Biographies




Robert Adrian (A), born 1935, Toronto. Lives since 1972 in Vienna. Artist working with many different media including painting, sculpture,model-making, installation, photography, radio, computer and, since 1979,with the theory and praxis of art & telecommunications.

Aka Tell (Markus Reindl) (A), born in 1979; since 2000, member of the artists’ collective Backlab (www.backlab.at); since 2001, student at the University of Art, Linz; 2003, founder of the temp~records label (www.temp-records.net).

a.s.a.p. (A): Linz artists’ collective founded in 2001 whose main focus is on live video projections and installations; initiator of the Linz video festival Debutnale.

Sam Auinger (A) was born in 1956. Since the early ‘80s, he has been intensively involved with questions of composition, computer music, sound design and psychoacoustics. He has done work for film, theater, radio, video, exhibitions and festivals in Europe and the US. Since 1989, he has repeatedly collaborated with Bruce Odland on sound installations, and since 1999 with composer and bassist Johannes Strobl (TamTamClub).

Vladimir Batagelj (SLO), born 1948, is a mathematician who works mainly in data analysis and discrete mathematics.

Laura Beloff (SF), Artist, lives and works in Oslo (N). http://saunalahti.fi/~off/

Erich Berger (A), Artist, lives and works in Oslo (N) http://randomseed.org/

Stewart Brand (USA) ist the president of The Long Now Foundation and a co founder of the All Species Inventory and the Long Bets Foundation while continuing as a consultant with Global Business Network, serving as a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute, and occasionally consulting for Ecotrust.

Jonah Brucker-Cohen (USA) works as a Research Fellow in the Human Connectedness Group at Media Lab Europe in Dublin, Ireland. He received a MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, NYC and worked there from 1999 to 2001 as an Interval Research Fellow creating interactive digital / networked projects.

Ludger Brümmer (D). Studying psychology and sociology in Dortmund and composition with Nicolaus A. Huber and Dirk Reith at the Institute for Computermusic und Electronic Media (ICEM) Essen. Visiting Scholar at Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University (1991–1993). Lecturer at the ICEM, Folkwang Hochschule Essen (1993-2000). Research Fellow at Kingston University (2000–2002). Currently director of the Institute for Music and Acoustics at the Centre for Arts and Media Karlsruhe.

Karin Bruns (D / A), germanist, film scholar, professor for media theory at the Art University Linz.

France Cadet (F), born 1971, is an artist whose work raises questions about the various aspects and debates of science: danger of possible accidents, observation of animal and human behaviour, artificialisation of life, side effects of cloning.

Jon Cambeul (UK) is part of a commercial and artistic group called something creating digital interactive applications and design concepts. http://www.somethingonline.org. He is involved with a Drama company
called Curam where he produces the Graphic Design and multimedia for their promotions. He also produces audio compositions.

Miguel Carvalhais (P). Designer, musician and lecturer of design at the University of Porto. Editor and founding member of the media label Cróica and collaborator in the audiovisual projects @c+Lia and [des]integracao, besides performing regularly with other musicians. Started revdesign.pt in 1997.

Dieter Daniels (D), born 1957, has been professor of art history and media theory at the Institute for Graphics and Book Art (HGB) in Leipzig since 1993. From 1991 94, he directed the installation of a mediatheque at the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. He has curated international media art projects and published numerous works on 20th century art. Since 2001, he has been working on setting up an Internet portal for media art.

Derrick de Kerckhove (CDN) is Director of the McLuhan Program in Culture & Technology and Professor in the Department of French at the University of Toronto. He worked with Marshall McLuhan for over ten years as translator, assistant and co-author. Derrick has offered connected intelligence workshops worldwide, and is a consultant in media, cultural interests, and related policies. He is part of the Canada-wide Media Watch research team and recently appeared before the CRTC Public Hearing Committee on the Information Highway.

Johannes Deutsch (A), born 1960, painter and media artist; studied at the University of Art and Design in Linz (1975–80) and did postgraduate work at the Institute for New Media at the Städel School in Frankfurt (1990–92); numerous one-man shows including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna (1992), the Bonn Art Museum and the Frankfurt Art Association (both in 1998); participant in exhibitions at the New Berlin Art Association (1994) and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne (1999 and 2000).

