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Team / Lecturers

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christa Sommerer is an internationally renowned media artist, researcher and pioneer of interactive art. She worked at the IAMAS Academy in Gifu, Japan, the ATR Research Labs in Kyoto, Japan, the MIT CAVS in Cambridge US and the NCSA in Champaign Urbana, IL, USA. In 2004 together with Laurent Mignonneau she set up the department for Interface Cultures in Linz, Austria. Sommerer has held visiting professor positions at CAFA Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, Tsukuba University and Aalborg University, Denmark. Together with Laurent Mignonneau she has created around 40 interactive artworks, shown in around 350 international exhibitions. They have received numerous awards.
interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Laurent Mignonneau is a French artist working in media arts since 1992. He has a background in experimental music performance, video art, electronics and programming stretching back to the early eighties. Together with Christa Sommerer, he has created numerous pioneering interactive artworks, winning major awards in the field of Media Arts and exhibiting worldwide. Mignonneau was an artist in residence at the Institute of New Media in Frankfurt, an artist at the NCSA in Illinois, USA, an artist and researcher at ATR in Japan, an associate professor at IAMAS in Japan and a visiting professor at Paris 8 University in Paris, France. He is a professor and co-founder of the Interface Cultures department.
interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent
Univ.-Prof. Mag.art Manuela Naveau PhD is an Austrian researcher and curator at Ars Electronica, where she developed the Ars Electronica Export department. She is the university professor for Critical Data at the Interface Cultures department. She has held teaching positions at the Paris Lodron University in Salzburg, the Technical University in Vienna and the Danube University Krems. Her book Crowd and Art - Kunst und Partizipation im Internet was published in 2017. It is based on her dissertation, for which she received the Award of Excellence from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy in 2016.
manuelanaveau.at
crowdandart.at
Univ.-Ass. Fabricio Lamoncha, MA is an artist, designer and researcher from Spain. He works as a technical assistant and lecturer at Interface Cultures. He is a member of the UCLA’s Art|Sci Center, and is also a regular instructor at the Sci|Art Lab+Studio summer program, Los Angeles. Since 2018 he has been pursuing his PhD at the Kunstuniversität Linz under the supervision of Prof. Christa Sommerer. His research and practice explore the entanglements of media ecology and bioethics. His work has been exhibited internationally and awarded with the Art and Artificial Life International Award Vida14.
fabriciolamoncha.com
Michaela Ortner has worked at the University of Art and Design Linz since 2008. Between 2008 and 2019 she focused as an university assistant for Interface Cultures on the exhibitions of the department. Afterwards she coordinated several international programs and events for the International Office of the University. Since the beginning of 2022 she is back as a Senior Artist at the Interface Cultures Department. Basis of all her work is a broader sense of welcome cultures. Her aim is to create a network between the international students and the local cultural collectives.
Univ.-Ass. Alexander Wöran, MA Univ.-Ass. Alexander Wöran, MA is an author and researcher. After studying molecular biology and comparative literature he went on to work at Ars Electronica where he was leading the editorial team for the festival and conceptualized exhibitions. He then became part of a project team at the Center for Image Science of University Krems, which focused its research on online media art archiving and developing new modes of interaction for the Archive of Digital Art (ADA). At Interface Cultures his aim is to help establishing the Critical Data Research Group, combine theory and research with artistic practice, and support students with their projects.

Lecturers

Gebhard Sengmüller is an artist working in the field of media technology. Based in Vienna, Austria, since 1992 he has developed projects and installations focussing on the deep background of electronic media, retroactively changing the timeline of media history, dissecting and recombining media technologies, and constructing autogenerative systems and networks. His work has been shown extensively in Europe, the Americas and Asia in venues such as Ars Electronica, Linz, the Venice Biennale, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Postmasters Gallery, NYC, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, the microwave Festival, Hong Kong and the InterCommunication Center, Tokyo.
gebseng.com
For three decades, media-artist, director, choreographer and composer Klaus Obermaier has been creating innovative works with new media in the performing arts, music and installation.
