Sommerer, Christa & Laurent Mignonneau

Christa Sommerer initially studied biology and botany at the University of Vienna from 1982-1985 before changing to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she studied with Bruno Gironcoli from 1985-1990 and graduated with a diploma. From 1991 to 1993 she continued her studies with Prof. Peter Weibel at the Staedelschule, Frankfurt a.M., at the Institute for New Media, where she met Laurent Mignonneau.
Laurent Mignonneau studied art and video art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Angouleme, France, from 1986 to 1991, graduating with a diploma. From 1991 to 1993, he continued his studies with Prof. Peter Weibel at the Staedelschule, Frankfurt a.M., at the Institute for New Media, where he met Christa Sommerer.
They worked 10 years in Japan as Associate Professors at the IAMAS Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences in Gifu, Japan and as Researchers and Artistic Directors at the ATR Advanced Telecommunications Research Lab in Kyoto Japan. Before they were artists-in residence at the MIT CAVS in Cambridge US, artists-in-residence at the NCSA National Center for Supercomputing Applications Beckmann Institute in Champaign Urbana, IL, USA and artists-in-residence at the NTT-InterCommunication Center in Tokyo. In 2004 they set up the department for Interface Cultures at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria where they are both professors.
Sommerer held positions a Visiting Professor at CAFA Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing in 2019, as Visiting Professor at the Empowerment Informatics Program at Tsukuba University in 2018 and as Obel Guest Professor at Aalborg University, Denmark from 2014-2016. Mignonneau was a Chair International Professor at Paris 8 University in France in 2015.
Together they have created around 50 works of interactive art to date, for which they have received numerous awards: These include the Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica in 1994; an Ovation Award at the Interactive Media Festival in Los Angeles in 1995; a Multi Media Award '95 from the Multimedia Association of Japan; the World Technology Award 2001 from the World Technology Network in London, United Kingdom, and the uni:invent Prize, 2008, awarded by the Federal Ministry of Science and Research in Austria; the Wu Guanzhong Prize for Innovation in Art and Science, awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China, in 2012; the Premio de ARCO BEEP in Madrid, Spain, in 2016.
Sommerer and Mignonneau have taken part in over 350 international exhibitions and major events to date. Among the most prestigious are the Festival International d'art numérique, Montreal; ISEA Hong Kong; ARCO Madrid, Ars Electronica, Linz; Art and Artificial Life, VIDA, Madrid; the ZKM Media Museum, Karlsruhe; Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona; the MOT Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; the Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Exploratorium, San Francisco and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. Her retrospective “The Artwork As A Living System” started in 2022 at the ZKM, Karlsruhe, DE, was shown in 2023 at the Offenes Kulturhaus (OK), Linz, AT, and was taken over by the Center for digital cultures and technology (iMAL), Brussels, BE, and the Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao, ES.
Their works can be found in museums and private collections all over the world.The Generali Foundation Collection includes two outstanding interactive artworks, “Eau de Jardin”, 2004 and “Homo Insectus”, 2020.
Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau live and work in Linz, Austria.

The Austrian-French artist couple Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau are among the most innovative media artists in interactive art who are internationally recognized. After working, teaching and researching in the United States and Japan for ten years, they founded and co-direct the Interface Culture department at the University of Art and Industrial Design in Linz, Austria. They pioneered innovative work at the intersection of science, technology and art for the “Art of Interface” - technical interfaces that use algorithms to create their own virtual visual worlds and immersive realities. Her installations create virtual realities and immersive environments and are only brought to life through the interaction of viewers. Her works can be found in museums and private collections all over the world. The Generali Foundation Collection includes two outstanding interactive artworks, “Eau de Jardin”, 2004 and “Homo Insectus”, 2020.