Tamiko Thiel, born 1957, is an American artist, known for her digital art. Her work is often “exploring the interplay of place, space, the body and cultural identity,” and utilizing augmented reality (AR) as her platform. Thiel is based in Munich, Germany.

Since 1994, Thiel has worked with virtual reality, later on including augmented reality to her practice. Within the past 10 years, her work has mainly consisted of site-specific augmented reality installations.

EDUCATION

1991
AKADEMIE der BILDENDEN KUENSTE (Academy of Fine Arts), Munich, Germany.
Diploma in Applied Graphics
1983
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge, MA, USA.
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
Studies in computer graphics and visual imaging at Architecture Machine Group and Visual Language Workshop (future Media Lab.)
Studies in human-machine interface at the Biomechanics Lab; Master’s thesis: “Real-Time Simulation of Ultra-Sonic Mobility Aid for the Blind.”
1979
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Stanford, CA, USA.
B.S. in General Engineering/Product Design.
Concentration in human-machine interface design.

EXHIBITIONS
2022
KUNSTVEREIN WOLFSBURG retrospective, Wolfsburg, Germany
Matter. Non-Matter. Anti-Matter, DiMoDA 4.0, ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany
EVOLUON, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Dis/Location, GAZELLI ART HOUSE, London, UK
Enter the Plastocene, multi-channel immersive installation, MEET DIGITAL CULTURE CENTER, Milan, Italy
ARTour, AR city tour foor the city of Basel, Switzerland
Evolution of Fish – Antropocene Daze #1, video artwork, DIGITAL ART @ SONY CENTER POTSDAMER PLATZ, curated by DAM Projects, Berlin, Germany
#MAKEUSVISIBLE, AR public art exhibition, Munich, Germany
Evolution of Fish, AR projection, HOOD MUSEUM OF ART, DARTMOUTH College, New Hampshire, USA
DiMoDa 4.0: Dis/Location, BANNISTER GALLERY, Rhode Island College, USA
2021
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Arts and Industry Building.
FUTURES 175th anniversary exhibition ARTISTS BIENNIAL, Artists Association in Haus der Kunst, Munich WHEATON BIENNIAL, Norton, MA, USA.“final_final_FINAL” show, juried by Legacy Russel. MEET CENTER MILAN, “Synthetic Corpo-Reality” online exhibit in Mozilla Hubs, curator Julie Walsh. WING LUKE MUSEUM OF THE APA EXPERIENCE, “Community Spread: How we faced a pandemic”
2020
SUMMER SPLASH 6, DAM GALLERY Berlin, Berlin
Arts for Spring online Ausstellung, Stiftung Nantesbuch
Regensburg Short Film Week, Regensburg
2019
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA), New York. “Energy,” curated by Paola Antonelli and Anna Burckhardt.
PIN. Friends of the Pinakothek Benefit Auction with Nothing of him that doth fade… ceramic 3D print + custom AR app, (Lot 54, page 55, held at the PINAKOTHEK der MODERNE, München
MUSEUM SINCLAIR-HAUS, Bad Homburg, Germany. “Illusionary Nature,” curated by Ina Fuchs, with consulation by Wolf Lieser, DAM Gallery Berlin.
CLB BERLIN in AUFBAU-HAUS AM MORITZPLATZ, Berlin. Solo exhibit “Virtuelle Mauer Zeitlabor 2.0.”
KENNIN-JI Zen temple, Kyoto. Art Innovation exhibition at of the AR artwork “Lotus Meditation.” Exhibit and symposium jointly held by KYOTO UNIVERSITY and GOLDSMITHS University of London art college.
SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose/Silicon Valley. Beyond Manzanar (with Zara Houshmand) showing in “Almost Human: Digital Art from the Permanent Collection”.
EUPHRAT MUSEUM of ART, De Anza College, Cupertino/Silicon Valley. Brush the Sky (with Midori Kono Thiel) showing in “Space and Place”.
2018
WHITNEY MUSEUM of AMERICAN ART, New York. Unexpected Growth AR installation (with /p) premieres in the group exhibit “Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018.” Organized by Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of Digital Art, and Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Melva Bucksbaum Associate Director for Conservation and Research, with Clémence White, curatorial assistant.
WING LUKE MUSEUM, Seattle. “Worlds Beyond Here: The Expanding Universe of Asian Pacific American Science Fiction ,” exhibiting a Connection Machine CM-2 (courtesy of the Living Computers Museum) and Gardens of the Anthropocene overlaid by invitation onto Simon Kono’s “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats.”
