Christl BAUR is the Head of the Ars Electronica Festival, where she leads as an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in the convergence of art and science. She has curated and co-produced a wide range of exhibitions and performances, notably including the exhibition “40 Years of Humanizing Technology – Art, Technology, and Society” in collaboration with CAFA and the Design Society in Shenzhen, China. Baur’s expertise extends to various fields, including video art, new media technologies, computer art, biotechnology, and interactive art and she teaches at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.
BAUR’s contributions are not limited to practical endeavors but also extend to academic publications. She has authored thought-provoking texts such as “Art with a Lifespan: Digital Technologies and the Preservation of Bio Art” and “Intersections of Media Art & the Art Market,” which have been featured in the Journal of Visual Art Practice. Furthermore, Baur’s expertise has made her a highly sought-after speaker, gracing prestigious conferences such as ISEA, TTT2020 Vienna, Montreal Digital Week, and Vienna Art Week with her insights. In addition, her contributions to the field of media art have been acknowledged through her participation in renowned international juries, including the NTU Global Digital Art Prize in Singapore, the Global Creative Technology Design Award, and she serves on the jury of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
JURY
SABINE HIMMELSBACH
Director, HEK (House of Electronic Arts)
Since 2012, Sabine HIMMELSBACH has been the director of HEK(House of Electronic Arts) in Basel. After studying art history in Munich, she worked for galleries in Munich and Vienna from 1993–1996 and later became project manager for exhibitions and conferences for the Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, Austria. In 1999 she became exhibition director at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. From 2005–2011 she was the artistic director of the Edith-Russ-House for Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany. In 2011 she curated “gateways: Art and Networked Culture” for the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn as part of the European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011 program. Her exhibitions at HEK in Basel include “Ryoji Ikeda”(2014), “Poetics and Politics of Data”(2015), “Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Preabsence”(2016), “unREAL”(2017), “Lynn Hershman Leeson: Anti-Bodies”, “Eco-Visionaries”(2018), “Entangled Realities. Living with Artificial Intelligence”(2019), “Making FASHION Sense” and “Real Feelings. Emotion and Technology”(2020), “Anne Dukhee Jordan”(2023), Collective Worldbuilding: Art in the Metaverse”(2023), “Exploring the Decentralized Web: Art on the Blockchain”(2023) and “Libby Heaney: Quantum Soup”(2024). In 2021 she realized the online exhibition and conference “Hybrid by Nature: Human.Machine.Interaction” in collaboration with Goethe-Instituts of East Asia. In 2022 she curated “Earthbound – In Dialoge” with Nature for the European Capital of Culture Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg. As a writer and lecturer, she is dedicated to topics related to media art and digital culture.
JURY
MARTIN HONZIK
CEO, Festival X
Martin HONZIK is an independent artist and since 2024 CCO from Festival X, Dubai(UAE), a young interdisciplinary Festival with a focus on Media Arts, Digital Culture and Digital Humanism. He has worked from 2001 to 2024 for Ars Electronica Linz in multiple Positions and Responsibilities. He joined Ars Electronica in 2001 as a Researcher and Artist at the Ars Electronica Futurelab with a focus on exhibition design, art in architecture, interface design, event design and project management. Since 2006, Martin HONZIK has been Managing Director of the Ars Electronica Festival, the Prix Ars Electronica, the Exhibitions in the Ars Electronica Center and Ars Electronica Export. He has been curating, co-curating and producing a considerable number of international Exhibitions in the context of Art, Science and Technology. Since 2021 he became CCO(Chief-Curatorial-Officer) of Ars Electronica Linz. Parallel to his Position as CEO at Festival X, he is Ars Electronica Ambassador. He studied visual experimental design at Linz Art University(graduated in 2001) and completed the master’s program in culture & media management at the University of Linz and ICCM Salzburg(graduated in 2003).
JURY
LEE Sook-Kyung
Director, The Whitworth, University of Manchester
Prof LEE Sook-Kyung is Director of the Whitworth at The University of Manchester. She was previously Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern, working in exhibitions, collection displays and acquisitions. She curated “Nam June Paik” at Tate Modern in 2019 with Rudolf FRIELING, which was on tour to Stedelijk Art Museum, Amsterdam, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, and National Gallery Singapore until early 2022. She has also curated several collection exhibitions and displays at Tate Modern, including “A Year in Art: Australia 1992”(2021-2023), “CAMP: From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf”(2019-2020) and “Xiao Lu and Niki de Saint Phalle”(2018-2019). She headed a major multi-year research initiative Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational at Tate Modern, overseeing its strategic vision and associated programming in relation to exhibitions and acquisitions.
LEE has been actively curating international art exhibitions beyond Tate. She was Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale in 2023, titled soft and weak like water, which explored themes of resistance, indigeneity, decoloniality and ecology. She also served as the Commissioner and Curator of the Korea Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, representing MOON Kyungwon and JEON Joonho. She worked with the artist Yuko MOHRI as Curator of the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.
