VIDA Art and Artificial Life International Awards begun in 1999 by Fundación Telefónica, was created with the mission of supporting creative endeavours in this singular field by rewarding the pioneering efforts of artists. We are now pleased to announce the launch of the VIDA 14.0, which for the last 14 years have been rewarding artistic projects developed with technological media that offer innovative insights into the study of artificial life.

At a time when the concept of life finds itself once again in uncharted territory, a wide range of artistic initiatives attempt to illustrate and explore this phenomenon, examining its impact on our collective consciousness and how it affects the cultural, technological and social mindset.

Over the past decade, VIDA has welcomed a variety of interdisciplinary projects that respond to this situation and brought them together in a single forum. Using formal strategies that push the boundaries between existing practices, these projects offer new perspectives that force us to reconsider our pre-existing notions of life and artificial life.

What types of projects receive a VIDA 14.0?
The VIDA Award is granted to artistic creations developed using artificial life technology. Among the projects submitted to VIDA, the artists’ ties to this theme and their choice of media are very diverse. Throughout its history, the competition has welcomed proposals that challenge the boundary between living and non-living, between natural and synthetic, either by juxtaposing both realities or by creating overlapping spaces for reflection.
The winning projects include robotic systems, immersive installations, online video games, autonomous self-organising devices and evolutionary indicators. Another common characteristic of past winners is the use of interactive and immersive installations—a response to today’s environment of technological entities—which attempt to communicate with visitors by making them part of the system. Chimerical devices that combine natural and artificial elements, telepresence systems, network structures that operate as artificial intelligences, invasive dynamics of increasing complexity and acumen—these are just some of the themes addressed by the artists who participate in VIDA. From the very first edition to the present day, we have rewarded artists who have applied traditional artificial life technologies to their work, such as cellular automata, autonomous agents, neural networks, robotics, interactive systems, virtual ecologies and evolving software. What all of these projects have in common is that they involve emergent behaviours which grow more sophisticated over time, react with their environment and seem to show signs of autonomous life.
In recent years we have observed an increasing hybridisation of media and formats among the projects submitted to VIDA, which has led us to advocate the category’s expansion in order to trace the evolution of this field. The competition has gradually extended its scope, maintaining its interest in projects that involve conventional artificial life research while also venturing into new, cutting-edge territories such as life sciences and environmental sciences. In short, we could say that VIDA rewards artistic projects that are related to any dynamic life process affected by simulation.

As in previous years, contestants are invited to submit proposals in one of two categories:
CATEGORY “FINALISED PROJECTS”
In this category, Vida 14.0 rewards artistic artificial life projects developed after the year 2010. A total of 40,000 euros will be divided among the three winning projects chosen by the jury: First Prize: 18,000 euros; Second Prize: 14,000 euros; Third Prize: 8,000 euros. Seven honorary mentions will also be awarded to projects chosen by the jury from among the finalists.
CATEGORY “INCENTIVES FOR PRODUCTION"
In this category, Vida 14.0 helps to finance artistic artificial life projects that have not yet been produced. It is reserved for artists who are citizens or residents of any country in Latin America, Spain or Portugal. This category is also endowed with 40,000 euros to be divided among the selected projects.
IMPORTANT DATES
Project submissions must be submitted before midnight (Central European Time) on 30th July 2012.

JURY
Submitted projects will be reviewed by an international jury consisting of Mónica Bello (Spain), Jens Hauser (France), Martin Kaltenbrunner (Austria), Karla Jasso (Mexico), Sally Jane Norman (New Zealand/France), Nell Tenhaaf (Canada) and Francisco Serrano, Executive Director of Fundación Telefónica.
INFORMATION AND QUERIES
You can find the competition guidelines and the participation form at http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/vida
If you have any questions about the competition, please refer to the FAQ section. You may also contact us by sending an email to [log in to unmask]
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Mónica Bello
Artistic Director of VIDA
Art and Artificial Life International Awards
www.fundaciontelefonica.org/vida