Monika Fleischmann,, is a pioneering German research artist, digital media scientist, and curator of new media art. She is one of the most relevant European women artist working in art, science, and technology. She founded and co-founded departments for interactive media art such as ART+COM in Berlin, the MARS – Exploratory Media Lab and the eCulture Factory within the largest German research institutions such as GMD and Fraunhofer Society. In 1992, together with her partner Wolfgang Strauss, she received the Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria for Home of the Brain, the first artistic Virtual Reality installation. She is the recipient of the 2018 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art and was elected to the SIGGRAPH Academy as a research artist that has contributed to the field of interactive media art since the 1980s to the present day. Since the mid-1980s she has been working collaboratively with the architect Wolfgang Strauss as an artist couple. As part of their research in New Media Art, Architecture, Interface Design and Art Theory, they focus on the concept of Mixed Reality, which connects the physical with the virtual world. In 2008 she was appointed Honorary Professor of Media Theory and Interactive Media Art for the cross-university course of studies for digital media at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Academy of Fine Arts and University of Bremen. Monika is Member of the MIMA ART Board at MIMA University | Munich Institute of Media and Musical Arts.
Education
In 1966–68, Monika studied fashion design at the Zürich Fashion School. From 1976 to 1982 she studied Visual Art/Aesthetic Education and Stage/Theater Pedagogy at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and at the Pädagogische Hochschule and at the Institute for Stage and Theater Pedagogy, Berlin. In 1984/86 she received the diploma for Visual Arts Teachers from today's UDK Berlin – Universität der Künste Berlin.
Awards/Honors
1992 Golden Nica in the Interactive Art category for "Home of the Brain" of the Prix Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria; 1993 Nominated for the UNESCO prize '92, Paris, France; 1995 Sparky Award in the Interactive Media Festival, Los Angeles, California; 1996 Main prize in the Female Artists in North Rhine-Westphalia; 1997 Recommendatory Prize in the "ARTEC '97," the 5th International Biennale in Nagoya, Japan for "Liquid Views"; 2000/01 TIME magazine ranks Monika Fleischmann among the People to Watch; 2002 the Fraunhofer IMK – MARS Exploratory Media Lab is internationally recognized as one of the leading 14 Art & Technology Labs; 2002–07 Member of the Supervisory Board of the Confederation of cultural events in Berlin GmbH ; 2003–06 Member of the board of directors of the Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication ; 2007 US-Patent for PointScreen – Theremin inspired touchless technology, that takes in advance new cognitive models and bio-sensory interfaces; 2007 The Interactive Poster, the Semantic Map and the PointScreen are among the "ground-breaking ideas that" change our lives. Presented in 100 Products of the Future by Nobel Laureate TW Hänsch, Econ, Berlin;
Major exhibitions
1987 "IFA – Internationale Funkausstellung," Deutsche Telekom, Berlin, Germany 1990 "Fleischmann – Strauss," Werkbund-Galerie, Berlin, Germany 1991 Architektur Forum, Zürich, Switzerland 1992 "Endo Nano – Ars Electronica," Linz 1993 "New Realities – Neue Wirklichkeiten II," Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich, Switzerland 1993 Liquid Waves in "Machine Culture – SIGGRAPH '93 Art Gallery," Anaheim, California 1994 "The Virtual Body – Revue Virtuelle," Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France 1995 "Interactive Media Festival," Los Angeles, California 1995 "La nuova Europa," Biennale Venice, Venice, Italy 1996 "Ich und Du," Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich, Switzerland 1997 "Deep Storage – Arsenale der Erinnerung," Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany 1997 "ARTEC '97" – The 5th International Biennale, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan 1998 Liquid Views – Rigid Waves in "SIGGRAPH '98 Art Gallery: Touchware," Orlando, Florida
Publications
Strauss, Wolfgang, Fleischmann, Monika, Denzinger, Jochen, Groenegress, Christoph, Li, Yinlin : Information Jukebox – A semi-public device for presenting multimedia information content. In Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7 pp. 217–220. Novak, Jasminko, Fleischmann, Monika, Strauss, Wolfgang, Wurst, Michael, Morik, Katharina, Kunz, Christoph, Ziegler, Jürgen : Verbindung heterogener Experten-Communities durch die Entdeckung, Visualisierung und Nutzb. In: Szwillus, Gerd, Ziegler, Jürgen Mensch and Computer 2003 September 7–10, 2003, Stuttgart, Germany. Fleischmann, Monika, Strauss, Wolfgang Proceedings of CAST01/Living in Mixed Realities, Conference on Artistic, Cultural and Scientific Aspects of Experimental Media Spaces 21-22. September 2001, Schloss Birlinghoven, Sankt Augustin, Germany. Fleischmann, Monika, Strauss, Wolfgang : Linking between real and virtual spaces: building the Mixed Reality stage environment. In: AUIC 2001 – 2nd Australasian User Interface Conference 29 January – 1 February 2001, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. pp. 29–33.
