Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss

Monika Fleischmann[6] trained as a fashion designer in Zurich before working in radio and studying Visual Arts/Theater Pedagogy at the Berlin University of the Arts. Wolfgang Strauss[7] began his career as a carpenter and later studied architecture at the Berlin University of the Arts. They began their artistic journey in West Berlin in the 1980s, when the boundaries between reality and virtuality were beginning to blur. Inspired by the vibrant and dynamic atmosphere of the city as a hub of subcultures and artistic impulses, they set out to explore the interfaces between art, technology and society. Their early projects spanned multiple media, including architecture, urban space, photographic novels, collages, and audiovisual installations. During their first experiments with digital media, they found that their ideas can only be realized if art and computer science work together.[8]

In 1987, urban planning professor Edouard Bannwart[9] founded ArTec in Berlin, while neighboring artists and architects Fleischmann and Strauss founded ArtWork. Together they established research in the fields of art, architecture and digital media. In the same year, ART+COM was formed as the first independent research institute for art and digital technology in Germany. It became a legal association, ART+COM e.V., in 1988 after receiving approval from the Research Council of the City of Berlin for three long-term research projects: New Media in Urban Planning,[10] conceptualized by Edouard Bannwart and Visualization of Digital Medical Data by physicist Wolfgang Krueger, who came from Mental Images GmbH, and The Electronic House - Light and Acoustics as Comfort Criteria in Space, by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss as part of the design for the Hewlett Packard headquarters in Berlin (1988–91). These projects, which combined artistic and scientific elements, were supported by companies such as Telekom-Berkom, Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems.

Berlin-Cyber City (1989)

Fleischmann and Strauss's first digital interactive project that allowed audience participation, Berlin-Cyber City[11] (1989), was an example of an alternative virtual reality expression. The installation aimed to bring people from East and West Berlin together after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Using an interactive tabletop combined with a wall-sized projection, visitors engaged in a dialog while navigating a 3D digital model of the city. By blurring the lines between virtual and real space, the project immersed participants in a shared reality. Fleischmann and Strauss and the ART+COM team's inventive approach enabled a virtual environment that encouraged discourse and avoided the isolation of traditional VR.

Fleischmann and Strauss were fortunate to be appointed as visiting scientists at GMD – the German Research Center for Information Technology – and as fellows at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (KHM). As KHM fellows and with the newly founded GMD VisWiz (visual wizards) group, they have made significant advances in the artistic understanding of mixed reality, following on from their contributions to the field of virtual reality. Their vision is that the pure functionalism of technological research should always be undermined by cultural meaning. The VizWiz group, later renamed VMSD (Visualization and Media Systems Design),[12] is dedicated to visualization and the conception and design of interfaces addressing haptic and tactile perception.

These achievements led to the establishment of the MARS[13] Media Art Research Lab[14] as one of four departments of the new GMD Institute for Media Communication, which later became the Fraunhofer Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Fleischmann and Strauss secured European and national funding for more than 25 researchers and initiated or participated in projects such as eRENA (electronic arenas for art, culture, society), which invented tools for the art of tomorrow such as contactless interface technologies, or SONG; portals of the next generation, which developed 3D prototypes for multi-user environments; and other projects such as CAST (communication of art, science & technology), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, or the eCulture Factory project, funded by the Bremen Senate with EU funds. As part of eRENA, the lab created Murmuring Fields (1997–99), a sequel to Home of the Brain, but as voices on an MR stage.[15] A walk-in soundstage using camera tracking for performers to generate sound through movement.[16] They also developed electro-field sensing, which led to the MARS Bag (1998), a reflective handbag, and the patented PointScreen[17] (1997-2002), which allows non-contact body interaction based on human electrostatic energy.