GROUNDS FOR SCULPTURE Hamilton, NJ. Invitational AR intervention into Michael Rees’ exhibit “Synthetic Cells: Site and Para(Site),” with Gardens of the Anthropocene: Swim with the turtle.
SOCIETY of ART and TECHNOLOGY (SAT) Montreal. “iX 2018 – The Conquest of Reality,” exhibiting Gardens of the Anthropocene. Awarded the 2018 iX Visionary Pioneer award.
VRHAM virtual reality festival, Hamburg. Premiere of Land of Cloud – winner of People’s Choice Award.
i4c mixed reality festival, Munich. Exhibiting Land of Cloud and Wild Gardens.
“Augmented Reality Public Art Initiative” Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Exhibiting Gardens of the Anthropocene and Wild Gardens.
2017
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA NY), Connection Machine CM-2 exhibited in “Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959–1989,” New York.
DIE NEUE SAMMLUNG / PINAKOTHEK der MODERNE, Munich, Germany. “Wild Gardens” AR tour with Neue Sammlung/The Design Museum curator Dr. Xenia Riemann-Tyroller.
“RESET III and Virtual Reality,” GALLERY PRISKA PASQUER, curated by Tina Sauerländer (peer to space), Cologne, Germany.
ART DÜSSELDORF, “RESET III and Virtual Reality” (curator Tina Sauerländer/peer to space), GALLERY PRISKA PASQUER, Düsseldorf, Germany.
MOVING IMAGE NEW YORK art fair, New York, NY.
PIONEER WORKS, Brooklyn, NY.
BOSTON CYBERARTS / NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the ARTS, “The Augmented Landscape,” Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem, MA, USA.
„stand by me,“ curator Katia Rid. GALERIE DER KÜNSTLER, Munich, Germany
3. Biennale der Künstler, HAUS DER KUNST, Munich, Germany
2016
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM Olympic Sculpture Park AR exhibit Gardens of the Anthropocene, Seattle.
9e2 SEATTLE, media art festival commemorating the 50th anniversary of the legendary art+tech collaboration “9 Evenings”
“Mi Querido Barrio” exhibit, CCCADI (Caribbean Cultural Center and African Diaspora Institute), East Harlem, New York City, showing the AR installation El Barrio is home!
“Digital Synesthesia” exhibition, Angewandte Innovation Lab (AIL), Vienna, Austria. I am Sound (with Christoph Reiserer), commisioned work from the DIGITAL SYNESTHESIA Group (project leadersKatharina Gsöllpointner, Ruth Schnell, Romana Schuler,Jeffrey Shaw and Peter Weibel).
Water Lily Invasion at VIRTUALE SWITZERLAND, Lugano, curator Art Clay/Digital Art Weeks.
2015
“ADM Faculty Show 2015: Beyond the Horizon,” curated by T.K. Sabapathy and Michelle Lim. ADM GALLERY, School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. “Goldsegen / Golden Blessings SG50,” participatory artwork for Singapore’s 50th anniversary.
VIRTUALE SWITZERLAND, Lausanne, curator Art Clay/Digital Art Weeks. “Biomer Skelters” (with Will Pappenheimer) and “Shades of Absence: Public Voids.”
WING LUKE MUSEUM, Smithsonian Institution Affiliate, Seattle, USA. “Brush the Sky” (with Midori Kono Thiel) in the group show “Construct/S,” curated by Stacey Uradomo.
2014
UNPAINTED – world’s first media art fair. Fine art prints from “Transformation: Munich” presented by pilotraum01.org, curator Serafine Lindemann/artcircolo. Munich, Germany.
“Fractured Visions,” public art commission from the AXNS COLLECTIVE for KING’S COLLEGE LONDON, with a grant from the ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND and support from the MERGE FESTIVAL, London, UK.
VIRTUALE SWITZERLAND, world’s first biennial of virtual art, opening in parallel with ART BASEL. Curated by Digital Art Weeks International with the support of Prohelvetia Swiss Art Council, City & Canton of Basel, House for Electronic Arts, Basel.