Gerhard Dirmoser (A) works in Linz as a systems analyst (specializing in geographical information systems) and has also been dealing with semantic networks for over 15 years. He has produced studies in network form having to do with cybernetic aesthetics, structuralism, French philosophy, art in context, terms of thinking, verbs, atmospheric concepts, design gestures, mapping issues, and the 25-year history of Ars Electronica. In collaboration with Josef Lehner, he conceived the SemaNet tool and, together with Grintec, developed the WiLa application module for the depiction of semantic networks.

Karel Dudesek (UK) is an ex-performance artist, TV activist, and Professor at the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, London. Dudesek became first known with *Minus Delta T*: Later Dudesek changed his artistic practise from the public area to the virtual.

Andreas Eberlein (D) studied physics in Karlsruhe and Berlin, later media art and philosophy at the Karlsruhe University of Design, where he set up the school’s video studio and its Department of Theory Design; 1997, founded the “aroma” graphics bureau and project space in Berlin; diverse live VJ appearances in Berlin; since 2002, collaboration (under the name MikoMikona) with Birgit Schneider on free-lance art projects in the field of sound & vision; since late 2003, live visuals (Super 8) with and for the band “Girls United.”

Ewald Elmecker aka DJ Elwood (A), born in 1972; student at the University of Art, Linz since 1998; together with different DJ collectives like KPSS (KAPU PIRATEN SOUND SYSTEM), DJ Elwood has given live appearances billed as Elwood Dalton and DJ SANCHO PANSEN.

francobelge design is a crew of two people: Alexandre Armand and Bram Dauw. One is French, the other Belgian and they produce a lot of design like video clips, editing, animation, 3D or interactive installations. The francobelge design philosophy is a new way of thinking, second degree, inventivity, simplicity, beauty and relevance. http://www.francobelgedesign.com

Masaki Fujihata (J), born 1956. Board member of Japan Animation Film Association, since 1987 Member of ASIFA, since 1990 Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Information at Keio University. Since 1998 Professor at Keio University, Faculty of Environmental Information; since 1999 Professor at National University of Fine Art and Music, Inter Media Art course. Masaki Fujihata was awarded among others a Golden Nica by the Prix Ars Electronica jury for his entry Global Interior Project in the category Interactive Art (1996).

Noriyuki Fujimura (J), born 1973, media artist / architect. Research Fellow, STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University.

Marcin Gajewski (PL), born 1981; has studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy of Art and Design, Rotterdam since 2001; 2004, exchange student at the University of Art, Linz; expos: Hyper Catalunia, MACBA, Barcelona, 2003; Witte de With Festival, Rotterdam, 2004; TV-25, Kunstraum Goethestrasse, Linz; solo exhibitions: Szu Szu Gallery, Warsaw, 2003; Het Plafond Guus Vreeburg, Rotterdam, 2004.

John Gerrard (IRL), born 1974, is an artist whose varied works investigates the emotional possibilities of digital technologies. He is Siemens Artist in Residence to the Ars Electronica Futurelab (2004). He received a BFA (Sculpture) from the Ruskin School of Oxford University in 1997, an MFA (Art and Technology) from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000 and an MSc (Multimedia) from Trinity College Dublin in 2001. http://www.johngerrard.net

Seppo Gründler (A), born 1956; since 1986, improvisator, musical, computer and communications artist. Work(s) for and with Ernst M. Binder, Peter Böhm, Lisa D., Gunter Falk, Heiner Goebbels, Peter Herbert , Josef Klammer, Martin Kusej, Klaus Lang, Elisabeth Schimana, Burghard Stangl, Karl Stocker and Corinne Schweitzer. Member of the staff of the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics; teaching activities at the Donau University in Krems, FH-Joanneum in Graz. http://gruendler.mur.at

Heidi Grundmann (A) is an art critic and cultural affairs editor at Radio Ö1, the cultural station of the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company. In 1987, she launched Kunstradio—Radiokunst, a radio art program she produced until 1998. She has been involved in the development and realization of innovative telematic radio art projects and has curated international events, symposia and exhibitions. Her publications include “Art+Telecommunication” (1984), “Transit 1” and “Transit 2” (1993), “On the Air” (1993), “Zeitgleich” (1994) and “Sound Drifting” (1999).

Jefferson Y. Han (USA), Senior Research Scientist, Media Research Lab, Center for Advanced Technologies, New York University.

