Monika Fleischmann


Most Recent Affiliation(s):


  • Institute for Media Communication and GMD Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik, Artist-Researcher

ISEA Bio(s) Available:


  • ISEA2023

    Monika Fleischmann (*1950 in Karlsruhe) and Wolfgang Strauss (*1951 near Nuremberg) are a German artist duo who have been working with digital media as a combination of art and technology since the mid-1980s. They founded their ARTWORK studio in 1987 and co-founded the ART+COM Institute for interdisciplinary research in Berlin; established the MARS – Media Art & Research Studies Lab at GMD Institute for Media Communication and Fraunhofer Institute for AI and Robotics. Their pioneering work began with “Berlin-Cyber City” (1989) and working with maps of the city as part of the research project “New Media in Urban Space” was the impetus for further ART+COM projects, that led to the dispute with Google Earth depicted (not entirely accurate) in the Netflix series “The Billion Dollar Code”. They have received numerous awards for their pioneering work, including the Golden Nica of Ars Electronica (1992) and the SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Art (2018). Their focus is on the “Virtual Denkraum” and the power of images in shaping our perception of the world, with a specific interest on ‘performative interface’ as a tool for knowledge discovery and creation through interactivity.

    ISEA2022

    Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss are pioneers of media art and virtual reality.  In 1987, they were co-founders of ART + COM in Berlin (The Billion Dollar Code). In 1996 they founded the MARS – Exploratory Media Lab (Media Arts Research Studies), and in 2005 the eCulture Factory at the Fraunhofer Research Association. Their awards include patents, the Ars Electronica Golden Nica (1992) and the SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Art (2018).

    Early work includes “Berlin-Cyber City” (1989), in which Fleischmann and Strauss memorialize aspects of Berlin’s history while imagining the city’s possible futures, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. A subsequent cartographically informed project “Semantic Map” (2001-04) traces neural networks, foretelling a method of data analysis now standard in artificial intelligence. In “Home of the Brain” (1989-1991), participants are introduced to virtual reality, while the iconic “Liquid Views” (1992) anticipates the selfie moment.

    ISEA1997

    Monika Fleischmann is a research artist and Head of Media Art Research & Studies (MARS) at GMD’s Institute for Media Communication. In 1988 she was co-founder of Art+Com, Berlin. Her multidiscipline background (fashion, design, art and drama, computer graphics) made her an expert in the world of art, computer science and media technology. The work of Fleischmann and her partner Wolfgang Strauss was awarded in 1992 at Ars Electronica in Linz with the Golden Nita. She is a member of Goethe institute’s advisory board for MEDIA and in the advisory board for the EXPO2000 – the world exhibition in Hannover. She is engaged in program committees on international confer­ences and competitions like Cyberconf and Cyberstar. She was ART Chair of ACM Multimedia ’96,

Website:


Last Known Location:


  • Berlin, Germany

Art Jury Member: