ASIFA Austria Forum

Die Konferenz bietet vom 3. bis 5. September 2025 Einblicke in neueste Trends im Bereich der Expanded Animation und interaktiven Kunst.
https://expandedanimation.com/

The conference focuses on the latest trends of Expanded Animation and Interactive Art that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of art, technology, and society.

Schürrer introduces her multimedia installation “Where does the rest of the world begin?” that reflects on the deep entanglements of human consciousness, natural environment, and current technology. With a multimedia installation consisting of two digital animations, 3D prints and an interactive Mixed Reality experience, she creates a spatial narrative in which she poetically links the scientific concepts of symbiosis and neural synchrony and applies those to our existence in the postdigital. Both theoretical approaches highlight the interconnectivity of all organic and non-organic agents, challenging concepts of individuality, singular consciousness, and subjectivity.

Dagmar Schürrer (AT/DE) is an Austrian digital artist based in Berlin. She holds a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, UK, and works in the field of animation and extended reality (XR) technologies. Her artistic practice is often inspired by scientific concepts from biology and neuroscience. In her hybrid experiences, she links these with new technologies as XR and Artificial Intelligence, digital world building and poetic interpretations of human consciousness and its environmental entanglements. With intricate animations and spatial multimedia installations she creates contemplative spaces to reflect on the evolving relationship between technology and perception.
Her works have been presented internationally at festivals and exhibitions, including the New Contemporaries at the ICA London, the Moscow Biennale for Young Art, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Louvre Auditorium Paris, Eunam Museum South Korea, Ars Electronica Linz, the Museum of Waste in Changsha, China, ISEA, Belvedere21 in Vienna and Tate Modern London, UK. She is an artistic research assistant and workshop leader for XR development at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin and board member of the Berlin media art association (medienkunstverein).

Tore Knabe (PL/DE) is a Berlin-based VR developer and digital pioneer who consistently explores the frontiers of emerging technologies. His journey began with the dawn of mobile computing, where his innovative games and educational apps, including the globally successful Bowmaster, reached top positions in App Stores worldwide. Since 2013, Knabe has been at the forefront of Virtual Reality experimentation, creating numerous experiences that push the boundaries of human-computer interaction. His recent work focuses on the intersection of VR and artificial intelligence, demonstrating through compelling videos how AI-driven virtual characters might transform our digital interactions. Through these explorations, Knabe offers glimpses into the near future of human-machine communication and the evolving landscape of virtual experiences.

www.tore-knabe.com

Tamiko Thiel and /p will talk about how they use animation in VR and AR to enhance users’ engagement with the 3D virtual and real space around them. This involves playing with user expectations, giving users a sense of control and agency, that they then take away at key moments to create emotionally charged encounters with the virtual environment and its content.

In 2024 Tamiko Thiel (US/DE) was awarded the SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Arts and inducted into the inaugural cohort of AWE XR Hall of Fame for her politically and socially critical media artworks exploring place, space, the body and cultural identity. Earlier awards include the 2018 SAT Montreal Visionary Pioneer Award and the 2009 IBM Innovation Award in Art and Technology.
She was lead product designer of Danny Hillis‘ Connection Machines CM-1/CM-2, the first commercial AI supercomputers (1986/1987 at Thinking Machines Corp., collection MoMA NY), which influenced Google’s technology and Steve Jobs’ designs. Her artworks in AI include I am Sound (2016, with Christoph Reiserer) and Lend Me Your Face! (2020, with /p).
Her works in virtual reality (VR) began with Starbright World, the first VR metaverse for children (1994-1997 at Worlds, Inc. with Steven Spielberg) and Beyond Manzanar (2000, with Zara Houshmand), which was perhaps the first VR artwork acquired by a US art museum (by San Jose Museum of Art in 2002).
Her works in augmented reality (AR) began with the ARt Critic Face Matrix, as part of an AR intervention into MoMA NY (2010). Notable AR commissions include Unexpected Growth for the Whitney Museum New York (2018, with /p, in the collection), ReWildAR for Smithsonian Institution‘s 175th anniversary (2021, with /p), ARpothecary’s Garden (2022, collection Kunstsammlung Roche Basel) and Vera Plastica (2023, with /p), collection BROICH Digital Art Museum, Germany.

/p (DE) is a German media artist with a degree in Computer Science. /p has been working on web based projects and virtual reality since 1994. Since the Whitney Museum commission for Unexpected Growth in 2018 /p has been collaborating on media artworks with Tamiko Thiel. In 2024 Current, /p’s AR sound experience in collaboration with Anne Wichmann and Anke Schiemann, won the New Realities Award 2024 presented by the Bavarian Minister for Digital Media at the 1E9 Festival of the Future, Munich. /p is gender neutral and uses no pronouns!