The 2017 Lumen Prize for Digital Arts shortlist announced

Just announced, the Lumen Prize shortlist reflects serious social concerns

Work by the artists Thijs Biersteker, Zarah Hussain, Zheng Da and Jonathan Monaghan features on the 38 project-strong international shortlist for this year's Lumen Prize for Digital Art, the UK-based award and not-for-profit social enterprise with a prize fund of US$11,750 (Dh43,000) and a travelling group exhibition.

The prize recognises excellence across eight categories, including web, interactive and artificial intelligence, 3D/sculpture, still and moving image, VR/AR and place-making.

The prize is being judged in its sixth year by a panel that includes Weiwei Wang, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, the V&A's senior curator of word and image Doug Dodds, Foteini Aravani, digital curator at the Museum of London and Bruce Wands, chair emeritus at New York's School of Visual Arts.

Plastic Reflectic by Thijs Biersteker. Lumen Prize Shortlist Interactive Award 2017. Plastic Reflectic is designed to show people that their behaviour can help to keep plastic out of our oceans and foodchain and can prevent nano plastics from entering our bodies.

Midtown Flutter by Yuge Zhou. Lumen Prize Shortlist Moving Image Award 2017. Midtown Flutter allows audiences experience a gradual shift in the appearance and depth of the installation from a flat image to a three-dimensional view with protruding geometric shapes.

The Storm by ITHACA. Lumen Prize Shortlist Place-making Special Commendation Award. The Storm is an audio reactive light installation exploring LED diffusion, elemental shapes and soundscapes. Sixteen feet of cloud covering billows from ceiling to floor, concealing over 6,000 individually programmed LEDs.

Cherry Blossom and Mountains by Damien Borowik. Lumen Prize Shortlisted for the Still Image Award 2017. This drawing is the latest artwork the artist has created using one of his handcrafted machines.It uses acrylic ink markers with nibs of various widths, and consists of five layers. The whole drawing took approximately 20 hours to make.

Terratic Animism by Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Shortlisted for the Lumen Prize 2017 VR-AR Award. Terratic Animism is a virtual reality project, where people are free to roam around a digital winter forest.

The Unfettered Language of Machines by Zheng Da. Lumen Prize Shortlist Interactive Award 2017. Featuring 240 metres of customized LED strip that includes 32640 LEDs, this installation monitors participant’s heartbeat is captured and then visualises this in light.

Block Bills by Matthias Dorfelt features a series of 64 banknotes generated from the Bitcoin Blockchain. Lumen Prize Shortlist Still Image Award 2017.

After Fabergé by Jonathan Monaghan. Lumen Prize Shortlist Still Image Award 2017. After Fabergé is a series of five prints which transform an iconic symbol of status and wealth into uncanny objects composed of modern furniture, computer parts, and historic architecture.

AVENUE by Nicolas Sassoon. Lumen Prize Shortlist Web-Based Award 2017. AVENUE is a large animated GIF deliberately exceeding the size of the screen, forcing the viewer to explore the animation by scrolling within the web browser.

Numina by Zarah Hussain. Lumen Prize Shortlist 3D_Scuplture Award 2017. Numina combines designs found in the art and architecture of the Islamic world with contemporary digital arts, bringing to life a usually static artform by mapping animated geometric patterns onto a sculpture composed of tessellating pyramids arranged on a hexagonal grid.

The prize was founded in 2012 by the former business journalist Carla Rappaport who used to write about technology for the Financial Times and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"The judges have had a time of it this year – the entries were up by more than 25 per cent and the scope of the categories has broadened tremendously," Lumen's founder and director said. "Digital art today is also becoming much more engaged with social issues, not surprising given today's events."

Themes of privacy, environmentalism and the ongoing European refugee crisis featured prominently in the more than 800 submissions that were entered for the 2017 award, issues that are addressed directly by works such as Isabelle Arver's Heroic Makers vs Heroic Land, which has been shortlisted for the moving image award.

The winners of the gold and category awards will be announced on September 20 at a prize-giving ceremony at the Frontline Club in London.

For more details visit www.lumenprize.com

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