AwardJune 30, 2023
Atractor and Semantica win the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica
The Colombian collective Atractor participated with a work created together with Semantica (UK), a British XR studio, and won the most important award for electronic art worldwide.
Atractor is a Colombian art studio and collective of artists that work from several disciplines: civil engineering, electronics and computer science, all applied to the field of the arts. Their approach is the research of natural phenomenons, mathematical and scientific paradigms related to socio-cultural peculiarities, which include other modes of knowledge to understand science. From these inquiries, their works establish relationships between digital and analog elements.
Una historia de dos semillas: Sonidos y silencio en los llanos latinoamericanos (A history of two seeds: Sounds and silence in the Latin American flatlands), title of the winning work in the category Digital music and sound art, presents a discussion on the expansion of transgenic soybean crops in the Colombian flatlands. It is relevant to mention that historically this area of the country has been cultivated based on the work of the indigenous and rural populations of the region. Therefore, the work shows how the practices of the agricultural industry presuppose harmful and irreversible effects on the fertility of the land. The collective used various recording tools such as microphones, sensors and electromagnetic devices to create soundscapes that document the diversity loss in the territory and the impact of the industry on the ecosystem.
For Atractor and Semantica this recognition highlights the group's significance in the Colombian context, as well as the importance of digital and electronic arts in the continent. It also reaffirms the relevance of interdisciplinarity in contemporary art, creating dialogues through issues related to territory.
Atractor is a Colombian art studio and collective of artists that work from several disciplines: civil engineering, electronics and computer science, all applied to the field of the arts. Their approach is the research of natural phenomenons, mathematical and scientific paradigms related to socio-cultural peculiarities, which include other modes of knowledge to understand science. From these inquiries, their works establish relationships between digital and analog elements.
Una historia de dos semillas: Sonidos y silencio en los llanos latinoamericanos (A history of two seeds: Sounds and silence in the Latin American flatlands), title of the winning work in the category Digital music and sound art, presents a discussion on the expansion of transgenic soybean crops in the Colombian flatlands. It is relevant to mention that historically this area of the country has been cultivated based on the work of the indigenous and rural populations of the region. Therefore, the work shows how the practices of the agricultural industry presuppose harmful and irreversible effects on the fertility of the land. The collective used various recording tools such as microphones, sensors and electromagnetic devices to create soundscapes that document the diversity loss in the territory and the impact of the industry on the ecosystem.
For Atractor and Semantica this recognition highlights the group's significance in the Colombian context, as well as the importance of digital and electronic arts in the continent. It also reaffirms the relevance of interdisciplinarity in contemporary art, creating dialogues through issues related to territory.