Wolfgang Hauer (A), born 1977; since 1998: graphics and illustration; 2001: studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles; 2004: graduated from the University of Art, Linz; selected experimental projects: Within the Scope of Linz, animated video with Clemens Mock (2003); animation for presentation video SPIN with Doris Prlic; Gesangverein, animated video about the Wartberg Chorale Society.

Kurt Hentschlager (A), born 1960. 1980-1986 studies Architecture and Visual Media Design in Vienna. 1984-1989: Kinetic and interactive machine sculptures, found footage video dissections, 2D computer animation. 1989-1992: Video-, sound installations, ads, interactive television and member of Viennese media collective “Pyramedia”. 1993-2003: Media performances and installations together with Ulf Langheinrich, as “Granular-Synthesis”; represented Austria at the 2001 Venice Biennial. 2001-04: Computer controlled light works / animated architecture. http://www.hentschlager.info

Martine Hermsen (NL), born 1974, graduated from the Haagse Hogeschool with a degree in Industrial Design Engineering, and subsequently gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Printing and Publishing at the London College of Printing, and an MA in Interactive Digital Media at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication.

“Horace” (Bernd Oppl) (A); born in 1980; student at the University of Art, Linz since 1998; member of the artists’ group a.s.a.p.; various exhibitions and screenings: videoex 2003 Switzerland; home stories at Filmcasino Vienna; Telemotion (a.s.a.p.) at Steirischer Herbst 2002

Naut Humon (USA) is the director of Recombinant Media Labs and Asphodel Records in San Francisco, California. As curator and composer he has participated in the operations of many performance exhibitions and festivals including the Digital Musics category at Ars Electronica. As designer and organizer he has helped orchestrate the research and development for the Surround Traffic Control sonic cinematic AV system utilized in spatial projection arrays.

Hiroshi Ishii (USA) is a tenured Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, at the MIT Media Lab. He joined the MIT Media Laboratory in October 1995, and founded the Tangible Media Group to pursue a new vision of Human Computer Interaction (HCI): “Tangible Bits.” He received B. E. degree in electronic engineering, M. E. and Ph. D. degrees in computer engineering from Hokkaido University, Japan, in 1978, 1980 and 1992, respectively.

Joichi Ito (J) is the founder and CEO of “Neoteny,” venture capital firm focused on personal communications and enabling technologies. He has created numerous Internet companies including ”PSINet Japan,” ”Digital Garage” and “Infoseek Japan.” In 2001 the World Economic Forum chose him as one of the 100 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" for 2002. He recently joined the board of “Creative Commons,” a non-profit devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others to build upon and share.

Joko13 (A), born 1978; 1997-2004, studied communications in Salzburg and Vienna; 1999-2004, studied experimental visual design at the University of Art, Linz; since 2004, proprietor of the comatronic.net netlabel; live acts, DJing and exhibition activities in Linz, Graz, Vienna, etc.

KATHARINA BLEI. Members: Adnan Bal_inovi_ (1980): architecture student (Graz); Moke Klengel (1972): ekw14,90; program coordinator, Radio Helsinki (Graz); Stoffl Rath (1979): ekw14,90, actor, Theater am Neumarkt (Zurich); Malis Stöger (1978): ekw14,90; art student, Experimentelle (Linz); André Tschinder (1977): ekw14,90; art student, Experimentelle (Linz) http://ekw1490.mur.at

Harald Katzmair (A) is director at FAS.research (Austria) a non-university institute for social science research. He holds a degree in sociology and philosophy (University of Vienna). Since 1992 he is lecturer at various universities His main interests are Social Network Analysis, Complexity Theory and Ornithology. http://www.fas.at

Osman Khan (USA) is a media artist interested in using technology to construct engines that help create artifacts for social criticism and aesthetic expression. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University in New York, USA in 1995. He served as Creative Director for Elliance, a Web development company, until 2002. He is currently completing his MFA at UCLA’s Department of Design/Media Arts.

Noe Kozuma (UK) is a freelance graphic designer and artist. Since graduating from Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design in Tokyo, she had ten years of professional experience as a graphic designer. Working previously at ELLE Japan, she has been deeply engaged in the fashion industry. Currently studying in MA Interactive Digital Media at Ravensbourne College in London, UK.

