Ben & Casey get their Golden Nica
Photo copyright Ars Electronica

Processing got the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Net Vision, and so the international fan club converged on Linz to see Ben and Casey get their prize.

A word of advice: Never sit through an Ars Electronica Gala without being prepared for a few hours of bürgermeisters and landeshauptmänner shaking each other’s hands or congratulating the local children for their participation in the u19 competition. Ars Electronica relies on political backing to achieve their impressive and obviously capital-intensive projects. And the Gala is the politicians’ chance to shine. So even with performances by Zach Lieberman and Toshio Iwai on his TENORI-ON, it can get a bit langweilig, as they say.

Casey gives his official description of the event on the Processing forums. The Nica certificate does in fact read “Benjamin Fry, Casey Reas, Processing community”, so suggestions have been made as to how best to chop up the trophy and disseminate it among the worthy.