ISEA DUBAI Media Art Festival, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“Goldsegen” in the group public art exhibit “Rätsel des Überflüssigen” (Conundrum of the Superfluous), curator Serafine Lindemann|articircolo, wtih pilotraum01 eV, GCM and DantonDenkRaum, Munich, Germany
“Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall” shown for the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall at NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY/Boston and BENTLEY COLLEGE, Waltham, MA, USA.
“Virtuelle Mauer ZeitLabor,“ BEROLINA, BERLIN, Germany, for the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
2013
CORCORAN GALLERY of ART / Corcoran College of Art and Design Gallery 31, “Manifest:AR” invitational show. Washington D.C., USA.
“Turning FACT Inside Out” 10th anniversary exhibition. Manifest.AR group show “Invisible ARtaffects” – project “Biomer Skelters” in collaboration with the Liverpool John Moores University and the World Museum/National Museums Liverpool. FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool, UK.
SIGGRAPH Asia Art Gallery, in the “Virtuale” exhibition, Hong Kong. Curated by Arthur Clay, Digital Art Weeks (DAW)
“You cannot afford this,” group exhibit, CONTEMPORARY ISTANBUL ART FAIR, presented by Kasa Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Cuts. Lead curator Lanfranco Aceti, senior curators Pat Badani, Nicholas Mirzoeff and Marquard Smith.
DIGITAL ART WEEKS, Singapore. Curated by Art Clay.
2012
TATE MODERN, London, UK. “All Hail Damien Hirst!” AR intervention.
ART GWANGJU, Korea. “When I Dream” shown in the exhibit “Fragmented Identity,” presented by The Art Syn Projects (London).
“Transformation” solo show, St. Lukas Church, Munich, Germany. Part of the Overtures – ZeitRäumeProject by pilotraum01 e.V., curated by Serafine Lindemann (artcircolo) and Christian Schoen (kunst | konzepte).
ZERO1 BIENNIAL and SAMEK ART GALLERY (Bucknell University) present “Manifest.AR @ Zero1 Biennial 2012,” San Jose, USA.
COPENHAGEN ART FESTIVAL, Denmark. NIKOLAJ KUNSTHAL presents “To Question is GOLD” in an invitational show.
TRIENNALE DI MILANO, Italy. “No.Need.For:Real?” AR group show for the Virtual Systems and MultiMedia (VSMM2012) conference.
“LA Re.Play” public art exhibit for College Arts Association, with the DMA Grad Art Gallery, BROAD ART CENTER, UCLA, Los Angeles. Manifest.AR group show.
GOETHE-INSTITUT ISLAND, SECOND LIFE. “Perceptive Dislocations” performative event in collaboration with the United|Dislokations|Kartell (U|D|K).
TRANSMEDIALE, Berlin, Germany. “in/compatible AR intervention”
2011
VENICE BIENNIAL and the GERMAN NATIONAL PAVILION, Venice, Italy. “Venice Bienniale 2011 AR Intervention,” Manifest.AR uninvited guerilla augmented reality intervention.
ISTANBUL BIENNIAL, Istanbul, Turkey. Official participant as part of the ISEA2011 exhibition Uncontainable.
-KASA GALLERY, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey. “Not There,” exhibition of Manifest.AR Venice Biennial AR Intervention artworks.
-ISTANBUL BIENNIAL main exhibition. “Invisible Istanbul: Captured Images,” AR intervention.
ICA Boston (Institute of Contemporary Art), Boston, USA. “Manifest.AR@ICA” invitational group show
DUMBO Arts Festival, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
GOETHE-INSTITUT ISLAND, SECOND LIFE. “Dislocative Sculpture” performative event in collaboration with the United|Dislokations|Kartell (U|D|K).
“AR OCCUPY WALL STREET” – “Reign of Gold”
SAMEK ART GALLERY, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA. “Not Here” group show with Manifest.AR.
“Carnation Rain (Largo do Carmo)” augmented reality (AR) artwork, permanent installation, LISBON, Portugal.
“gradually melt the sky,” DEVOTION GALLERY, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
“(Un)seen Sculptures,” public art show, MELBOURNE CBD, Arts Precinct, Southbank, Melbourne, Australia.
2010
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA), New York City, USA. “We AR in MoMA,” uninvited guerilla augmented reality intervention.
“Bushwick Augmented Reality Intervention,” group public art show as part of the Beta Spaces Festival, Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, USA.
PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI, Florence, Italy. “Colorito,” ACM Multimedia Interactive Art Exhibit.