JURY
RODERICK SCHROCK
Curator, Executive Director of Eyebeam
Roderick Schrock is an arts organizer and curator. As a non-profit leader, he specializes in building institutional capacity and conceives and implements programs that elevate artists’ works in society. As the executive director of Eyebeam, he guides its focus to realign societal relationships with emergent technologies. Additionally, he is the host of Informer, a podcast featuring conversations with artists, technologists, and thinkers.
He has been an active practitioner in the arts, living and working in Japan and continuing studies in the Netherlands. He has written extensively for anthologies, periodicals, and other publications. As a digital and sound artist, Schrock has been commissioned by Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, The Netherlands America Foundation, and Ostrava New Music Days, among others. He received an MFA from Mills College in Oakland.
He currently teaches in the Curatorial Practice MA Program at the School of Visual Arts and has taught at the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music(STEIM), California College of the Arts, and New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. He sits on the Netherlands America Foundation Cultural Committee, and was a founding board member of Art+Feminism. He regularly juries and nominates for national and international art awards.
NOMINATORS
MANUPORN LUENGARAM
RIZKI LAZUARDI
TAN HUI KOON
IRIS LONG
JOEL KWONG
RITIKA BISWAS
WU DAR-KUEN
DO TUONG LINH
LEONHARD BARTOLOMEUS
SUBASH THEBE LIMBU
SHWETAL A. PATEL
zzyw
exonemo
NOMINATORS
MANUPORN LUENGARAM
Manuporn Luengaram is a Bangkok-based curator and researcher with nearly three decades of experience in the regional art scene. Her extensive career includes co-curating the Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai 2023 and holding key roles at art institutions such as Dib Bangkok, the Jim Thompson Art Center, The Queen’s Gallery, and About Art Related Activities.
Manuporn formerly managed Arts Network Asia (ANA), a Singapore-based arts network and grant body dedicated to fostering cross-border collaboration and exchange within Asia. As a researcher, she co-edited the anthology of Southeast Asian Contemporary Art (Thai edition), published by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture (2015) and served on the editorial committee for National Gallery Singapore’s The Modern in Southeast Asian Art: A Reader (2023).
NOMINATORS
RIZKI LAZUARDI
Rizki Lazuardi works extensively with moving images and expanded cinema. His artistic practice often sheds light on the idea of institutional and state power embedded in images. Institutional archives and footage of tangible media have been frequently utilized in his films and installation. His latest exhibition and screening include Singapore Biennale Pure Intention 2025, Lingua Franca at Tokyo Art and Space Hongo and Beyond Provenance at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam. Apart from his studio practice, Lazuardi curates and advises programs for film festivals, among others, Berlinale Forum, Hamburg Short Films Festivals, and Image Forum Tokyo. He finished his postgrad in film at the HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg. Lazuardi lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia.
NOMINATORS
TAN HUI KOON
Tan Hui Koon is currently the chief senior curator of the National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Collection and Conservation Section. Since 2011 as an institution curator, her diverse curatorial practices included community art projects, National Collections Permanent Exhibitions, artist solo shows, SEA new media and contemporary exhibitions. She was one of the invited jurors for UOB Painting of the Year 2020. From 2022 to the present, she focuses on the National Collection acquisitions committee, preventive and curative conservation laboratory practice, research on National Cultural and Arts Properties safeguard policies and networks.
She obtained a Diploma in Visual and Digital Art from Limkokwing University, BA (Hon) in Fine Art from University Science Malaysia (USM) in 2007. Six-Month Conservation Training on Cultural Property (Diploma) from the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Ministry of Culture of India (2024–2025).
NOMINATORS
IRIS LONG
Iris Long is a writer and curator whose work explores the megastructures of science and technology in China and the psycho-geography of techno-science. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Advanced Practices Programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a 2022–2023 Berggruen Fellow, Swissnex Fellow, Fellow at the Royal Astronomical Society. Her curatorial projects span art, science, and technology. Her research has been presented internationally at institutions such as the Warburg Institute, UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, ISEA, ZKM and so on.
NOMINATORS
JOEL KWONG
Joel Kwong is an international media art curator and producer. She is the Programme Director for Microwave (www.microwavefest.net), an experienced practitioner in media arts & advertising for more than 18 years. She is also the founder of SIBYLS, a creative consultation & production company since 2018. She has been curating numerous media art projects, most recent projects include In the Time of Hope media art x mental wellness showcase 2026, HKDI Gallery presents Pluriversal Futures 2025–2026, Microwave 2025 annual edition Walk Through Walls, Arts Tech 4.0 the Light House, Through the lens of at Chengdu Art Museum 2024 etc. She has been given talks in various festivals and institutions, including SIGGRAPH Asia, Shenzhen Media Art Festival, ACT Festival in Gwangju, Korea, National University of Taiwan, the University of Electro-communications in Tokyo, FILMART, Entertainment EXPO in Hong Kong, etc.
NOMINATORS
RITIKA BISWAS
Ritika Biswas (b. 1995) is a curator, artistic researcher, and writer from Kolkata who lives and works nomadically. She works on and via ecological criticism, experimental kinships, necropolitics, and questions of justice. Along with artist collective Chander Haat, she will curate the next Bengal Biennale (2026–27).
Holding a Liberal Arts degree from Yale-NUS College and an MPhil in Film and Screen Studies from the University of Cambridge, Ritika was a curator at New Art Exchange Gallery (Nottingham, UK) from 2019–2021 and Artistic Director for the 2021 Sea Art Festival, Non-/Human Assemblages (Busan Biennale).
Selected recent exhibitions include —scape (Gallery 88 Mumbai), Spectres of Our Own Making (15th Gwangju Biennale), Nine Nodes of Non-Being (421 Arts Campus Abu Dhabi), the digital research platform Littoral Chronicle (2023–ongoing). She was the 2024 Curator-in-Residence at Fondation Fiminco, Paris and 2022 International Research Fellow at MMCA Seoul.
NOMINATORS
WU DAR-KUEN
He currently serves as Director of the Contemporary Art Platform and General Administration at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB). Previously, he was Director of Taipei Artist Village and Treasure Hill Artist Village, Founding Chairman of the Taiwan Art Space Alliance (TASA), and Chief Curator at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. His practice bridges art and social engagement, reflecting on Asian social conditions and exploring “art without borders” amid globalization and neoliberalism.
He has completed residencies at NIFCA (Finland, 2002), Location One and ISCP (New York, 2005–2006), Tokyo Wonder Site (2008), and Open Space Bae (Busan, 2009). In 2004, he received Asian Cultural Council grants and the Yageo Tech-Art Award. Notable curatorial projects include Republic without People (2011, Jury’s Special Prize, 10th Taishin Arts Award), Roppongi Crossing 2016 (Mori Art Museum), and recent exhibitions at C-LAB and international biennales.
NOMINATORS
DO TUONG LINH
Đỗ Tường Linh is an independent curator, researcher, and writer with academic training from VNUFA, SOAS (Alphawood Scholar), and Bard CCS (2025). Her work since 2005 spans the 12th Berlin Biennale and diverse exhibitions and collaborative art projects across Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Europe and beyond.
NOMINATORS
LEONHARD BARTOLOMEUS
Leonhard Bartolomeus (barto) is a curator at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM). After graduating, he joined ruangrupa (and later became part of Gudskul Ekosistem). Working with ruangrupa, he developed an interest in the intersection between art, education, and community engagement, which then influenced many of his curatorial projects, such as Kolektif Kurator Kampung (2017–2021), Kurikulab: Moving Class (2021, YCAM), The Flavour of Power (2022, YCAM), Speculative Library (2023, YCAM), Iida Kaido Kikitori Art Project (2024), Dance Floor as Study Room (2024, YCAM), PROJECT MRT: Natureless Solution (2025, YCAM), and Roppongi Crossing 2025 (2025, Mori Art Museum).
NOMINATORS
SUBASH THEBE LIMBU
Subash Thebe Limbu is a Yakthung (Limbu) artist from Yakthung Nation (Limbuwan), located in present-day eastern Nepal. He works with film, sound, music, and painting. His Yakthung name is ᤋᤠᤱᤛᤠᤱ Tangsang (Sky)
Drawing from socio-political issues, resistance and science/speculative fiction, his works engage the notion of time, climate change, and indigeneity through the critical lens of Adivasi Futurisms, a framework he has been developing over several years.
His recent projects, Ningwasum (2021) and Ladhamba Tayem; Future Continuous (2023), have been presented at major international platforms including Tate Modern (London), the Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane), and the Sharjah Biennale (Sharjah), among others.
Subash is a co-founding member of Yakthung Cho (Yakthung Art Society), and is currently based between Kathmandu (Newa-Tamsaling) and the United Kingdom.
NOMINATORS
SHWETAL A. PATEL
Shwetal A. Patel, PhD works at the intersection of visual art and interdisciplinary research. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he has played a central role in its development and, since 2015, has served as a consultant to the Kochi Biennale Foundation, focusing on international partnerships and programme development. In 2020, he completed a practice-based PhD at the Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton), examining how biennales are created and sustained. He has lectured at institutions including Zürich University of the Arts, Royal College of Art, and University of Exeter.
He is also a trustee of the Milton Keynes Museum, Kakar Centre for Psychoanalysis and Culture, and Coventry Biennial, and divides his time between the UK, Belgium, and India.
NOMINATORS
zzyw
zzyw, founded by Yang Wang and Zhenzhen Qi in New York in 2014, is a research and art initiative that serves as an umbrella name for both of their collaborative and individual projects. zzyw leverages critical technical practice and speculative inquiry to challenge hegemonic technological constructs. Through software prototypes, writing, and pedagogical initiatives, zzyw explores the cultural, political, ecological, and educational imprints of modern computing systems while envisioning alternative, more communal and ethical technical futures.
NOMINATORS
exonemo
exonemo is an artist duo formed by Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa in 1996. Active since the early Internet era and now based in New York, they traverse the boundaries between digital and analog, physical and informational realms. Their work explores the transformations of a networked society with sharp critical insight and humor. Recipients of the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica (2006) and Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Encouragement Prize (2021), they have gained international recognition, including an online exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2019) and a major solo show at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2020). They also organize “The Internet Yami-Ichi,” a flea market of internet culture held in over 30 cities worldwide.
