„The digital eclipse of the ego“ by Nigel Gavus & Fred P. Santos
The protagonist of the film rides for 20 seconds – doing a handstand on his skateboard – in the public space of Barcelona through a crowd of people who are so engrossed in their cell phones that they no longer perceive the real world. Nigel Gavus and Fred Plocque Santos want to encourage people to sharpen their own perception and appreciate public space as a place of encounter again.

The winners of the short film competition „20 Seconds for Art“ have been selected. The open competition, which has been organized in cooperation with INFOSCREEN since 2013, took place for the sixth time this year. A jury selected five films from 164 submissions, which will be shown alternately on INFOSCREEN screens every seven minutes in subway stations, streetcars and buses in Austria thorughout this summer.

Each time, the competition is dedicated to a current topic relating to public space. This time it was „Community 3.0. Public Space in the Digital Age“. Public space is a communal space, a place of constant negotiation in which different social ideas and needs clash and in which the boundaries between private and public spheres of life become blurred. These processes have long since spilled over into the digital, virtual space and from there are reflected back onto the materially tangible living space. So today we have to ask ourselves what opportunities, limits and risks digitalization holds for the public sphere and what changes it brings about. What can and could digital technologies contribute to the common good in the public sphere and what responsibility is associated with this? How do they influence social interaction and togetherness and possible participation now and in the future?

The selected short films will be broadcast alternately on more than 4,000 Infoscreens in subway stations, streetcars and buses in Vienna, Linz, Wels, Graz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz, Klagenfurt and Eisenstadt between July 8 and September 1, 2024.

Jury statement: In the form of an excerpt-like snapshot, the film deals with the fact that attention is becoming a scarce resource in the digital age. Even spectacular and unconventional actions have to compete with swiping, selfies and social media and are therefore barely noticed. “Fear of missing out” aspects are addressed, as is the obsession with mobile devices.

More Infos here: https://www.koer.or.at/en/projects/five-award-winning-short-films-20-seconds-for-art-2024/

Press: https://www.meinbezirk.at/graz/c-leute/kurzfilmpreis-fuer-grazer-kuenstler_a6778164