Fleischmann and Strauss led the eCultureFactory[18] project (2005-2008) to explore the impact of digitization on public space. The project aimed to provide a platform for joint activities between the Art Academy and the University of Bremen in support of the inter-faculty course Digital Media. Through regular workshops, a network of start-ups was created in Bremen. The transfer of research results into business and the transfer of research results into education were underway. Notable achievements include Your-Story[19] (2006), a narrative game for mobile phones, and Virtual Book,[20] a digital knowledge framework. Clara and Rainer, a virtual couple of electronic reporters, discussed the digital book. It had search and retrieval functions for interactive reading, watching videos and listening to music. At the opening of the eCulture Factory exhibition4 at Neues Museum Weserburg[21] in 2006, art historian Söke Dinkla spoke of the need for more experimental laboratories for artistic research. Digital culture needs an open field of exploration, Dinkla reminded the audience.[22]

• 1988 „Kreisläufe - Stationen der Annäherung“, Reichstag, Berlin
• 1990 „Fleischmann & Strauss“, Werkbund-Galerie, Berlin
• 1991 „Corbusier Digital - die Ästhetik der Implosion“, Architektur-Forum, Zürich
• 1992 „A Vision of Virtuality“, Schloss Birlinghoven, St Augustin
• 1999 „Fidena, Figurentheater“, Kunstmuseum Bochum
• 2003 „Info-Jukebox - Make your choice“, MediaLab, Madrid, Spanien
• 2004 „Energie-Passagen“, Salvatorplatz, Literaturhaus München
• 2006 „Wissenskünste / eCulture Factory“, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen
• 2008 „Wissensarchive“, Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg
• 2011 „Performing Data - Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss“, Laznia - Centre for Contemporary Art, Danzig, Polen
• 2012 "Inter-Facing the Archive. The Media Art Portal netzspannung.org", ZKM Medialounge, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe

• 1992 Golden Nica for Interactive Art, Prix Ars Electronica, Austria: "Home of the Brain"
• 1993 Prix Pixel Ina of Imagina, Monte Carlo: "Home of the Brain" Video (nominated)
• 1993 Unesco Award, Paris: "Rigid Waves" (nominated)
• 1995 Sparky Award of Interactive Media Festival, Los Angeles: "Liquid Views" (nominated)
• 1996 Grand Prix for Artists in NRW/Germany: "Monika Fleischmann" (nominated)
• 2002 Grimme Online - Media Competence / Professional: "netzspannung.org" (nominated)
• 2002 Prix Ars Electronica - Net Vision/Net Excellence: "netzspannung.org" (nominated)
• 2002 Dieter Baacke Prize for media education for workshop : "I see, what you hear" (PhD MARS)
• 2002 Europrix Quality Seal: "Knowledge, Discovery and Culture for netzspannung.org"
• 2003 Grimme Online - Web Media: "netzspannung.org" (nominated)
• 2005 Grimme Online - Knowledge & Education: "netzspannung.org" (nominated)
• 2005 International Media Award for Art & Science of SWR and ZKM: "Semantic Map"
• 2005 Medida-Prix, audience award, Germany, Austria, Switzerland: "netzspannung.org"
• 2005 IF Award Communication Design: "Energie-Passagen"
• 2006 New Media Award of Stuttgarter Filmwinter: "Stadtkörper" (MA MARS)
• 2007 Deutschland – Land der Ideen: "eCulture Factory"
• 2007 ITK Innovation Award – Communication: "PointScreen"
• 2007 IF Award Communication Design: "Medienfluss" | "Media Flow" Installation
• 2007 Groundbreaking Products of 21 Century: awarded for "pioneering products of the future" by Nobel laureate Theodor Hänsch: "Semantic Map", "PointScreen", "Interactive Poster"
• 2009 Design Award of Federal Republic of Germany: "Medienfluss Installation" (nominated)
• 2010 Art of Engineering: "Medienfluss Browser" (Finalist)
• 2010 File Prix Lux, Electronic Language Festival, São Paulo: "Medienfluss Browser" (nominated)
• 2010 Deutschland – Land der Ideen, Landmark Winner: "netzspannung.org"
• 2013 Arte Laguna Prize - Venice, Italy: "Liquid Views" (Finalist)
• 2014 Visionary Pioneers of Media Art, Golden Nica, Prix Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria: Fleischmann & Strauss (nominated)
• 2017 Women Inventors Award, "Monika Fleischmann" is the only artist to be awarded the Women Inventors Prize by Edition-F, Berlin
• 2018 SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Art: "Monika Fleischmann", Vancouver SIGGRAPH advance program Award Winners 2018,

• 2007 US-Patent 7312788 PointScreen-Technology - Gesture-based input device for a user interface of a computer : ECCO.[23]

• Official website of Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss