There were also various new devices in the selection of ‘Prix Ars Electronica’, the most authoritative media art award in the world. This is especially true in the selection of Golden Nica (grand prize) for Aphex Twin in the Digital Musics category and for Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux, in the .net category. (There are another categories such as Computer Animation/Visual Effects and Interactive Art, but I would like to focus on these two categories for their new devices.)

The name of the Computer Music category has been changed to Digital Musics in 1999. It was extended to all music and media using digital equipment from the fields of electronic music using computers. The first Golden Nica after this renewal was went to Richard James (aka. Aphex Twin) and Chris Cunningham. This was the first time that a music video won a Golden Nica.

The prize-winning video for the single ‘Come to Daddy‘ produced by Chris Cunningham is an indescribable work – children in the video have Richard James’s face. In their latest video ‘Windowlicker‘, a group of full-bosomed ladies in bikinis appear and they all have James’s face. There is no end to their video works as well and the techno noise of Aphex Twin. A Japanese drum musician, Ikue Mori, living in NY, won the Award of Distinction. Her specialization in drum machines and unique performances were highly recognized. The second Award of Distinction went to the Austrian record label "mego". There was a severe criticism of this sudden category change because the jury might have selected the awards neglecting to listen to more than 500 submissions.

In the meantime, this year’s most noteworthy prize-winner of ‘Prix Ars Electronica’ was Linus Torvalds. The founder of Linux won the Golden Nica in the .net category. It’s a controversial selection whether Linux is art or not, but the ‘open-source’ movement that was begun and developed from Linux is art, and Linux is one of the first products to come out of the Internet. From Ars Electronica’s goal of trying to discover a new technology and possibilities for the future, Linux was considered quite worthy of the Golden Nica. The Award of Distinction went to ‘Res Rocket‘, software that enables musicians to play together, anywhere in the world and in real time connected through the Internet.

On the special awards presentation TV program, Willi Henshall from Res Rocket himself was playing guitar at the studio. On the other hand, various sounds were collected from all over the world and they were mixed and tuned at another studio. The progress appeared on desktops in real time and realized the music collaboration across different continents. This Res Rocket is also freeware.

The second Award of Distinction went to ‘KEO‘, a project that collects messages and letters from all over the world. Those messages are burned on CD-ROMs and sent into orbit in a satellite that will return to earth in 50,000 years.