RestArt Reality Open Call Winners

For this edition of the CIFRA Award, dedicated to RestART Reality, we received 652 submissions from 514 artists worldwide. From this rich and diverse selection, seven winning works were selected: five recognised by the international jury, one chosen by the CIFRA community through the Audience Award and a Special Recognition from Art Center Nabi. Together, they reflect the complexity of our current visual culture: a world where images can be generated, identities performed, histories reconstructed, and reality itself continuously edited. ▫️George Drivas’ Biography of a Software was recognised for its haunting atmosphere, strong storytelling, and sharply constructed narrative. Moving between the language of speculative cinema and the anxieties of contemporary technology, the work offers a cogent and unsettling reflection on artificial intelligence, subjectivity, and the systems that shape human experience. ▫️Maren Dagny Juell’s Community Guidelines was selected for its precise execution and compelling cinematic structure. Centred around an AI-generated main character, the work uses the familiar language of platform moderation and digital behaviour to open up larger questions around control, performance, and the emotional logic of online spaces. ▫️Mihai Grecu’s work stood out for its political imagination and its particular resonance in the present moment. The jury noted the strength of the work’s vision and its ability to bring together image, atmosphere, and critical reflection in a way that feels both timely and expansive. ▫️Yushien’s Aria was recognised for its beautifully made sci-fi narrative. The work follows a female AI bot towards a final confession, opening questions around artificial consciousness, gendered identity, memory, and emotional agency. ▫️Sheung Yiu’s It’s a Face-Eat-Face World was selected for its effective and intelligent approach to a concept that feels increasingly familiar, yet remains urgent. Through sharp execution and remarkable storytelling, the work reflects on facial recognition, digital visibility, and the ways in which identity is captured, consumed, and circulated through contemporary image systems. ▫️Alongside the jury-selected winners, we are also delighted to celebrate Proof of Salawaki by Salawaki. This video journey in pursuit of the artist’s own digital double resonated most strongly with CIFRA’s audience, earning the highest number of votes in our first-ever Audience Award. ▫️ In addition to the five jury-selected winners, Malpractice’s Don’t Be Such an Image received a Special Recognition from Art Center Nabi. The recognition was proposed during the jury process by Soh Yeong Roh, Director of Art Center Nabi, who described the work as ❝thoughtfully conceived, well-executed poetry that is very fitting in this machine age; seemingly cybernetic, but all very human at the core. This work points to a New Humanity that is coming.❞ We warmly thank everyone who submitted work, watched, voted, and took part in this edition of the CIFRA Award. Your engagement is what allows the Award to become not only a selection process, but also a shared space for discovering, discussing, and supporting digital and media art today.