https://calls.ars.electronica.art/2023/prix/winners/7189

※ Media artist SANGHEE's website introduction: https://sanghee.xyz/163fc19c2838d5

The contest was organized into four categories: ▲New Animation Art, ▲Digital Music & Sound Art, ▲AI & Life Art, and ▲u19-create your world. Each category consists of a grand prize, the Golden Nica, an Award of Distinction, and an Honorary Mention. This year, a total of 3,176 entries from 98 countries were submitted. In particular, the New Animation Art category received 1,116 applicants. The awards ceremony will take place in September in Linz, Austria.

This year's jury for the New Animated Art category was composed of world-renowned media theory scholar Lev Manovich, media artist Mimi Son (Kimchi & Chips), curator Helen Starr, generative arts educator Philippe Pasquier, and Transmediale artistic director Nóra Ó Murchú.

Media artist SANGHEE's <Oneroom-Babel> received the following response from the jury: “(Oneroom-Babel) creates a very concrete and immersive experience through a simple but convincing use of the medium to depict a bleak life that is sometimes portrayed too abstractly.” “Simply and efficiently, it successfully captures interviews with young Koreans describing their lived experience of living space (one room), making it relatable to all audiences.”

<Oneroom-Babel> is a work that allows you to experience the space of a single room in three dimensions through text, sound, and events in a virtual space with a fantastic atmosphere. A single room is a residential space where the bedroom, kitchen, and living room are integrated into a single space. The audience dives into the deep sea through a VR device and discovers the virtual architecture of <Oneroom-Babel>, and then visits the living spaces of the people who lived in <Oneroom-Babel> one after another, encountering excerpts from interviews with young people living in one room and texts written by the artist.

Media artist SANGHEE is a third-year student at the School of Film, TV & Multimedia of Korea National University of Arts, Master of Fine Arts Multimedia, and has been active in Korea and abroad, including being selected for the 2022 UnfoldX (Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture). He has been taking photographs while studying sociology and has been working in various genres such as VR, sound performance, and games as well as flat media. His main interest in photography is objects and places as an extension of the human body. As an extension of this interest, he is interested in the gaps and emotions experienced when physical inputs from the real world are output to the virtual world, or when they are re-output to the real world via the virtual world.

"I organized my VR work through the school curriculum and received great support from my school as I developed my work, such as getting feedback from my teachers as a writer," said winner SANGHEE. "I am grateful to the young people who invited me to share their stories in the private space of their home.“

"In line with the rapidly changing technological environment, K-Arts has been training students with various majors to understand advanced digital media and create art through a convergence talent training program through the Convergence K-Arts A&T Lab and the Korea Creative Content Agency's Cultural Contents R&D Expert Training Project," said Professor Chungyean Cho of the Multimedia of School of Film, Department of TV & Multimedia who served as SANGHEE's advisor. “We are pleased that excellent creators produced through this future convergence arts education have won awards in global competitions.”