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the Industrial Design Center (IDC) of the INDIAN INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY in cooperation with the GOETHE-INSTITUT MUMBAI, Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay).
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the GOETHE-INSTITUT BANGALORE,Bangalore, India.
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the GOETHE-INSTITUT SRI LANKA, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
2009
GOETHE-INSTITUT NEW DELHI, New Delhi, India. Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall
GOETHE-INSTITUT LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall
LABORAL, Gijon, Spain. “FEEDFORWARD: Angel of History,” group exhibition curated by Christiane Paul & Steve Dietz.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, Washington D.C., USA. Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall in cooperation with the GOETHE-INSTITUT WASHINGTON. Opening remarks by German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Exhibition of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at a special event to commemorate the Fall of the Berlin Wall sponsored by John F. Kennedy School of Government and GOETHE-INSTITUT BOSTON, organized by the McCloy Scholars German-Austrian Caucus. Speakers: German Consul Friedrich Loehr and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Steven Walt.
BERLIN CITY MUSEUM, Ephraim-Palais, Berlin, Germany. Exhibition of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall in the group show “FALLMAUERFALL | 61-89-09”.
[DAM] BERLIN (Digital Art Museum Berlin), Germany. “ReVisioning the Virtual Wall”: Collages based on the 3D installation “Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall”, Artist team T+T (Tamiko Thiel – Teresa Reuter – Sabe Wunsch),
KUNSTVEREIN WOLFSBURG, Wolfsburg, Germany. Exhibition of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall in the group show “Reconstructed Zone”,
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the UNIVERSITY of NEW ENGLAND in cooperation with the GOETHE-INSTITUT BOSTON, in Biddeford, Maine, USA
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the WILLY-BRANDT-HAUS. Lubeck, Germany. [pdf brochure]
Exhibition of The Travels of Mariko Horo at the FONDAZIONE QUERINI STAMPALIA, as part of the transnational literary festival INCROCI di CIVILTA’, Venice, Italy.
Solo exhibit of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the GOETHE-INSTITUT BOSTON as part of the BOSTON CYBERARTS FESTIVAL, Boston, USA.
Exhibition of The Travels of Mariko Horo in the STAEDTISCHE GALERIE im LEEREN BEUTEL as part of the exhibit “The Catholic Factor,” Regensburg, Germany.
Exhibition of the The Totem of Heavenly Wisdom as part of the group exhibit “The Banyan Tree” at the METAHOUSE PHNOM PENH in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and at the NATIONAL GALLERY in Bangkok, Thailand.
2008
World premiere & solo show of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall, MUSEUM for COMMUNICATION, Berlin, Germany.
US premiere & solo show of Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall, 911 MEDIA ARTS CENTER, Seattle, USA.
Exhibit of The Travels of Mariko Horo as part as part of the symposium “ANIME Japanese Comics Global,” co-hosted by the JAPANESE-GERMAN CENTER BERLIN and the JAPAN FOUNDATION, Engelbrot Theater, Berlin, Germany.
2007
“Global Eyes” Art Gallery show, SIGGRAPH 2007, San Diego, USA.
Solo exhibit of The Travels of Mariko Horo at 911 MEDIA ARTS CENTER in conjunction with the exhibit “Japan Envisions the West: 16th-19th Century Japanese Art from Kobe City Museum” at the Seattle Art Museum.
“The Game is Up!” ARTS CENTRE VOORUIT, Ghent, Belgium.
Web3D ART SHOW 2007, shown at the WEB3D INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, Perugia, Italy, and during the Takeaway Festival at the Science Museum/Danacenter in London, England.
Player in the online performance Isis: For My Mother. by Marlena Corcoran, shown at the 070707 UPSTAGE FESTIVAL, New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington, New Zealand.
2006
World premiere of The Travels of Mariko Horo, in the group exhibit “Edge Conditions” curated by Steve Dietz for the 01SJ / ISEA 2006 Festival, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, USA.
World premiere of In the Land of Babari-an, DANCE 2006 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE. Live Butoh dance performance by Shinichi Iova-Koga (inkBoat) and Ishide Takuya using The Travels of Mariko Horo as realtime virtual reality stage set.
“Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement,” KATZEN ART CENTER, American University, Washington D.C., USA
“Image War: Contesting Images of Political Conflict,” Art Gallery of The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), curated by the 2005-06 Curatorial Fellows of the WHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART Independent Study Program.