Lothar Krempel (D) is a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne and lecturer (Privat Dozent) for Empirical Social Science Research at the University of Duisburg Essen, Germany. He has applied network visualization technologies in various domains, to diverse topics ranging from economic globalization to symbolic exchanges in simple societies and the analysis of large text corpora. http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/~lk/netvis.html

Andreas Kurz aka washer (D), born 1978; since 2000, musician and label executive (www.keplar.de); since 2002, study of experimental design at The University of Art, Linz; releases: radio magenta, tracks for alan smithee (keplar 001); radio magenta, I am sorry, i am & some other heartteaching stories, keplar 007, 2004; washer, zimmer & the guitar people, eat your friends, keplar 010); contributions to diverse samplers and remixes.

LeCielEstBleu (F) is a studio of new media art and design specializing in the creation of highly-interactive, original interfaces and applications. Behind the scenes, we rely on the poetic use of powerful development principles that are deeply indebted to and inspired by the physical laws of the natural world. These tools are all the more powerful as they fade into the background, giving way to a dynamic, poetic and highly interactive
experience.

Veronika Leiner (A), born in 1974, is the director of Radio FRO. She studied German language and literature and Romance languages and literature in Salzburg, Seville and Dublin, and has worked on social welfare projects, in the field of adult continuing education, and on cultural initiatives. She has been a program manager and project coordinator for Radio FRO since 2002, and is currently studying cultural and media management.

Golan Levin (USA) is an artist, engineer and composer interested in developing artifacts and events which explore supple new modes of interactive expression. He is known for the conception and creation of Dialtones (2001), a concert whose sounds are wholly performed through the carefully choreographed dialing and ringing of the audience's own mobile phones, and for The Secret Lives of Numbers (2002), an interactive online data visualization featured Levin is Assistant Professor of Electronic Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Lia (A) lives in Vienna. Graphic Programmer, working with the computer since 1995. Started the Turux.org project and later the re-move.org site, awarded the Net Excellence award of distinction at the Prix Art Electronica 2003. Currently develops web, art, video and performance projects, with the @c+Lia project and others. She is a founding member of the media label Cróica.

Zachary Lieberman (USA) is an artist, engineer and educator whose work explores the creative and human uses of technology. He produces installations, on-line works and concerts concerned with the themes of kinetic and gestural performance, interactive imaging and sound synthesis. Lieberman teaches courses in audiovisual synthesis and creative image processing at Parsons School of Design. http://www.thesystemis.com

Roger F. Malina (F). A space scientist and astronomer. Previous Director of the NASA EUVE Observatory at the University of California, Berkeley and previous director of the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille CNRS. Chairman of the Board of Leonardo / International Society for the Arts / Sciences and Technology in San Francisco and President of the sister Association Leonardo in Paris. Recent Books: Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy (ed. R. F. Malina and S. Bowyer), New York 1991. Astrophysics in the Extreme Ultraviolet (ed. S. Bowyer and R.F. Malina), Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Nederlands, 1996.

José-Carlos Mariátegui (PE), born 1975, is a scientist and media theorist. President of Alta Tecnología Andina (ATA). Founder of the International Festival of Video and Electronic Art in Lima (1998 – 2003). Coordinator of numerous expositions and symposiums in Peru. Currently he acts as a node of E-Tester project (www.e-tester.net), a platform of critical theory and practice on contemporary creation.

Stefan Marti (CH) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Speech Interface Group at the MIT Media Lab. He received his first M.S. in Special Psychology, Philosophy and Computer Science in 1993 from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and a second M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences in 1999 from MIT.

Nadja Maurer (D) studies Cultural Studies at the University of Hamburg, with special emphasis on cultural anthropology, media psychology, Law. Her interests are interdisciplinary research, code translation of transcultural phenomena, media structures of communication

Armin Medosch (D), studied German language and literature, philosophy and theater (direction); he has been a free-lance author and artist since 1985; in 1996, he co founded the online magazine Telepolis. He is working as a free-lance author, curator of new media and artist; contributed to “Demonstrating in the Virtual Republic,” book issued by the German Federal Office for Political Education; published Netzpiraten (Net Pirates) jointly with Janko Röttgers.

Christian Möller (D), born 1959, studied architecture at the College of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt and as a scholarship holder under Gustav Peichel at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 1990 he founded his own architect's office and media laboratory in Frankfurt . Since September 2001, he has joined the Department of Design | Media Arts at UCLA, Los Angeles, as a senior faculty.

