The Content Vienna competition has been promoting creative digital projects since 2009. In 2024, the focus was on artificial intelligence, interactive technologies and digital art.

Five projects were awarded a Production Grant worth €10,000. Two projects won the Digital Literacy Special Prize, worth €5,000. Three projects received the Women’s Bonus. Finally, in collaboration with WKO Aussenwirtschaft – Creative Industries, five projects were awarded the South by Southwest Special Prize, which pays for a trip to the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

Lucy Dreams is a Viennese sonic wave art pop trio that brings together human creativity and virtual intelligence with AI-generated band member Lucy. Lucy is more than a tool – she writes songs, performs and adds interactive, audiovisual elements to the band. The aim is to offer low-threshold access to AI and an insight into its impact on the future. The brains behind Lucy Dreams are David Reiterer and Stephan Paulitsch, who applied their expertise in music production and digital art for this project.

In her Serum project, renowned designer Flora Miranda Seierl combines digital art, performance and fashion to create an interactive experience. Users produce digital designs on a specially created website. Seierl then fashions these into clothing to be showcased in live performances. Her work blurs the boundaries between the roles of user, designer and customer. She uses technologies such as 3D scanning, laser cutting and machine learning to reinvent the world of fashion.

In A Plume of Dust, Viennese media artist and filmmaker Michael Poetschko combines real and virtual film sets to create a climate fiction meditation on loss, hope and art. The central question is “How can we live on a wounded planet?” Poetschko opens up new aesthetic and narrative possibilities using technologies like LED walls and game design software. The planned 4K video installation is being developed in collaboration with an Austrian virtual production studio and will be exhibited internationally.

In the prototype of the Building Stories game, players explore a house and find out about its inhabitants in order to unravel secrets. The game plays on a 24-hour loop, with changing objects and conditions constantly creating new stories and perspectives. The chamber-style computer game features impressive 3D art design, realistic renderings and dynamic lighting. It is being developed for the PC and offers potential for mixed and virtual reality platforms.

Architect, designer and AI researcher Simon Hirtz is working on the Kaleido project, which offers advanced AI diffusion models for precise text-to-image generation. Users can simulate and customise entire processes to achieve specific results. The project optimises creative processes through transparent technologies and the sustainable use of resources.

Viennese indie studio Bandaloop Games received the Digital Literacy Special Prize for Orange Cat. This educational game teaches young people to identify errors in AI-generated images and fosters a critical approach to digital content. Orange Cat is provided free of charge via a website and is suitable for school lessons and individual training.

The Independo Maps app won Digital Literacy Special Prize. It assists people with learning and reading difficulties using an algorithm that converts text into symbols and vice versa. The app thus allows users to search independently and navigate without any knowledge of text.

The team from SOAP (Some Online Architecture Practice) are heading to the South by Southwest festival with their V-Real project, which explores changes in domestic lifestyles in the context of technology, intimacy and voyeurism. In the interactive VR experience, viewers are invited to engage in critical dialogue about private data and the commercialisation of living space.

Between Worlds is one of the five projects awarded the Content Vienna South by Southwest Special Prize. Curator and media artist Brooklyn J. Pakathi is putting together an interactive online exhibition that presents the works and stories of PoC artists from the Global South. The project combines indigenous knowledge systems with modern technology and provides a platform for cultural exchange and artistic innovation.

Content Vienna 2024 – Production Grants:

• Lucy Dreams: SonicWaveArtPop by Lucy Dreams
• Serum by Flora Miranda Seierl
• A Plume of Dust by Michael Poetschko
• Building Stories by Tobias Riepl/decorated shed and Felix Bohatsch (Broken Rules)
• Kaleido (Atmospherical-Checkpoint-Generation) by Simon Hirtz

Digital Literacy Special Prizes 2024: 

• ORANGE CAT by Bandaloop/Gerhard Handler and Mina Leitich
• Independo Maps – Navigation for Everyone by Independo/Julia Kruselburger

Content Vienna Connecting South by Southwest Special Prize 2024:

• Lucy Dreams: SonicWaveArtPop by Lucy Dreams
• Serum by Flora Miranda Seierl
• A Plume of Dust by Michael Poetschko
• V-REAL by SOAP/Bettina Katja Lange and Sebastian Uwe Brunner
• Between Worlds by Brooklyn J. Pakathi