Gargnano, Lombardy, Italy
Pioneer of interactive media and digital art, co-founder of ART+COM (The Billion Dollar Code @Netflix) in Berlin, the MARS Lab at GMD - the German National Research Center for IT, and the eCulture Factory at Fraunhofer AI. Her artwork explores how technology influences perception, memory, and knowledge. A pioneer of immersive systems, she combines imagination and logic by exploring algorithmic design and generative tools. She created Netzspannung.org, a transdisciplinary online platform connecting art, science, and the public sphere. Her iconic works, such as Energy Passages, offer new ways to interact with and reflect on the age of AI. These have been exhibited at renowned venues including the Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, the ICC Tokyo, the ZKM Karlsruhe, and the Haus der Kunst in Munich. She is currently working with her partner, Wolfgang Strauss, on a philosophical AI model. The aim is to revive the discursive spirit of Home of the Brain, the world's first VR artwork, created in 1990 with the aid of a dataglove and goggles. The model links early digital utopias with contemporary challenges in cognition, ethics, and machine culture. Examples of their collaborative work can be found in the ZKM Collection in Karlsruhe. Her honours include the Golden Nica for Interactive Art (Ars Electronica, 1992), the SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), the Women Inventor Award (2017) and the eCulture Award (2023). She was inducted into the AWE XR Hall of Fame in 2024 and was granted a US patent for the gesture-based PointScreen interface in 2007. 🔗 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monika_Fleischmann 🔗 de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleischmann_%26_Strauss MEDIA ART LAB FOUNDATIONS 1987–1992: Deputy Chairwoman & Artistic Director, ART+COM, Berlin 1990–present: Co-founder of Le Corbusier Unité d’Habitation - La Première Rue, Briey 1993–1996: Head of VisWiz, VMSD, VE 1997–2014: Head of MARS Lab @GMD, 2006–2008: Head of eCulture Factory @Fraunhofer IAIS, Bremen 2015–present: Designing the Thinking Space at fleischmann-strauss.de and ZKM. AWARDS (some) 1992 Golden Nica, Prix Ars Electronica, Interactive Art bit.ly/statement-jury 2007 Patent PointScreen patent 2014 Visionary Pioneer Ars Electronica, History Summit bit.ly/4a4nSdR 2017 Women Inventors Award bit.ly/2s44AQ1, bit.ly/2tPmmHV 2018 ACM SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art & Academy Member 2023 eCulture Award / Anilla Cultural Montevideo, Uruguay 2024 AWE XR Hall of Fame
Liquid Views – the virtual mirror of Narcissus | Digital Water Games | ZKM_Foyer until 4 Sept 2016 http://zkm.de/en/event/2016/07/digital-water-games Liquid Views by Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss, is a simulation of water in which the viewer’s reflection is portrayed as in real water. A finger tip on the touch-sensitive screen releases waves and causes the self-portrait to dissolve. The interactive installation translates the parable of Narcissus in a visual and intellectual reflection of the relation of image and effigy. A horizontal screen shows the simulation of a blue shimmering water surface on which the viewers see their own reflection. The artificial nature is steered by artificial intelligence. Accompanied by dripping and gurgling sounds the realistic appearance of simulated water draws the observer to touch the screen so that the image blurs. The more demanding the touch, the more the reflexion disappears. If the waves calm down, the virtual reflexion seems untouched. www.eculturefactory.de/liquid-views Performing Data|Monika Fleischmann+Wolfgang Strauss with texts by R.Kluszczyński, D.deKerckhove, L.Farulli http://fleischmann-strauss.de/resources/Performing_Data_09_2011_Monika_Fleischmann_Wolfgang_Strauss.pdf
eCulture Factory, a Cultural Laboratory for Interactive Media supported by ZKM, Karlsruhe is a project at University of Applied Science in Bremen. The start was funded 2005-07 by the Bremen Senate, the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE) and the Fraunhofer Society.
Designing experience with the Creation, Curation and Production of artworks, interactive environments, digital media, exhibitions and events such as Berlin, Cyber City, Home of the Brain, Liquid Views, Responsive Workbench, Virtual Balance, Murmuring Fields, Energy-Passages, Netzspannung.org, Digital Sparks, Memoria Futura, Cat - Communication of Art + Technology, eCulture Trends, Hypermedia Tele-Lectures .... etc. FLUX #2 INTERVIEW 2015 (en) by Alessandro Flux Violante with Monika Fleischmann + Wolfgang Strauss ... with references by / to Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Vilém Flusser, Joseph Weizenbaum, Marvin Minsky, Paul Virilio, Valie Export, Derrick de Kerckhove, Michael Joyce, Jean Cocteau, Laurie Anderson, Angela Merkel, Martin Heidegger, Mark B.N. Hansen, Bill Viola, Tilman Baumgaertel, Chris Csikszentmihalyi , Ludwig Wittgenstein, Passagenwerk - Walter Benjamin , Peter Matussek, Christiane Paul, Sherry Turkle, Itsuo Sakane, Gedichte von Ernst Jandl | Poems of Ernst Jandl, Oliver Grau, Peter Weibel, Theodor W. Haensch, Telecomix, Luca Farulli, Tokyo Hacker Space, Holger Schulze, Julia Stoschek, DAM, Nam Jun Paik, Amy Cappellazzo, Edward A. Shanken, Sarah Thornton ... and many others. http://fleischmann-strauss.de/resources/FLUX-Interview-with-Monika-Fleischmann-Wolfgang-Strauss-2015-by-Alessandro-Violante.pdf FLUX INTERVISTA 2015 (it) http://fluxproject.altervista.org/intervista-monika-fleischmann-wolfgang-strauss/ INTERVIEW NEUGIERIG DENKEN 2016 (de) von Mike Weisser mit Monika Fleischmann + Wolfgang Strauss http://fleischmann-strauss.de/resources/Fleischmann-Strauss-Pioniere-der-Medienkunst-Interview-Mike-Weisser-1Maerz-2016.pdf LINKS fleischmann-strauss.de/works fleischmann-strauss.de/publications fleischmann-strauss.de/exhibitions www.eculturefactory.de www.facebook.com/MonikaFleischmann.WolfgangStrauss
Advisor
Selection process of the research projects. Interviews with candidates.