CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: EVA AND FRANCO MATTES, BOGOSI SEKHUKHUNI, AND PORPENTINE CHARITY HEARTSCAPE

In February 2017, after extensive deliberation, the Prix Net Art jury announced that the third annual Prix Net Art would be awarded to Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Eva & Franco Mattes, and Bogosi Sekhukhuni.

For the last three years, Rhizome and Chronus Art Center (Shanghai) have partnered to present the Prix Net Art, a cash prize that goes to artists who are committed to working online and represent important directions in contemporary net art practice. In the past, two artists have been awarded, but this year, the jury—comprising Zhang Ga, Artistic Director of Chronus Art Center, Distinguished Professor at China Central Academy of Fine Arts; Lauren Cornell, Associate Director of Technology Initiatives and Curator at the New Museum; Christiane Paul, Associate Professor in the School of Media Studies at the New School and Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and Aria Dean, assistant curator of net art and digital culture at Rhizome—elected to recognize three recipients, each of whom will receive $5,000.

After considering a rich field of candidates nominated by the general public and invited expert nominators, the jury selected two artists and an artist duo who represent differently formulated but intersecting concerns and directions in the field of net art.

- Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.org), collaborators since the mid-1990s, have continually made work that responds to and dissects the contemporary networked condition, always approaching the ethics and politics of life online with a darkly humorous edge.

- Porpentine Charity Heartscape creates fantastical hypertext narratives in which bodies suffer from, and work through, futuristic traumas, taking on new forms in the process.

- Bogosi Sekhukhuni works collaboratively across multiple platforms to research and address questions of diaspora, pop culture, and repressed African spirituality through the lens of emerging technologies and network culture. 

Read more, link to key works, and learn about past winners at the Prix Net Art site.

PRIX NET ART IS COPRESENTED BY

RHIZOME & CHRONUS ART CENTER

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