“Next Level: Die Lust am Spiel in der Netzwerkgesellschaft,” KUNSTVEREIN WOLFSBURG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
2005
Retrospective exhibit: “Virtual Reality as Political Art,” BOSTON CYBERARTS FESTIVAL / GOETHE-INSTITUT, Boston, MA.
“Geometries of Power,” multi-user online event between the GOETHE-INSTITUT in Boston, MA., USA, and PROGRAM ANGELS / LOTHRINGER13, Munich, Germany as part of the BOSTON CYBERARTS FESTIVAL.
“Xenopolis: Von der Faszination und Ausgrenzung des Fremden,” KULTURREFERAT der LANDESHAUPTSTADT MUENCHEN, Rathausgalerie, Munich, Germany
“Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement,” SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose, CA, USA
“Non-Stop: Ein Projekt zur Ambivalenz von Krieg und Frieden”, KUNSTVEREIN WOLFSBURG, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Opening Celebration, ARTS2MEDIA Medienwerkstatt, Regensburg, Germany
2004
“Highlights of the Permanent Collection” (continuing exhibition,) SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose, Silicon Valley, California.
Solo exhibit, Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS), MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge, MA.
“Only Skin Deep,” SEATTLE ART MUSEUM, Seattle, WA, USA.
Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE), Darmstadt, Germany.
“Totem of Heavenly Wisdom” shown as part of the traveling BANYAN PROJECT in Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, Bali and Thailand.
2003
“Only Skin Deep,” INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, New York, NY, USA.
Kyoto Biennale, KYOTO ART CENTER, Kyoto, Japan.
FILE-2003, Electronic Language International Festival, PACO DAS ARTES, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“VideoArt Meets NewMusic,” ADEVANTGARDE Festival, Gasteig/BlackBox, Munich, Germany.
“Lab3D,” CORNERHOUSE, Manchester, England.
“NextArt: Provocations,” FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL, Maitland, Florida, USA.
“RENCONTRES INTERNATIONAL,” Paris, France, and Berlin, Germany.
“Web3D Art 2003,” shown at the WEB3D INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, St. Malo, France, and at the following locations:
-The Media Centre, The ICA London, UK
-Watershed, Bristol, UK
-Media Lounge, Media Centre Huddersfield, UK
-Folly Gallery, Lancaster, UK
-Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, Australia
-Center of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia
-Ravensbourne College of Communication and Design Gallery
“Highlights of the Permanent Collection,” SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose, Silicon Valley, California. Exhibition of the Beyond Manzanar virtual reality installation.
2002
“Highlights of the Permanent Collection”, SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART, San Jose, CA, USA.
bilder*codes# 1992-2002: 10 Jahre Medienkunst im Dialog (“images*codes# 10 Years of Media Art in Dialog”). Das Goldene Ei (The Golden Seed) video shown as part of the 10th anniversary of the “\\internationalen\medien\kunst\preis” (“\\international\media\art\prize”), ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie), Karlsruhe, Germany.
5th Media Arts Festival, TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of PHOTOGRAPHY, Tokyo, Japan.
Beyond Manzanar solo exhibition, CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON COMPUTERS IN THE ARTS (CRCA), University of California/San Diego, La Jolla, CA.
Geometries of Power multi-user online collaborative event and artwork, held during FUSION 2002 online event between the BAUHAUS-UNIVERSITY, Weimar, Germany and the Design/Media Dept., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Art Show, WEB3D SYMPOSIUM, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
RHIZOME.LA, Los Angeles, CA. Invitational screening of Beyond Manzanar.
2001
SIGGRAPH N-Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
COSIGN 2001 Conference on Digital Semiotics of Games and New Media, Amsterdam, Holland.
“Beyond Manzanar” solo exhibition, LOTHRINGERSTRASSE 13 / LADEN, Munich, Germany.
INTERACTION `01, 4th Biennale: World Forum for Media and Culture, Ogaki City, GIFU, Japan.
CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL, Seattle, WA., USA.
CAST01, “Living in Mixed Realities,” GMD/Schloss Birlinghoven, Sankt Augustin, Germany.
“INTERPOESIA – The Hypermedia Poetics.” Sao Paolo, Brazil.
CYNETart 2001 , Dresden, Germany.
ART-ADVICE show in the KUNSTGARAGE, Munich, Germany.
