Maurice Benayoun
Maurice Benayoun is a transmedia artist born in 1957, living in Paris, France. His work explores the potentiality of various media, from video to virtual reality, Web and wireless art, large-scale art installations in public spaces and interactive exhibitions. Maurice Benayoun's work has been widely exhibited all over the world and has received numerous international awards and prizes.

Maurice Benayoun co-founded Z-A, a pioneer computer graphics and VR lab dedicated to media creation, in 1987 and between 1990 and 1993 he co-wrote, with François Schuiten, and directed The Quarxs, the visionary first HDTV CG series which was widely acclaimed and broadcast in more than 15 countries. In 1993 he was awarded the Villa Medicis Hors Les Murs grant from the Foreign Ministry for his project Art After Museum, a contemporary art collection in virtual reality. Following this he created a series of virtual reality, web art and interactive art installations including the Tunnel under the Atlantic (1995), a tele-virtual project linking the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal. In 1998, he won the Golden Nica, Prix Ars Electronica, Interactive Art category for World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War. Both works are considered milestones in the field of interactive art. Benayoun has been a guest artist at the ZKM, Karlsruhe; Ars Electronica Center, Linz; ICC, Tokyo; Art Center Nabi, Seoul; and National School of Fine Arts, Paris. He has been a professor of media art at the University Paris1, Pantheon-Sorbonne, and is co-founder and co-director of the research center Création Interactive Transdisciplinaire Universitaire (CITU).

His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in museums and events around the world including:Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon, Montreal; Kiasma Museum, Helsinky; Inter-Communication Center (ICC), Tokyo; Art Center Nabi, Seoul; Uiijeaongbu Art Center, Korea; ZKM, Karlsruhe; , Ars Electronica Center, Linz , Siggraph Art Show Orlando, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Maurice Benayoun has received many major awards and prizes for his work.

In addition to his art work, Maurice Benayoun has participated in many major exhibitions, large scale events, and architecture projects for the conception and direction of interactive museography projects. He has participated in The Navigation Room, New Image New Networks (1997) and the Membrane, Human Transformed (2001) for the Cité des Sciences de la Villette. He was also involved with the Panoramic Tables for the Planet of Visions Pavilion for Hanover EXPO2000, the Multimedia Tour for the Abbaye de Fontevraud and the Blue Station, interactive subway station project competition, won with the French architect Jean Nouvel.

Upcoming public installation: Watch Out! Athens August, 13-29, 2004.

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