Two Korean artist teams have jointly won awards at Austria's Ars Electronica, considered the world's most prestigious authority in media art.
The winners' list for "Prix Ars Electronica 2026," announced Sunday, included "Woojoo+Lim Hee-young" and Lee Jeong-woo. The competition was fierce, with 4,329 works submitted from 106 countries worldwide. Woojoo+Lim Hee-young received an Honorary Mention in the "Interactive Art +" category, while Lee Jeong-woo received an Honorary Mention in the "New Animation Art" category.
The "Prix Ars Electronica" is a prestigious award known as the "Academy Awards of the digital art world." Based on the "Ars Electronica Festival" held in Linz, Austria, since 1979, the competition began in 1987. Over the past 39 years, it has selected the most innovative media art each year, and among them, there have been only six Korean winners.
The two winners share something in common. Both were discovered last year through the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture's convergence arts support program, received production support, and first unveiled their new works through "Unfold X 2025." Those works went on to win this year. Woojoo+Lim Hee-young won for "There Is No Bird," a work of kinetic art in which a bird-shaped mechanical device runs in repetitive circles over white sand. Lee Jeong-woo made the winners' list for "A Written Film, A History to Be Written," a work that restored "Hurrah! For Freedom" (1946), Korea's first independent narrative film. The artist had AI revive scenes that were deleted due to political censorship at the time, based on the original script. On screen, scenes in which the bias of the algorithm imposed a comical "technical censorship" drew the attention of viewers.
Unfold X is a convergence arts support and presentation platform operated by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. The foundation discovers artists, supports production, and presents the work through a festival. It is a structure that connects discovery to presentation in a single flow. It has drawn attention as a virtuous-cycle system that supports and promotes emerging genres.
The most successful case is media artist Kim Ayoung. She became the first Korean to receive the "Golden Nica," the top prize at Ars Electronica, in 2023, for her "Delivery Dancer" series produced with support from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. Since winning, Kim Ayoung has been one of the most prominent figures on the world stage. Last year, she became the first Korean artist to win the "LG Guggenheim Award," and she held successful solo exhibitions at Germany's national modern art museum Hamburger Bahnhof and at MoMA PS1, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
In 2023, when Kim Ayoung won, the work of artist Sang Hee, presented at "Unfold X 2022," also received an Award of Distinction. In 2025, Hoonida Kim, who received support three times through the convergence arts support program, won an Honorary Mention.
This is the strength of K-convergence arts support, which has continued since 2010. The roots of Unfold X lie in the "Da Vinci Idea" competition, which began in 2010. It passed through "Da Vinci Creative" in 2014 before arriving at its current name. Held annually for 17 years, it has posed the theme of "art that inspires technology," led the growth of "K-media art," and established itself as a global convergence arts festival representing Korea.
This year's "Unfold X 2026" will be held from November 26 at Culture Station Seoul 284. Alain Thibault, a curator representing North American art and technology, serves as the artistic director. Twelve new domestic convergence art works and about 10 invited overseas artist teams will greet audiences. The "Seoul Convergence Arts Award" (tentative name), created to encourage the challenges undertaken by creators, is also set to be newly established this year. Song Hyung-jong, CEO of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, said, "This award achievement is a historic event that proves the standing of K-art," adding, "Based on the newly established 'Seoul Convergence Arts Award' (tentative name) and an advanced support system, we will successfully host 'Unfold X 2026,' which will showcase the works of world-class artists, and devote all our efforts to making an international leap and expanding our global network."
Meanwhile, the two winning teams will be officially invited to the Ars Electronica Festival 2026, held in Linz, Austria, in September.
