This week I was back in London for a Samsung sponsored event at the BFI on London's South Bank. The Samsung Art+ Prize is the UK's first ever prize for new media art. A shortlist of 10 emerging and established contemporary artists has been selected by a panel of curators from leading arts organisations for a two-week exhibition.

The prize aims to highlight artists who reveal the ways technologies can touch our lives. All of the selected artists must be a citizen of, educated in or currently residing in the UK and they have been nominated for work they have created in the past three years. The shortlisted artists selected are: Neil Cummings, Doug Fishbone, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Torsten Lauschmann, Lucky PDF, Aura Satz, Hiraki Sawa, Semiconductor, Erika Tan and Thomson and Craighead. 

I will be back on 25 January 2012 where prizes will be awarded by a panel of judges to exhibiting artists, including a £10,000 first prize, a £5,000 second prize and an audience award selected by the public via the Samsung Art + Prize website.

The light in the Project Room was a real issue as it was practically pitch black in there save for small emissions from the screens of the various wall mounted Samsung Galaxy Tabs so it was necessary to try to use this in any way that I could as any sort of flash in there was not really an option. If you take a look at the couple and the lady looking at these screens below then it will show the tiny traces of light that I had to work with.

I personally liked the Spiral Sound Coil by Aura Satz for which I will include an image below...best of luck though to all the nominees.