Andrej Mrvar (SLO), 1992: B. Sc. in Computer Science at Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ljubljana (SLO). 1995: M. Sc. in Computer Science at Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ljubljana. 1999: Ph.D. in Computer Science at Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana. 1992 – 1996 Assistant of Statistics. 1996 – 2000 Assistant of Computer Science and Statistics. Since 2000 Assistant Professor of Social Science Informatics.

Michael Naimark (USA) is a media artist and researcher with over two decades of experience investigating “place representation.” He was instrumental in founding several research labs, including the MIT Media Lab, Atari Research, the Apple Multimedia Lab, and Interval Research. His art projects exhibit internationally and are in the permanent collections of the Exploratorium, the American Museum of the Moving Image, and the ZKM Center for Arts and Media. Michael was the 2002 recipient of the World Technology Award for the Arts.

Marnix de Nijs (NL) is originally a sculptor. The last couple of years he has been focussing on interactive experience generating machines. These machines are playing with the perception of control over image and sound and movement. This is often in a direct physical way where the visitors have to take place onto the installation. He collaborated with the Austrian collective Time’s Up on research at the effect of physical movement on the perception of image.

Klaus Obermaier (A). His numerous works include compositions, video art, intermedia projects, web projects, interactive installations and performances, computer music, CD-ROMs, radio plays etc.He has created and directed intermedia works for festivals like Ars Electronica, Linzer Klangwolke, intermedium / ZKM, Diagonale, Musikfest Bremen, Hoergaenge, Kenkeleba House NY, Singapore Arts Festival, Festival of Regions. He has collaborated with dancers of the Netherlands Dans Theater, Tanz Hotel, Chris Haring etc., and played and recorded with Ensemble Modern, Ornette Coleman, John Scofield, Peter Erskine and others.

Bruce Odland (USA) is a composer, performer, and audio artist whose major sonic installation works have earned him an international reputation. His credits include work for Laurie Anderson, Peter Sellars, JoAnn Akalaitis and his own Bruce Odland Big Band.

Josh On (NZ / USA) was born in New Zealand in 1972. He has a BA in Sociology and an MA in Computer Related Design from the Royal College of Art in London. He currently resides with his wife in San Francisco, where he works on creative projects with Futurefarmers, and is politically active.

W. Bradford Paley (USA) has been doing visual work on computers since 1973, creating visual displays of complex data for Wall Street since 1985, and has been recognized for contributions to the design and art worlds (e.g. at MoMA and the Whitney, by NYSCA and NYFA) since 1998. He practices in New York City and often teaches at Columbia University.

Joseph Paradiso (USA) joined the MIT Media Laboratory in 1994, where he is now an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences directing the Responsive Environments Group, His work has found application in areas such as interactive music systems, wearable computers, smart highways, and medical instrumentation. He is also serving as co-director of the Things That Think Consortium.

Martin Pichlmair (A); artist, lives and works in Vienna. http://attacksyour.net/pi/

Gert Pfurtscheller (A) received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria. He is a Professor of medical informatics, Director of the Institute of Human-Computer Interfaces, Graz University of Technology, and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Medical Informatics and Neuroinformatics. His research interests include functional brain topography using event-related desynchronization, the design of brain-computer communication systems, and navigation in virtual environments by a brain-computer interface.

Markus Michael Quarta (D), 2002 – 2004 Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication, London, MA Interactive Digital Media. He has been working as sound engineer, web designer, and art director for different companies.

Yasser Rashid (UK), MA Interactive Digital Media, Ravensbourne College, Kent; BA (HONS) 2:1, Cultural & Media Studies, University West of England – 1996 to 1999. He has been working as web designer /developer, director of Mute-Dialogue (2002 – 2003).

Revolver Dogz / Doris Prli_, born in 1984; since 2000, live appearances as Rap MC; since 2002, experimental design at the University of Art, Linz; releases: gold extra Vol. 2 – Pangea: “Was hier geschieht”; Subetage Records 08 – Dr. Azrael featuring Pangea: “Flächendeckend”; selected exhibitions: Galerie 5020; MAK-Nite; Quartier 21; Kunstverein Salzburg.

Stella Rollig (A). Author, art critic, curator and lecturer. 1994 – 1996: Austrian Federal curator for Fine Arts; founder of Depot—art and discussion space. 2000 – 2004 curator at O.K Center for Contemporary Art, Linz. Since May 2004 director of the Lentos Art Museum, Linz / A.

