The AppArtAward in Beijing

App Goes Art // Art Goes App Following this motto, the ZKM, together with Cyberforum e.V. and their partners have been searching for the best works in App format since 2011. Awards are presented to advanced artistic applications, which have distinguished themselves by a high degree of innovation, interactivity and creativity. It had already become evident at the premier of the AppArtAwards that the competition was being met with substantial international interest. App producers from fourteen nations submitted their digital works of art to us. This year, the logical consequence of the worldwide interest in App Art as well as the mobility of this art form – “art to go”, for short – led to sending the AppArtAward on tour. First stop: Beijing. In cooperation with the Goethe Institute Beijing, the ZKM will be showing “AppArtAward 2011/2012: Highlights” in the Chinese capital till March 17. Twelve works consisting winner Apps of the previous two years, as well as a selection of the best submissions are to be presented. The exhibition’s location, Post Mountain, is a multifunctional space for contemporary artistic approaches. Its organic form provided the perfect preconditions for the presentation of App Art works. The space is located at the center of the Grand MOMA, a kind of city within a city. Next to apartments and office rooms, the Grand MOMA also provides space for creative activities. Thus, there are diverse rooms for exhibitions, performances and concerts. The opening celebration took place on March 5 as part of an anniversary: The Goethe Institute in Beijing has been promoting intercultural dialog between Germany and China for the last 25 years. In addition to Johannes Ebert, General Secretary of the Goethe Institute, and Peter Anders, Director of the Institute in Beijing along with representatives from the press, many students were also on-site as viewers and to try out the creative potential from Europe. “How do Western artists use the possibilities of mobile computing?” was one question which visitors found particularly interesting. For the ZKM, the presentation goes hand in hand with the appeal to Asiatic App producers to submit their own works to the competition. The next stops for the AppArtAward exhibition are Art Beijing, as well as the cities of Seoul, Montréal and São Paolo – each in cooperation with the respective local Goethe Institutes. We are looking forward to the events and to the numerous submissions from all around the world. Submissions may be made via the application form under www.app-art-award.org. App Art Goes Global.

Text: Julia Jochem