Jury: Tapio Mäkelä, Fiona Ratiy, Yvonne Wilhelm

In this year's competition over 200 works were submitted to the Interaction category, but only two-thirds were interactive pieces in its original sense. The remaining one-third consisted mainly of installations outside the competition categories such as non-inter- active spatial sound pieces, light installations, or dance performances. It is worth mentioning that the sound-based works in particular, of which some where exceedingly interesting, make a case for future extensions of the competition or its restructuring. Furthermore, an exclusion of “expert user pieces", such as interactive stage performances, also warrants future consideration. In their interactive design paradigms, these projects differ strongly from interactive installations developed in an exhibition context. Interactivity alone is no longer enough.

The Interaction jury felt disappointed about how few of the projects submitted were multi-layered and rich enough to create an animated debate amongst the jury members. The final selection was less about excellence and more about redefining the ‘Interactivity’ category using the ‘nominated’ and ‘honourable mentions' as examples of the kinds of projects that should fill this space. In the end there were only about 10 submissions strong enough and engaging enough to even be considered for discussion. But let's be optimistic. This is definitely a moment of change, interactive art is evolving. The future possibilities are expanding and becoming more challenging and exciting. The jury was looking for projects, which were strategic and demonstrated a sophisticated awareness of how media operates - ideally doing both. This year’s jury nominated three pieces for the Interaction award and bestowed honourable mentions to another three.

Honorable Mentions
Machines will eat itself/superbot.tk, Franz Aiken (de)
www.superbot.tk
Home Dictate, Ivor Diosi (sk)