Kimiko Ryokai (USA) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. Kimiko received her B.A. in Linguistics and Psychology in 1997 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and her M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences in 1999 from MIT. Kimiko’s work has appeared in the proceedings of CSCL, CHI, SIGGRAPH, and IUI.

Itsuo Sakane, former president of IAMAS (International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences). Former professor in the Faculty of Environmental Information of Keio University, Shonan-Fujisawa Campus (1990-96). A critic and essayist on Art, Science and Technology. Former editorial staff writer for Asahi Shimbun newspaper, covering the fields of art, science, and technology for more than 30 years. Based on his experiences in these interrelated fields, he wrote many columns for journals and books, and organized many exhibitions.

Nagore Salaberria (E), MA Interactive Digital Media, works as web designer for earning a living. She is member of Something, a creative group set up in London. Nagore’s contribution to this group is the production of critical concepts related with technology and society.

Elisabeth Schimana (A) has been working as a performer, composer and radio artist since 1983. She studied electro-acoustics and experimental music at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Vienna) and musicology and ethnology at the University of Vienna. She leads the International Theremin Orchestra, which some years ago produced the CD Touchless. http://elise.at/about

Birgit Schneider (D) studied art history and media theory, philosophy and media art at the Karlsruhe University of Design and at Goldsmiths College in London; 1997, founded the “aroma” graphics agency and project space in Berlin; since 2000, member of the scholarly staff of the Technical Image Department of the Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology at the Humboldt University in Berlin; since 2002, public appearances as a member of mikomikona.

Gebhard Sengmüller (A). Since 1992, he has been developing projects and installations focussing on the history of electronic media, creating alternative ordering systems for media content and constructing autogenerative networks. His main project for the last few years has been VinylVideo™, a fake piece of media archeology. http://www.itsallartipromise.com

Stadtwerkstatt (A). Independent cultural association since 1979 and initiative for the incitement of critical confrontation with the conditions of life, for the encouragement of initiatives aimed at the “opening of free spaces" and for artistic and cultural development. Stadtwerkstatt is a communication platform for the regional and local cultural scene—on one hand, a stage for events: Do it yourself and Café Strom; on the other hand, headquarter of initiatives working on behalf of the democratisation of new media. Stadtwerkstatt has also continuously realized art projects involving new media or public spaces, many of them in cooperation with festivals like Ars Electronica or Festival of the Regions.

Gerfried Stocker, born 1964, media artist. In 1991, he founded x-space, an independent working group of artists and technicians specialized in the realization of interdisciplinary projects. In this framework, numerous installations, performances and exhibition projects have been carried out in the field of interaction, robotics and telecommunications. He has also been responsible for the conception and realization of various worldwide radio network projects. Since 1995, he has been artistic and managing director of the Ars Electronica Center and, since 1996, together with Christine Schöpf, artistic co-director of Ars Electronica Festival.

Cherry Sunkist (Karin Fisslthaler) (A); born in 1981; since 2000, student at the University of Art, Linz; member of the artists’ collective a.s.a.p.; various exhibitions and film screenings in Austria and abroad, including Zwischenörtliche Beziehungen, MAK Nite (a.s.a.p.); Vivian and Edward, video program, Diagonale Graz 2003; SNIFF—International Film Festival Novo Mesto (SLO); video installation Telemotion (a.s.a.p.), Steirischer Herbst 2002

Gloria Hwang Sutton (USA) received her MA in Art History from the University of California Los Angeles where she is currently a doctorial candidate. Her research focuses on the correlation between Conceptual Art practices of the 1960s and 1970s and new media art. Gloria is also a former Fellow in Critical Studies at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in New York and has been affliated with Rhizome.org since 1997.

Karo Szmit (PL), born in 1978 in Warsaw; since 1998, has studied experimental visual design at the University of Art, Linz; active in the fields of video, animated filmmaking, VJing; selected exhibitions & festivals: Madam I’m Adam (University of Art, Linz); nah & frisch (Galerie 5020, Salzburg): Videothek (Gallery of the City of Wels); participant at the Diagonale, Tricky Women (women’s animation festival) and Crossing Europe.

Parov Stelar / Marcus Füreder (A), College for Art & Design, University of Art and Media Design, Linz & Berlin; sound installations: Künstlerhaus Passage Vienna; MAK2 Vienna; discography: Raum … Musik, Frankfurt; Auris Records, Leipzig; Etage Noir Records, Linz, Temp Records, Vienna; Bushido Recordings, Linz.