KULTURREFERAT MUENCHEN, Munich Germany. Keynote showing of Beyond Manzanar virtual reality installation at inaugural festivities for Lydia Hartl, new head of Munich Cultural Department.
2000
IAMAS Artists-in-Residency Exhibition, TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of PHOTOGRAPHY , Tokyo, Japan.
1999
“VRML-ART,”VRML99 , Paderborn, Germany.
“VRML-ART,”ELECTRONICA MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL (EMAF), Osnabrueck, Germany.
1998
“Plugged In,” HAINES GALLERY, San Francisco, CA, USA.
“Asian Body,” TIDBIT GALLERY, Portland, OR, USA.
“Digital Art Pavilion,” PALO ALTO FESTIVAL of the ARTS, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
“Artists’ Intersection with Technology,” YLEM/WCA exhibit at KORET GALLERY, Palo Alto, CA.
“The Light is Diverse in California,” CENTER for VISUAL ART, Oakland, CA.
“NOT STILL ART FESTIVAL,” Cooperstown, New York.
1997
“Aurinko – Exhibition of Solar Art,” RAUMA MUSEUM of ART, Rauma, Finland. See online gallery at Leonardo Journal’s website.
“CHIK TEK 97: Women Artists Defining Technology,” ART-TECH GALLERY, San Jose, CA.
“Women and the Art of Multimedia,” NATIONAL MUSEUM of WOMEN in the ARTS, Washington DC, USA.
“Dancing for the Camera,” AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL, Durham, NC, USA.
“Digital Media: Art and Technology,” AEA Award Winners’ Presentation, BAY AREA VIDEO COALITION (BAVC), San Francisco, CA, USA.
“STIMULUS TRANSMIT,” Cable Access Channel 53, San Francisco, CA, USA. My video art work was showcased in the premiere episode of this monthly showcase of independent media artists.
1996
“New Media,” Artists’ Salon, HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Marin, CA.
“Brains, Perception and Consciousness,” Ylem Forum, EXPLORATORIUM, San Francisco, CA, USA.
1995
“Starbright World: World Launch,” Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
“Starbright World: A Peek in the Lab,” DIGITAL WORLD, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
1993
The Connection Machine CM-2 was exhibited as the processing power behind Karl Sim’s “Genetic Images,” CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris, France, ARS ELECTRONICA, Linz, Austria and the INTERACTIVE MEDIA FESTIVAL, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
“4th International Sound Basis Visual Arts Festival,” WRO 93, Wroclaw, Poland.
“VideoForum,” ELDORADO CENTRUM VOOR BEELDCULTUR, Antwerp, Belgium.
1992
Butoh at Johnny Walker’s “Art Waves in Front,” Tokyo, Japan. Invitational screening of my video Golden Egg, Butoh performance by Kazuo Ohno, photographs of Butoh by Nourit Masson-Sekine.
“Experimental Film and Video Festival,” IMAGE FORUM, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.
“Deutsche Videokunstpreis,” ZENTRUM fuer KUNST und MEDIENTECHNOLOGIE (ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany. Video selected as one of “50 Best” for broadcast on German TV station SUEDWEST 3.
“Videonale 5,” BONNER KUNSTVEREIN, Bonn, Germany.
“Videokunst in Muenchen,” KUENSTLERWERKSTATT, Munich, Germany.
1991
“Diploma Exhibit,” AKADEMIE der BILDENDEN KUENSTE, Munich, Germany.
1988
“The Beauty and the Beast,” PROJEKT DANIEL SPOERRI, Munich, Germany.
1987
“Vor dem Hammer,” GALERIE KLAUS LEA, Munich, Germany.

AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, SPECIAL EVENTS
2022
ART COLLECTION ROCHE BASEL acquires ARpothecary’s Garden, AR installationn
LUMENS PRIZE selection of ReWildAR
Online digital artist in residence at GAZELLI ART HOUSE
2021
CHRISTIE’S NY first curated NFT sale “Proof of Sovereignty,” curated by Lady PheOnix.
SMITHSONIAN INSITUTION AR commission for 175th anniversary FUTURES exhibition.
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY, London. Commission for deepfake participatory AI net art.
CINEQUEST Best Immersive VR for “My Identity Is This Expanse” Guest VR artist for this VR experience by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron.