Klaus Obermaier is a visiting professor at the University IUAV, Venice (IT) and at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (RO), teaching interactive arts and performance. He taught as an adjunct professor for composition at the Webster University, Vienna and held courses for choreography and new media at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma. From 2016 to 2018 he was co-director of the Master for Advanced Interaction at IAAC (Institut for Advanced Architecture).
exile.at
César Escudero Andaluz is an artist focused on digital culture, interface criticism and the social and political effects of this. César’s research addresses issues such as dataveillance, algorithm governance, tactical interfaces and critical mining. His practice combines interfaces, electronics, interactive installations and robotics with critical design, media archaeology and the digital humanities. His artworks have been shown in international electronic-art events, museums and conferences including Ars Electronica, Linz (AT) / ZKM Center for Art and Media (DE) / WRO Media Art Biennale (PL) / Science Gallery, Detroit (US) / Hangar (ES) / Aksioma (SI) / Drugo more (HR) / Chronus Art Center (CN) / AMRO Art Meets Radical Openness (AT) / ISEA, International Symposium of Electronic Art.
escuderoandaluz.com
Dr. Daniel Hug, sound and interaction designer, explores the world of sound through art, design, theoretical investigation and applied research. He is co-director of the Sound Design master's program at Zurich University of the Arts, and an international lecturer in Sound Studies and Sound Design. With his practice-based and interdisciplinary research, Hug has had a significant impact on the field of sonic interaction design. As member of the steering committee of the Audio Mostly conference and founder of the sound design and consultancy company “Hear Me Interact!”, he connects academia and business. His current interests include sound design for health tech and exercise, sound design methodology and participatory sound design processes.
hearmeinteract.wordpress.com
Dr. Thomas Hoch is a key researcher at the Software Competence Center, Hagenberg, GmbH for data science. His PhD, from the Berlin Institute of Technology, focused on biologically inspired artificial neurons. He is now working on the development of concepts and methods that allow for a tight collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence. He has a strong interest in machine creativity and its reshaping of artistic practice.
Dr. Tiago Martins is a creative technologist working at the intersection of art, technology, interface design and game design. Coming from a background in Computer Science applied to interactive media research (FCT-UNL in Lisbon, Portugal), Tiago further expanded his perspectives by doing his PhD at Interface Cultures. Since then Tiago has worked and collaborated with individuals and institutions from all over the world in different environments: professional, educational, artistic, research and start-up. He has a passion for developing embodied user experiences with playful aspects using smart wearables, tangible interfaces and augmented reality.
Andreas Weixler (*1963, Graz, Austria) specialises in contemporary composition and computer music. He teaches as a lecturer at Interface Cultures, as an associate university professor and director of the Computer Music Studio at the Anton Bruckner Private University and as a senior lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. His prolific output of concepts, compositions and media works have been shown in conferences and exhibitions across Europe, Asia, North and South America.
avant.mur.at
Mika Satomi is a designer and artist working in the field of e-Textiles, Interaction Design and Physical Computing. Her work explores how we relate to technology and what we really want from it. She often collaborates with musicians and performers to create technology embedded costumes and interactive systems. Since 2006 Mika has collaborated with Hannah Perner-Wilson, forming the art collective duo KOBAKANT to create artistic projects in the field of e-Textiles and Wearable Technology Art. She is a co-author of the e-Textile online database How To Get What You Want. She currently lives and works in Berlin.
nerding.at
kobakant.at
howtogetwhatyouwant.at
Ricardo O’Nascimento is a fusionist designer, writer and lecturer working at the intersection of art, design, science and technology. He investigates body-environment relations focused on interface development for wearable devices, interactive installations and soft systems. He is interested in a multidisciplinary approach to create experiences that challenge and enhance human perception. He is the founder of POPKALAB, an experimental fashion-tech research studio specializing in prototype development. Currently he is a PhD candidate at Loughborough University (UK). He is investigating how we make sense of bodily sensations evoked by wearable haptic artefacts from a postphenomenological point of view.
onascimento.com
Michaela Ortner has worked at the University of Art and Design Linz since 2008. Having worked as University Assistant for Interface Cultures until 2019, she now coordinates several international programs of events for the International Office. She continues to work for IC, running a lecture series which focuses on a broader sense of welcome culture. Her aim is to create a network between the international students and the local cultural collectives. Due to her roles on the State Cultural Advisory Board and the Society of Cultural Policy for Upper Austria, Michaela is very well informed about local arts and cultural initiatives.
