Rui Penha was selected together with other four finalists (Diogo Evangelista, the group Musa Paradisíaca by Miguel Ferrão and Eduardo Guerra, Tatiana Macedo and Patrícia Portela) from a total of 174 applications. “I am very pleased to be among the finalists, especially if we consider that the selection process was based on a set of previous works, which means that they made an assessment of my aesthetic perception over the years”, the researcher states. The researcher has recently worked on the development of set of free, open source and modular software tools for sound spatialisation.

Each one of the finalists will be receiving five thousand euros to produce work to be presented between November 2015 and January 2016 in a collective exhibition at the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado (MNAC-MC, Contemporary Art Museum), in Lisbon. The researcher reveals that he already has a plan for what he is going to develop, but it’s still a secret. “I’ll use this opportunity to develop an idea that’s been on my mind four a couple of years. But it’s too soon to tell!”, he confirmed.

After the exhibition, in December 2015the panel of judges will choose the winner, who will receive 40 thousand euros.

Composer and interpreter of electroacoustic music, Rui Penha is deeply interested in music technology, software development and in the development of new interfaces for musical expression. He was the founder and curator of Digitópia - Platform for the Development of Digital Music Communities, a project that involved the Casa da Música (concert hall), INESC TEC, the School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE) and Católica University (UCP).

The Sonae Media Art Award is promoted by Sonae and Museu do Chiado, in Lisboa. This initiative is part of Sonae’s corporate responsibility policy, where the goal is to promote creativity and innovation, stimulate new trends and bring society closer to art, namely through important cultural events that will enable improved personal and collective development experiences.

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this article are associated with the following partner institutions: FEUP.

INESC TEC, December 2014