ROBOTICS AND AI FESTIVAL, APRIL 13, 2024

Dr. Christa Sommerer and Dr. Laurent Mignonneau are internationally renowned media artists, researchers, and pioneers of interactive art. They are professors and founders of the Interface Cultures master’s program at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. They have also served as professors at the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in Gifu, Japan, and as researchers and artistic directors at the prestigious ATR Media Integration and Communications Lab in Kyoto, Japan. They have been visiting researchers at MIT CAVS in Cambridge, USA, the Beckman Institute in Champaign-Urbana, IL, USA, and artists in residence at the NTT InterCommunication Center in Tokyo, Japan.

Sommerer was a visiting Obel Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark and at the University of Tsukuba’s Empowerment Informatics Studio in Japan. Laurent Mignonneau was an international visiting professor at Paris 8 University in Paris, France. Sommerer and Mignonneau have participated in over 250 international exhibitions, and their works are found in museums and collections worldwide. They have received numerous awards, including the ARCO BEEP Award 2016 in Madrid, Spain, the Wu Guanzhong Award for Art and Science Innovation from the People's Republic of China in 2012, the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica in 1994, and the highest Austrian State Prize for Media Art.