FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
WEBBY AWARDS
Judie Mulligan, mulligaj@fleishman.com
Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations, 415.356.1086
SFMOMA
Lynne Kimura, lkimura@sfmoma.org, 415/357-4176
Polly Winograd, pwinograd@sfmoma.org, 415/357-4173
SFMOMA AND THE WEBBY AWARDS ANNOUNCE CALL FOR ENTRIES AND UNVEIL PANEL OF JURORS FOR NEW $50,000 ONLINE ART PRIZE
First Winner(s) to Be Announced at Webby Awards 2000 on May 11
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 18, 2000) – David A. Ross, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Tiffany Shlain, director and founder of the Webby Awards, today announced the call for entries for a new international prize to recognize and encourage artists working in online media.
According to Ross and Shlain, the SFMOMA Webby Prize for Excellence in Online Art will offer $50,000 annually to an artist or artists for a body of work whose primary focus is to be experienced online and that explores and expands the distinctive capacity of the online medium. The call for entries opens February 22 and closes March 14, 2000. Interested artists may find submission guidelines and entry forms at www.webbyawards.com, www.sfmoma.org or www.iadas.net.
The organizers also unveiled a distinguished roster of online art experts who will serve as jurors for the prize, including:
- Gary Hill, Seattle-based video artist and 1998 MacArthur Fellow
- Machiko Kusahara, media art curator and assistant professor in the Graduate School of Science and Technology at Kobe University in Japan
- John Maeda, Sony Career Development Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and author of Design by Numbers, considered the computer programming primer for artists
- Femke Wolting, curator of Exploding Cinema and programmer of the International Film Festival, Rotterdam
- Aaron Betsky, SFMOMA curator of architecture, design and digital projects
- Keiko Hayashi, SFMOMA director of graphic design
- John Weber, SFMOMA Leanne and George Roberts Curator of Education and Public Programs
- Benjamin Weil, SFMOMA curator of media arts
The first annual SFMOMA Webby Prize will be presented on May 11 at the Webby Awards 2000, to be held in San Francisco’s historic Nob Hill Masonic Center. The Webby Awards, the leading international honors for Web sites, are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), a global organization dedicated to the creative, technical and professional progress of new media.
“Our purpose is to call attention to this developing technology as a medium for creative expression and to encourage those exploring its aesthetic potential,” stated Ross. “Just as photography was dawning as an artistic medium 100 years ago-and video only 30 years ago-so, today, artists around the world have begun to work with new online technology, exploring its inherent properties as well as its application as a tool in the service of individual creativity. The Webby Awards are the perfect partner in this effort, and we are delighted to be collaborating with them.”
Shlain, who is also president of the IADAS, added, “The Webby Awards have been at the forefront of recognizing and celebrating Web-based art, and this prize-the first Webby Award to be granted to an individual-represents an important step forward for the discipline. We are thrilled to be working with an institution like SFMOMA that shares our commitment to advancing artistic innovation in this emerging field.”
The SFMOMA Webby Prize will be administered by the IADAS. The prize pool of $50,000-provided through the generosity of an anonymous SFMOMA donor-will be granted to an individual or divided among up to three artists, at the discretion of the panel. The winning artist(s) will also be featured in e.space, SFMOMA’s online gallery housed on the Museum’s newly redesigned Web site www.sfmoma.org.
Following the Webby Awards 2000, SFMOMA will host and present an international symposium on online art on Saturday, May 13, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Museum’s Phyllis Wattis Theater. The winning artist(s) will participate in a panel that includes prize jurors and other leading figures in the digital and online art fields. For more information on the symposium, call the Education Hot Line at 415/947-1292.
About SFMOMA
Founded in 1935, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exists to collect, preserve, present and interpret the best of contemporary and modern art for the purpose of enriching people’s lives through aesthetic and learning experiences. SFMOMA has distinguished itself museums internationally as one of the leading exploring art-making and arts education in digital media and on the World Wide Web. SFMOMA has pioneered the exploration of design using digital media and was the first museum in the United States to acquire Web sites for its permanent collection of design. These holdings, soon to be joined by online commissioned art, will be exhibited on a rotating basis on e.space, the Museum’s online gallery. The Museum has also produced three award-winning multimedia educational programs to date.
About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technicaland professional progress of new media. The goal of the IADAS is to assemble a unique and brilliant panel of leading new media experts, Web visionaries, journalists and luminaries to propel the new medium through the new millennium. IADAS currently boasts over 200 members, including such diverse experts as film director Francis Ford Coppola, musician David Bowie, Chair of Miramax Talk Media Tina Brown, cyberguru Esther Dyson, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Infoseek Chairman Steve Kirsch and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, as well as writers and editors from such publications as Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, ARTBYTE, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Forbes, Premier, PC World and Jane. For more information, visit www.iadas.net.
About the Webby Awards
The Webby Awards are the leading creative honors for digital media. Nominees and winners are chosen by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The Webby Awards are an IDG event. Sponsors for the 2000 Webby Awards include Intel, Hewlett-Packard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Adobe, vivid studios, Visa, Warburg Dillon Read, BeSeen, Xpedior, AboveNet, Audi, commission junction, worldlyinvestor.com, PlanetClick, adauction.com, Fleishman Hillard, The Creative Group,Entertainment Weekly, Business 2.0, Access Magazine, NewCity.com, Metropolis Editorial, ArtByte, MacWorld, San Francisco Bay Guardian, MacWorld Expo, MSN bCentral, Internet World, We Also Walk Dogs. Balloting is audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. For more information, visit www.webbyawards.com.
About IDG
IDG publishes more than 290 computer magazines and newspapers and 700 books and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net, which comprises more than 240 targeted Web sites in 55 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168
computer-related expositions worldwide and provides IT market analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.