ZKM AppArtAward
A selection of the award winners
From 2011 to 2017, the ZKM awarded the AppArtAward annually to the best artistic developments in the field of applications for smartphones and tablets.
The idea resulted from the realization that app stores do not carry the category of art and thus artistic and at the same time highly innovative developments only receive marginal appreciation.
To gain an insight into the lively diversity of AppArt, highlights are presented in »zkm_gameplay. the next level«.
Apps
-
»Finger Battle«, AppArtAward 2012 – Game Art, by Rafaël Rozendaal & Dirk van Oosterbosch
»Finger Battle«, according to its inventor "the simplest game in the universe", simulates good old thumb fencing. The screen is divided into two equal-sized squares, one blue, the other red. In this »Typing Game« for two fingers, each player tries to push back his opponent by tapping his side of the screen as quickly as possible in succession. Once one color has conquered the entire screen, the winner is announced.
Technique
Application for iOS -
»Windosill«, AppArtAward 2015 – Sound Art, by Patrick Smith
»Windosill« is a puzzle game, a physics toy and a kind of living picture book. Each level consists of a dream-like world in which a riddle must be solved to find a missing brick. Only if this is successful, the next level can be reached.
Technique
Application for iOS -
»Zip Zap«, AppArtAward 2017 – Highlight, by Philipp Stollenmayer
»Zip Zap« is a physical game of skill in which a virtual mechanical building element must be moved in such a way that a white point is reached either directly or with the help of other elements. In the process, the pitfalls of physics - friction, inertia and momentum - get in the way or help the players. In addition, the initial element can only be moved in a very limited way, i.e. it can only be bent and opened again, similar to a simply constructed muscle. Since it is controlled solely by touch and release, interaction with the surface is reduced to a minimum. Although the player has minimal control over what happens on the screen, it still gives the impression that the few elements come together to form a simple animate being. Thus, the game ultimately demonstrates how easily empathy can be generated.
Technique
Application for iOS -
»Glitchskier«, AppArtAward 2017 – Game Art, von Shelly Robin Alon
»Glitchskier« is a classic and challenging »shoot-em-up« game, in an aesthetically surprising form. It combines smart programming with the appearance of illegally downloaded software in the style of the last millennium. The game interface appears as a virtual retro desktop on which players open »files« by double-clicking instead of using common buttons to start the game or even to change its appearance. This virtual return to old designs and structures enables a reflection of contemporary interaction with the smartphone or tablet.
Technique
Application for iOS, Android and Windows
»AppArtAward« Competition
The AppArtAward was initiated by ZKM in cooperation with the software cluster partners CAS Software AG and CyberForum e.V., the largest regionally active high-tech.entrepreneur.network in Germany, and was awarded for the first time in 2011. The AppArtAward is intended to honor works of art that combine creative software solutions and artistic innovation in app format. As of 2012, the AppArtAward itself was part of the Software Cluster, which, located in southwestern Germany, is considered Europe's Silicon Valley.
AppArtAward 2016
Apps are art for the age of digital mobility
Apps have become a very popular medium and an integral part of our mobile culture. Their number in the various online stores is growing exponentially. In addition to pure service apps that make our everyday lives easier, the artistic potential of apps is also being exploited: Established artistic genres are transferred and transformed into the app medium. New art forms are emerging, innovative ideas are being implemented in an aesthetic way, and tricky mind games are finding their way into the mobile medium. The possibilities of new technologies are used in a creative way.
The artistic design of apps is constantly showing new tendencies. The AppArtAward wants to present the latest aesthetic and technical ones and award the best apps of the competition. In addition to the central award categories »GameArt« and »Sound Art«, a prize in the category »AppArtivism« was also offered for the first time in 2017. The combination of activism and art, of actvism and art, aims to highlight how new media are used artistically for social or political causes.
Christiane Riedel, former executive director of the ZKM | Karlsruhe
»The app phenomenon is an almost unbelievable success story. The development of smartphones and the applications created for them has redefined the future of mobility.«
