Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss
Liquid Views (1992) – By touching their reflection in artificial water, visitors create ripples that transform their image through a real-time morphing wave algorithm. This exploration of touch as a form of tactile seeing and hearing subconsciously immerses the viewer of the interactive installation in a situation where the physical and virtual worlds merge.
The staging of a touch screen with an integrated camera and a large projection in the background reflects the situation of a selfie culture between immersion and surveillance.
Who are Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss?
Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss are a German media artist collective. Since the mid-1980s, they have been instrumental in bridging the gap between new media art, computer science and knowledge art. Internationally recognized for their work in interactive environments, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and knowledge discovery (KD), they are considered pioneers in new media art, community building and the integration of transdisciplinary practices. In 1987 they co-founded ART+COM, the first independent research institute for art and digital technology in Germany. In 1995 they founded the MARS Media Art ReSearch Lab as one of four departments of the new GMD Institute for Media Communication, which later became the Fraunhofer Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
Among many other awards, they received the Golden Nica from Ars Electronica in 1992. In 2018 they received the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art. Since 2013 they live and work in Berlin as independent artists and writers.