Julian Stadon is an artist, curator and academic, working in the fields of Augmentation Aesthetics, Embodied Bio-Digital Ecosystems and Post-Anthropocenic Design. Studying marine biology, fine arts and electronic art, Stadon’s research focuses on how art can generate better understandings of post-bio-digital convergence, identity and representation.
Stadon is the director of marart.org and TeleAgriCulture, has lectured in over twenty countries, teaching digital art, design, fashion and games - currently at the Kunstuniversität Linz and FH-Salzburg. He publishes, exhibits and performs regularly and is currently developing The Biome Buffet, a project at the intersection of sustainable agricultures and food production, using both traditional / indigenous and innovative technological approaches.
julianstadon.net
Sam Bunn is a Linz based British artist, independent scholar and educator, working between installation, performance and film. He studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Sheffield University, UK, before turning to art. Fine art studies at Sheffield Hallam and the Chelsea School of Art and Design, London prepared him for a series of residencies in mainland Europe where he developed an interest in playful interaction. He finished his masters at Interface Cultures in 2018. His current practice involves creating visions of positive, shared futures. Bunn teaches at the University of Art and Design and at the PHDL, Linz.
sambunn.net
Dr. Penesta Dika works as a freelance curator in Vienna, lectures at the University of Art and Design, Linz and at the University for Business and Technology, Prishtina (XK). The results of her scientific research into digital art, including various artworks that employ virtual reality, AI, and telerobotics have been published in international books, journals and conferences. She was invited to several collaborations with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which were published as artistic research. Dika is also the author of the book, Interactive Digital Art. Visual Motifs and their Meaning (Logos, Berlin 2017).
penestadika.at
For more than a decade, Roland Richter worked as a researcher in the fields of image processing and machine learning at Johannes Kepler University Linz. In addition to his background in mathematics, he learned to work with a number of programming languages including C, C++, Java, Python, Haskell and Prolog. Subsequently, Roland completed a second degree in education. He has been teaching mathematics, computer science and programming to students of all ages since 2015. He has been a lecturer at the Interface Cultures department since 2020.
Filipe Pais is a researcher, educator and curator living between London and Paris. He is particularly interested in the ways contemporary art and design movements interrogate and represent technological agendas, dealing with issues such as transparency, blackboxing, behaviour, play, dematerialization, flow, immersion, algorithmic governance, ecology and life after Google. He is currently a research associate at the Reflective Interaction Group from EnsadLab at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. He teaches in the fields of art, design and play at Noroff University, Norway, Parsons School of Design, Paris, the London College of Communication and the Royal College of Art, London.
filipepais.com
Hideaki Ogawa (JP / AT) is a creative catalyst, artist, educator, curator and researcher in the field of art, technology and society. He is currently a co-director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab as well as a director of Ars Electronica Japan.
His special research focus is in Art Thinking and he has conducted many innovative projects connecting art with science, industry and society. In addition to his artistic innovation research, Ogawa has realized international projects for festivals, such as export programs like Ars Electronica in the Knowledge Capital, School of the Future with Tokyo Midtown and the Ars Electronica Center Linz. He is also a representative and artistic director of the media artist group h.o. He searches for witty new ideas based on current social contexts, and creates artistic expression with the speed of technological progress.
howeb.org
Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an artist and professor at the UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci center at the School of the Arts and California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI). With her installations she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and how perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD, University of Wales, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano-scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists and she brings this experience to her students. She is the North American editor of AI & Society. In 2007 she published an edited volume, Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow and another in 2011, Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts.
victoriavesna.com