2020
FILM FERNSEH FONDS BAYERN (Film Commission Bayern) project development grant for a mixed reality VR installation on the elemental cycles of life. NANTESBUCH FOUNDATION commission. “Suspended Spring” video artwork, for the “Arts for Spring” exhibit. FILM FUND LUXEMBOURG funding as guest VR artist for “My Identity Is This Expanse” VR experience, directed by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron. DiMoDA 4.0 commission for a VR artwork, curated by Christiane Paul. GOETHE-INSTITUT MONTREAL New Nature grant for AR collaboration with Prof. Dr. Luisa I. Falcon. VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE to MANZANAR: Beyond Manzanar VR online walkthrough, San Jose JACL keynote event for the Manzanar 2020 Virtual Online Pilgrimage.
2019
KNIGHT FOUNDATION Immersive Technology in the Arts award as AR artistic and technical advisor to the HIDDEN HISTORIES San Jose Japantown project, in collaboration with the JAPANESE AMERICAN MUSEUM of SAN JOSE (JAMsj).
VECTOR artist book participation “Strange Growth” (with /p), Guest Editor Birthe Blauth, Managing Editors, Peter Gregorio and Javier Barrios, launched at KUNSTVEREIN MUNICH.
DIGITAL GRAFFITI FESTIVAL, Alys Beach, Florida. Artist residency (with /p) to create Evolution of Fish for the projection art festival.
2018
WHITNEY MUSEUM of AMERICAN ART, New York. Commission for Unexpected Growth AR installation (with /p), with additional support from the Goethe-Institut.
iX VISIONARY PIONEER AWARD, Society of Art and Technology (SAT), Montreal, Canada.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AUDIENCE AWARD, at the VRHAM virtual reality festival, Hamburg.
2017
GOOGLE TILT BRUSH Virtual Reality Artist in Residence.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the ARTS funded augmented reality group show curated by Boston Cyberarts at the Salem Maritime Museum, Salem, MA, USA.
2016
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA) NEW YORK acquires a Connection Machine CM-2 supercomputer for its permanent collection.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM commission for the Olympic Sculpture Park: Gardens of the Anthropocene.
JWT INTELLIGENCE Future 100 2017 report featured Gardens of the Anthropocene (on p27) as AR top trend for 2017.
2015
DIGITAL SYNESTHESIA commission for an interactive installation inspired by synesthesia (with Christoph Reiserer).
2014
Inducted into the DIGITAL ART ARCHIVE, Director Oliver Grau.
Inducted into the Honor Roll of the IT History Society for the visual design of the Connection Machine CM-1/CM-2 supercomputer.
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND – WELLCOME TRUST – KING’S COLLEGE LONDON grants for a commission from the AXNS COLLECTIVE, London, UK
DUKE UNIVERSITY, Visiting artist, Experimental Documentary Studies MFA program, Durham, NC, USA
2013
MACDOWELL COLONY Fellow, Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA.
DUKE UNIVERSITY, Visiting artist, Experimental Documentary Studies MFA program, Durham, NC, USA.
2012
ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION Cultural Innovation Fund award for the Caribbean Cultural Center – African Diaspora Institute in Harlem, New York City. Co-wrote grant proposal as artistic and technical advisor for “Mi Querido Barrio” mobile augmented reality art, culture and history tour.
ZERO1 BIENNIAL and SAMEK ART GALLERY augmented reality commission for Manifest.AR @ ZERO1 Biennial, San Jose, USA.
2011
GOETHE-INSTITUT Artist in Residence, Second Life.
DUKE UNIVERSITY visiting artist, Experimental and Documentary Studies MFA Program, Durham, USA, 2011-2014.
CARAVANSARAI artist in residence, Istanbul, Turkey.
2011
Co-founded Manifest.AR Cyberartist Group
2009
IBM INNOVATION AWARD for artistic creation in art and technology awarded to Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall at the Boston Cyberarts Festival, Boston, USA.
Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize finalist and art critic at the Boston Globe, calls Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall the “highlight of this year’s Boston Cyberarts Festival” in his “CRITIC’S PICKS – VISUAL ARTS.” Boston Globe, Boston MA, USA., May 3, 2009.
Nominated for the WORLD TECHNOLOGY AWARD in the category Art, co-sponsored by (among others) the World Technology Network, Time Magazine, Science Magazine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
2007
HAUPTSTADTKULTURFONDS (Berlin Capital City Cultural Fund) award for research and production of “Virtuelle Mauer / ReConstructing the Wall
2006
CITY OF MUNICH PRIZE for JUNGE KUNST/NEUE MEDIEN (Young Art/New Media) curated by Bettina Wagner-Bergelt and Dr. Stephan Urbaschek. A dance choreography was commissioned from the Butoh group inkBoat and premiered during the DANCE 2006 Festival of Contemporary Dance as In the Land of Babari-an, using The Travels of Mariko Horo as a realtime virtual reality stage set.