Mintra Tansukhanunt (TH) MA Interactive Digital Media, Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, BEng in Telecommunication Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand (2000). Newly explored to the interactive art, her interest is mainly focused on screen-based and programming interactive arts.

The Bitles (A) is a formation that was yanked by their hair out of the primordial slime of the creative conceptual brew in 2004 for the realization and structuring of amorphous transitions of acoustic as well as optical signals—or: a trans-medial experiment; members: Martin Kollross, Bernd Oppl, Jakob Dietrich.
www.roboticslab.org, www.asap-lab.org

Time’s Up (A)—Laboratory for the construction of experimental situations. Founded in 1996, Time's Up has its principal locus in the Linz harbour of Austria. Time's Up produces situations that investigate the impact of these three factors upon the individual. They choose a form of situationist research, the reappropriated term pseudo/science is carried as a tocsin to those who expect dullard institutionalisation or foundationless fantasy.

Otto Leopold Tremetzberger (A), born in 1974; studied cultural and media management, theater and philosophy; cultural and media projects with an emphasis on regional development, marketing and organizational development; journalistic activities, literary publications and prizes; until 2004 mediator and chief executive of Radio FRO 105.0 MHz in Linz.

Sherry Turkle (USA) is Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. She is a licensed clinical psychologist, and author of Psychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud’s French Revolution (1978); The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (1984) and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (1995).
(http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/techself).

Edwin van der Heide (NL) is originally a composer / sonologist. He has been working extensively on the development of new instruments and interfaces for creating a new musical language. With the trio Sensorband (Edwin van der Heide, Zbigniew Karkowski en Atau Tanaka) he has been researching the possibilities of musical communication via the internet.

Paul Virilio (F) has been Professor of architecture at the Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris since 1968, and became its Director of Studies in 1973. The same year he was nominated director of the “L’Espace Critique” series by the publishers Galilée of Paris. In 1975 he became Director General of the Ecole Speciale d’Architecture and in 1989 Chairman of the Board. In 1989 he was nominated director of a teaching Programme at the College International de Philosophie in Paris. Publications include: Aesthetics of disappearance (1989); Popular Defense and Ecological Struggles, 1978; Politics of the Very Worst, 1999; A Landscape of Events, 2000; Crepuscular Dawn (2002).

Martin Wattenberg (USA) is a researcher at IBM whose work focuses on visual explorations of culturally significant data. Wattenberg is equally known for his scientific and applied work in the field of information visualization, and for his information-based digital artwork. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley, M.S. from Stanford University, and A.B. from Brown University.

Peter Weibel (A), Chairman and CEO of the Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany. A member of the Austrian media avant-garde in the late 1960s, he began with expanded cinema experiments. From 1969 onward, he produced works for television and complex video installations before turning, in the 1980s, to computer-based interactive installations followed, in the mid-1990s, by Net-based projects. Concurrently with his work as an artist, Peter Weibel has published numerous books and essays on the history and future of visual media, and since 1976 has lectured widely at universities and academies in Europe and the US.

Benjamin Weil (USA) is Curatorial Chair of Eyebeam, and media curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 1994, he co-founded áda ’web, the first digital foundry, supporting the production and online presentation of web projects. Prior to that, he was among the founding members of The Thing (1991), an interactive computer network that focuses on contemporary art and cultural theory.

Alena Williams (USA) is a Ph.D. candidate in 20th-Century art and theory in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University in New York. Her work focuses on the histories of technology and media in relation to modernism. In 2001 – 03, she was the Coordinator of the Rhizome ArtBase, an online archive of new media art. Currently, she is a researcher in residence at Bootlab, a non-profit media organization in Berlin, as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation German Chancellor Scholar.

Krzysztof Wodiczko (USA) is internationally renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. Since the late eighties, he has developed a series of nomadic instruments for both homeless and immigrant operators that function as implements for survival, communication, empowerment, and healing. He heads the Interrogative Design Group at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the MIT.

Jim Wood (UK), Ravensbourne College Of Design and Communication, UK. Technical Tutor, MA Interactive Digital Media. His works have been shown, at ICA, London, Ars Electronica Festival, Glass Gallery, London; XCOM 2002, London, among others

Ji-Won Yang (RK), born 1975, 1994 –1997: studied painting, BA at Chongju University, South Korea. Diploma of the Ecole supérieure des arts décoratifs, Strasbourg.