Oliver Grau


Oliver Grau is a German art historian and media theoretician who focuses on image science, modernity and media art as well as culture of the 19th century and Italian art of the Renaissance. His main areas of research are Digital Art, Media Art History, Immersion, digital humanities, documentation and conservation strategies of born-digital art.
Grau is founder and director of the Archive for Digital Art and founder and is head of the Society for MediaArtHistories and its biennial conference series, active since 2004. His monograph Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion is often cited and with translations of his texts in 15 languages to date and over 300 invited lectures in 44 countries, he is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary art and media scholars. Oliver Grau was appointed in 2005 Chair Professor at the Center for Image Science at the Danube University Krems.

Works

He was invited to more than 350 lectures and keynotes and has conducted international lecture tours, received numerous awards, and produced international publications in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Korean, Chinese. After studying in Hamburg, Siena, and London, earning a master's degree under Martin Warnke, among others, and a doctorate in Berlin under Horst Bredekamp and Friedrich Kittler, Grau taught and conducted research at the Humboldt University in Berlin, spent time as a guest researcher at institutions in Japan and the United States, and, after completing his degree at the University of Art and Design Linz in 2004, worked as a professor at various universities. Since 2005 he has held the first chair for image sciences in the German-speaking world and headed the Department of Image Science at Danube University Krems. His main research interests in image science focus on the histories of media art, immersion, and emotion, as well as the history, idea, and culture of artificial life, "living" and telematic imagery, telepresence and the development of digital humanities through tools such as online image and video databases.

Immersion research

Grau's book Virtual Art has more than 2700 citations according to Grau's Google Scholar profile and has received more than 80 reviews,.
Using an interdisciplinary approach Grau also analysed methods which elicit or heighten the impression of immersion in digital image spaces for the viewer. He found that this is primarily induced by interaction; reaction of the images in real-time to the viewer's movements, the utilisation of evolutionary image processes — for example, genetic algorithms —, haptic feedback, the natural design of the interface, the impression of telematic presence, and particularly the dimensions and design of the image display, which must fill the viewer's field of vision completely and extend up to 360° both horizontally and vertically. These studies sought to transcend customary single media approaches in research on perceptual illusions and to introduce concepts such as polysensuality, suggestive potential, image space, disposition of the individual observer, and evolution of the visual media as well as to expand the theoretical work on distance by Ernst Cassirer and Erwin Panofsky, amongst others. In addition Grau undertook studies of innovative linkages of architecture and immersive moving images, as well as of immersion in the history of film. The majority of these publications resulted from two research projects of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft : Art History and Media Theories of Virtual Reality, 1998–2002, and Immersive Art, 2002–2005.

Emotion research

Several research projects conducted at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and two summer academies supported by the Volkswagen Foundation gave rise to an interdisciplinary study on the history of managing feelings through images and sound. Building on the work of Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux, and Wolf Singer, and using the examples of Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will, and the computer game America's Army, it was demonstrated how emotional experiences with images can forge a sense of community.

Media Art Histories and Image Science

Since 2002, Grau brought together interdisciplinary media art research and its history as in an international and interdisciplinary conference series. A year of scholarly research 2003 by Oliver Grau and Wendy Coones at Humboldt University Berlin and the presentation and discussion of the concept at a DFG-funded planning meeting led by Grau with international experts at the Villa Vigoni Science Center in 2004, led to the first congress on media art history in Banff in 2005 under Grau's directorship, with 500 participants. Through the world conferences in Berlin, Melbourne, Liverpool, Riga, Montreal, 2017 Krems/Vienna, Aalborg, Venice Grau, as founding director and chair with the members of the boards, was able to establish the international field, which draws especially from art, media, film, technology, and science history, and includes digital humanities, sound studies, anthropology, and philosophy. His volumes "Imagery in the 21st Century", "Museum and Archive on the Move", "Digital Art through the Looking Glass" and "Retracing Political Dimensions: Strategies in Contemporary New Media Art" expanded the context of Image Science.
In 2018 Grau was a speaker at the Chicago New Media Symposium which was held as part of the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 Exhibition. The Exhibition was curated by jonCates.

Awards and distinctions

Awards among other things: 2001 voted into Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Leopoldina; 2002 InterNations/Goethe Institute; 2003 Book of the Month, Scientific American; 2003 Research Scholarship from the German-Italian Center Villa Vigoni; 2004 Media Award of the Humboldt University Society. 2008 he was invited to the official cultural program of the XXIX Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, 2010 to lecture at G-20 summit/“tech+ forum by Ministry of Knowledge Economy of the Republic of Korea and 2011 for the opening lecture of the international Dongkuk Humanities Series for Nobel Prize laureates at POSTECH. 2014 he received an honorary doctorate and in 2015 he was elected into the Academia Europaea. In Nov. 2016, the Open Univ. of Israel hosted an honorary symposium on Oliver Grau's research; in 2019, Grau received the Science Award of the State of Lower Austria.

Writings (Monographs)

  • Virtuelle Kunst in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Visuelle Strategien. Reimer, Berlin 2001.
  • . ; Scientific American, Virtual Art: Book of the Month, Aug. 2003; Art Monthly, Michael Gibbs, Virtual Art, Mar. 2003; European Photography, Guy van Belle: Oliver Grau: Virtual Art, Issue 73/74, Vol. 24, 2003, pp. 104–105.; Amy Ione: Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, in: Leonardo Reviews, https://www.leonardo.info/reviews _archive/feb2003/GRAU_ione.html; Italy: Anna Maria Monteverdi: Esperienze artificiali multisensoriali, Recensione a Oliver Grau, Virtual Art. From illusion to immersion, in: Teatro e Nuovi Media, No. 52, 2003 and in: ateatro, 11.11.2009; France: Cahiers du MNAM, Éditions du Centre Georges Pompidou, Jean Da Silva: Notes de lecture, Stephen Wilson: 'Information Arts'/Oliver Grau: 'Virtual Art', No. 87, Spring 2004, Sweden: Konstperspektiv, Mathias Jansson: Bokrecensioner - 'Virtual Art', July 2003; Netherlands: Optische Fenomen, Nederlandse Stichting voor Waarneming & Holografie, Jan M. Broeders, issue 187, Jan. 2003, p. 5.; John Boardmann: Review Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, in: COMMON KNOWLEDGE, Volume 9, Issue 3, Fall 2003, pp. 544 – 544; Art Papers, Barbara L. Miller: Re-evaluating Virtual Representation. Two books ask what makes new media new, May 2004; Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Roger Dawkins: Review 'Virtual Art', vol 4, No 3, Dec. 2003; Fine Art Forum - Ezine, Teri Hoskin: Review 'Virtual Art', vol. 17, No. 11, Nov. 2003; Anthony Enns: A Review of: Friedrich Kittler, Optische Medien: Berliner Vorlesung and Oliver Grau, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, electronic book review, 13.03.2004; Intelligent Agent - Online Magazine, Patrick Lichty: Review 'Virtual Art', vol 3 No 2, Summer/ Fall 2003; Christiane Lenhardt: Das Faszinosum der künstlichen Welt, in: Badisches Tagblatt, May 3, 2005; Alejandra Correa: Derecho de Admisión, Virtual e Immersivo, in: Funámbulos Summer 2005, pp. 39–42; UK: Pugh, E., in Digital Creativity, 2004, Vol 15, no 2; p. 126-128, Bryan-Wilson, J. in: Technology and Culture, 2004, Vol 45, no. 3, p. 670-671; Taiwan: Art & Collection, Taipei, The Aura of the Digital, Interview, May 2004, pp. 106–111; Estland: Arvuti Maailm, Raivo Kelomees: Immersiivne Kunst, June 23, 2004; Schweden: Svenska Dagbladet, Karl Steinik: Panoramat i den virtuella konsten, June 23, 2004, Argentinien: Florencia Rodriguez: Todo Lo Sólido Se Desvanece En La Illusion. Oliver Grau En Buenos Aires, in: summa+ 75, 2005, pp. 146–7; Spanien: Lucia Santaella: Virtual Art, Rezension, in: DeSignis 7 2006, Brasil: Silvia Boone: Arte Virtual: da Illusao a Imersao – Oliver Grau, in: Porto Arte: Revista de Artes Visuais, 2009; Serbia: Мapинa Byлиђeвиђ: Урaњaњe y bиrtyeлнo, in: Politika, 09.06.2010, p. 14; В. К. – Танјуг: Оливер Грау представио своју књигу „Виртуелна уметност“, in: www.godinaknjigeijzika.rs, vom 06.06.10; Jelena Guga: Nova estetika uranjajucih prostora slike, in: Nova Misao - Časopis za savremenu kulturu Vojvodine, no. 6 / June 2010, p. 46 – 48; Laura Palmer: A Review of Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, in: https://kairos.technorhetoric.net/8.2/reviews/palmer/;
  • Bildwerdung. Habilitationsschrift. Kunstuniversität, Linz 2004.
  • Эмоции и иммерсия: ключевые элементы визуальных исследований / Пер. с нем. А. М. Гайсина, EDIOS Publishing House, St. Petersburg 2013.
  • On the Visual Power of Digital Arts. For a New Archive and Museum Infrastructure in the 21st Century, Editiones de la Universitad de Castilia-La-Mancha, 2016.