Oliver Grau

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Oliver Grau (*24.10.1965) is a German art historian and media theoretican with a focus on image science, modernity and media art as well as culture of the 19th century and Italian Art of the renaissance.

Oliver Grau
Oliver Grau

[edit] Works

Oliver Grau is professor for Image Science and head of the Department for Image Science at the Danube University Krems.

Recent publications: Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion (MIT-Press 2003, Mediale Emotionen (Fischer 2005) and MediaArtHistories (MIT-Press 2007). International invited lecture tours, numerous awards and international publications (up to now in twelve languages). Main research in the history of media art, immersion and emotions as well as the history, idea and culture of telepresence and artificial life.

His book "Virtual Art" offered for the first time a historic comparison in image-viewer theory of immersion as well as a systematic analysis of the trilogy of artist, work and viewer on conditions of digital art. The research is linked to the novel model of a evolutionary history of media illusions that results on the one hand from a relative dependence on new sensual potentials of suggestion and on the other hand from the variable strength of alienation of the viewer (media competence).

Grau has conceived new scientific tools for the humanities/digital humanities, he managed the project "Immersive Art" of The German Research Foundation (DFG) whose team started developing in 1998 the first international archive for digital art (www.virtualart.at) written on an open source platform at the Danube-University Krems and has since been followed up by a number of spin-off projects. Since 2000 the DVA was the frist online archive to regularly stream video documentations. Since 2005 Grau is manager of the database of Goettweigs Graphic Collection, Austrias largest private graphic collection that contains 30,000 works, ranging from Albrecht Duerer to Gustav Klimt.

Grau developed new international curricula for image sciences: MediaArtHistories MA, academic expert programes in Digital Collection Management and Exhibit Design, Visual Competencies and the master course in Image Science. Moreover with the Danube Telelectures a new interactive format of lectures and debates came into being that is streamed worldwide.

After his studies in Hamburg, Siena and Berlin and his doctoral work, Grau lectured at the Humbold University Berlin, was a guest in different research labs in Japan and USA and following his post doctoral lecture qualification (habilitation) in 2003 worked as professor at different international universities. He has acted as adviser for international professional journals and different associations. Grau manages different conferences and was founding director of Refresh! First International Conference on the History of Media Art, Science and Technology, Banff 2005 (2007 Berlin, 2009 Melburne).

Awards among other things: 2001 voted into Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Scientific Academy 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.

[edit] Publications (Extract)

  • Oliver Grau (Ed.): Media Art Histories, MIT-Press, Cambridge 2007.
  • Oliver Grau (Ed. a.o.): Mediale Emotionen. Zur Lenkung von Gefühlen durch Bild und Sound. Fischer, Frankfurt/Main 2005.
  • Oliver Grau: Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, MIT-Press, Cambridge 2003.
  • Oliver Grau: The Database of Virtual Art: For an expanded concept of documentation, in: ICHIM, Ecole du Louvre, Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication, Proceedings, Paris 2003, S. 2-15.
  • Oliver Grau: Telepräsenz: Zu Genealogie und Epistemologie von Interaktion und Simulation, in: Peter Gendolla u.a. (Hg.): Formen interaktiver Medienkunst. Geschichte, Tendenzen, Utopien, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp 2001, S. 39-63.
  • Oliver Grau: Zwischen Bildsuggestion und Distanzgewinn, in: Klaus Sachs-Hombach und Klaus Rehkamper (Ed.): Vom Realismus der Bilder: Interdisziplinare Forschungen zur Semantik bildlicher Darstellungsformen, Magdeburg: Scriptum-Verl. 2000, S. 213-227.
  • Oliver Grau: New Images from Life, in: Ryszard Kluszczińsky (Hg.): Art Inquiry. Recherches sur les Arts, Volume II (XI), Lodž 2000, S. 7-25.
  • Oliver Grau: Hingabe an das Nichts: Der Cyberspace zwischen Utopie, Ökonomie und Kunst in: Medien.Kunst.Passagen, Nr. 4, 1994, p. 17-30.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Grau, Oliver
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION germain image scientist and arthistorian
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1965(1965-10-24)
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH