Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau

Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau are two of the most innovative and internationally renowned media artists and researchers. Their work has been called "epoch-making" (Toshiharu Itoh, NTT-ICC Museum, Tokyo) for developing natural and intuitive interfaces and for applying scientific principles such as artificial life, complexity, generative systems and nanotechnologies to their innovative interface design. In the last 17 years, Sommerer and Mignonneau have created around 20 interactive systems, which have won them major international media art awards, among them the "Golden Nica" Prix Ars Electronica Award for Interactive Art in 1994 (Linz, Austria). These artworks have been presented internationally in over 200 exhibitions and are installed in media museums and media collections around the world. Sommerer and Mignonneau have regularly exhibited in and collaborated with Ars Electronica as artists, jury members and curators. They have edited several books, such as Sommerer, C., Jain, L.C. and Mignonneau L. (ed.), The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design. Springer Verlag Heidelberg, 2008; Sommerer, C., Mignonneau, L. and King, D. (ed.), Interface Cultures – Artistic Aspects of Interaction. Transcript Verlag, 2008; and Sommerer, C. and Mignonneau, L. (ed.), Art @ Science, SpringerWienNewYork, 1998. Gerfried Stocker graduated from the Institute for Telecommunication Engineering and Electronics in Graz. In 1991 he founded x-space, a team for the realization of interdisciplinary projects. In this framework numerous installations and performance projects have been carried out in the field of interaction, robotics and telecommunication. He was also responsible for the concept of various radio and network projects and the organization of the worldwide radio and network project Horizontal Radio. In 1992-/93 he was responsible for the program of "Steirische Kulturinitiative." Since 1995 Stocker is the artistic director of the Ars Electronica Festival and the managing director of the Ars Electronica Center Linz. He edited several media art catalogs from the annual Ars Electronica (five of them from SpringerWienNew York) and together with Dr. Christine Schöpf and Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder, the Ars Electronica Cyber Arts catalogs (likewise five of them from SpringerWienNewYork).

Stocker, G., Foreword. – Art as Research - Research as Art : Weibel, P., The Art of the Artificial - Sommerer & Mignonneaus's Contribution to the Algorithmic Revolution. Paul, C., Art as Life as Art - Aesthetics and Autonomy. Michalka, M., Aesthetics and Science. - Interface Design Aspects in the Interactive Artworks ofSommerer & Mignonneau: Sakane, I., On the Nostalgic History of Interactive Art - A Personal Retrospective. Huhtamo, E., Touchscapes - Tactile and Haptic Interaction in the Works of Sommerer & Mignonneau. Schöpf, C., Leopoldseder, H., The Open World of Christa & Laurent. - From Artificial Life and Complexity Research to Bio and Nano Art: Reichle, I., Art and Digital Evolution - the Genetic Art of Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. Casti, J., Complex Systems and Artistic Structures. Kusahara, M., How Much Do You Love The Creatures You Have Made? - Immersion, Illusion and Intelligent Environments: Moriyama, T., Immersion into Historic Images.n - Multimodal Interaction with Internet Data: de Meredieu, F., Please Touch - Prière de toucher. `Grau, O.., Living Habitats - Immersive Strategies. - Communication Interfaces: Ascott, R., Techno-Shinto Beauty. - Biographies, Exhibitions, Publications.