2005
Founded Upgrade! Munich, a local monthly meeting on art and technology, and part of the Upgrade! International network.
2004
Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) Fellowship, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge, MA, USA.
2003
JAPAN FOUNDATION Fellowship to research Namban-bunka, a genre of Japanese art that depicted foreigners and foreign lands.
KYOTO ART CENTER, Kyoto, Japan. Artist in Residence to do basic research for “The Travels of Mariko Horo”.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY ROSE GOLDSEN ARCHIVE of NEW MEDIA ART adds “Beyond Manzanar” to its collection.
2002
SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose, Silicon Valley, California purchases an edition of the Beyond Manzanar virtual reality installation for its permanent collection.
2001
Nominated for ROCKERFELLER FOUNDATION New Media Arts Fellowship.
KULTURREFERAT MUENCHEN, special guest showing of Beyond Manzanar virtual reality installation at welcoming reception for Dr. Lydia Hartl, incoming head of the Munich Cultural Department, Germany.
2000
Photo essay on Beyond Manzanar published in the premier issue of the new Japanese critical theory journal Diatxt, Kyoto Art Center, June 2000, pp.65 – 72.
Images from the series Metamorphoses featured on front and back covers of Leonardo Journal, MIT Press, Volume 33 #2, 2000, and on Leonardo’s website.
Sapporo School of the Arts, Sapporo, Japan. Visiting Artist.
1999
International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), Ogaki City, Japan. Artist in residence from November 1999 – March 2000 to produce the Beyond Manzanar virtual reality art project.
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA. Residency in the Department of Communication and New Media Design.
1998
WIRED Magazine and the Asian American Arts Foundation: Grant award for Beyond Manzanar virtual reality art project.
1997
“DOLL.MONSTER.DEATH.: Cultural Transformation Processes of Bio- and Information Technologies,” Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria: The Totem of Heavenly Wisdom video installation was the keynote event at the opening ceremony.
1996
BAY AREA VIDEO COALITION (BAVC), San Francisco, CA: Artist Equipment Access Award for The Totem of Heavenly Wisdom video installation.
GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE (GII) AWARDS (formerly the NII Awards):
Starbright World virtual reality playspace received the following awards for extraordinary achievement on the Internet and information highway.
– Winner of Next Generation Award
– Finalist in Childrens category
– Semi-finalist in Telecollaboration category
ASAHI SHIMBUN: Digital Entertainment Award for Starbright World
SMITHSONIAN / COMPUTER WORLD: Starbright World virtual reality playspace was a Finalist in the Medicine category.
1995
CYBEREDGE:
Virtual Reality Product of the Year Award in the “Applications” category for Starbright World .
1992
ZENTRUM fuer KUNST und MEDIENTECHNOLOGIE (ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany:
nominated for Deutsche Videokunstpreis (German Video Art Prize): “Das Goldene Ei” (“The Golden Seed”) video art piece premiered on German TV station SUEDWEST 3 as one of the best finalists.
Butoh at Johnny Walker’s “Art Waves in Front,” Tokyo, Japan:
Invitational screening of my video Golden Seed , Butoh performance by Kazuo Ohno, photographs of Butoh by Nourit Masson-Sekine.
1989
Connection Machine CM-2 wins Gordon Bell Prize as fastet supercomputer in the world.
1985
THINKING MACHINES CORPORATION, Cambridge, MA:
Co-holder of patent for “Method for Interconnecting Processors in Hyper-Dimensional Array” for the Connection Machine CM-1, parallel supercomputer.
There are CM-1 and CM-2 Connection Machines in the collections of the COMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM, Mountain View, CA (Silicon Valley), and in the Museum of American History, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington DC, USA.

COMMAND + CONTROL + Q, DAM Berlin, February 26 — April 30, 2022
T + T: VIRTUELLE MAUER/RECONSTRUCTING THE WALL, DAM Berlin, July 05 — July 31, 2021
SUMMER SPLASH 6, DAM Berlin, July 15, 2020 — August 15, 2020