* 1957, currently based: (almost) everywhere
http://www.tamikothiel.com/
About
Tamiko Thiel is a media artist interested in the interplay of place, space, the body and cultural memory. She has done pioneering work in developing the dramatic and poetic capabilities of various forms of virtual and augmented reality as media for exploring social and cultural issues. Her art practice ranges from the visual design of the first AI supercomputer (1983-1986) to VR (since 1994), AR (since 2010), large immersive installations, videos, digital prints and ceramics.
In 2024 she 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 2018 SAT Montreal Visionary Pioneer and 2009 IBM Innovation Award in Art and Technology.
She has works in the following collections:
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA), New York, NY. Connection Machine CM-2 AI supercomputer
WHITNEY MUSEUM of AMERICAN ART, New York, NY. Unexpected Growth AR installation
SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, Silicon Valley, California. Beyond Manzanar VR installation
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington DC. Connection Machine CM-2 AI supercomputer
ROCHE BASEL Art Collection, ARpothecary’s Garden, interactive AR installation
WING LUKE MUSEUM, Seattle. Digital prints from Touching, Traces and from Brush the Sky
BROICH DIGITAL ART MUSEUM, Frankfurt.Vera Plastica generative AR installation
LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON Collection, Touching, Traces: 2020 Election Diaries, 21 print series
EDUARDO KAC Collection, Touching, Traces: 2020-05-14, fine art print
JULIA & ANTON HOFMEIER Collection, Nothing of him that doth fade … 3D ceramic print & AR installation
In 2024 she 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 2018 SAT Montreal Visionary Pioneer and 2009 IBM Innovation Award in Art and Technology.
She has works in the following collections:
MUSEUM of MODERN ART (MoMA), New York, NY. Connection Machine CM-2 AI supercomputer
WHITNEY MUSEUM of AMERICAN ART, New York, NY. Unexpected Growth AR installation
SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, Silicon Valley, California. Beyond Manzanar VR installation
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington DC. Connection Machine CM-2 AI supercomputer
ROCHE BASEL Art Collection, ARpothecary’s Garden, interactive AR installation
WING LUKE MUSEUM, Seattle. Digital prints from Touching, Traces and from Brush the Sky
BROICH DIGITAL ART MUSEUM, Frankfurt.Vera Plastica generative AR installation
LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON Collection, Touching, Traces: 2020 Election Diaries, 21 print series
EDUARDO KAC Collection, Touching, Traces: 2020-05-14, fine art print
JULIA & ANTON HOFMEIER Collection, Nothing of him that doth fade … 3D ceramic print & AR installation
CV
2024 SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art.
2024 XR HALL of FAME, AWE (Augmented World Expo). Inducted as part of the inaugural cohort.
2024 CAI (Contemporary Art Issue) "Top 20 Most Famous Digital Artists Today.”
2024 ASU Tempe. Visiting Artist in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, Dept. of Image Science.
2023 BROICH DIGITAL ART MUSEUM commission via DAM PROJECTS BERLIN: Vera Plastica AR
2023 City of Munich Vice Mayor Katrin Habenschaden officially "unveils" physical plaque to launch #JulietToo AR intervention at Juliet Capulet statue, Marienplatz.
2023 KUNSTHALLE MUNICH, BIOTOPIA and BAVARIAN STATE FOREST ENTERPRISE commission for "Waldwandel/Forest Flux".
2023 BAVARIAN STATE FOREST ENTERPRISE grant for "Waldwandel/Forest Flux" AR installation.
2022 KUNSTSAMMLUNG ROCHE BASEL acquisition, ARpothecary’s Garden AR installation. Commissioned by Roche for the ARTour Basel AR city tour, curated by Sabine Himmelsbach/House of Electronic Arts Basel.
2022 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE Interdisciplinary Program | UNITY CHARITABLE FUND/TIDES FOUNDATION grant.
2022 GAZELL.iO online digital artist in residence, GAZELLI ART HOUSE London.
2022 LUMEN PRIZE / BCS (British Computer Society) Immersive Environment Award Longlist.
2021 CHRISTIE’S NY first curated NFT sale “Proof of Sovereignty,” curated by Lady PheOnix.
2021–2022 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE Art of Practice fellow.
2021 SMITHSONIAN INSITUTION AR commission for “ReWildAR,” for 175th anniversary FUTURES exhibition.
2021 THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY, London. Commission for deepfake participatory AI net art.
2021 DiMoDA 4.0 commission for "Atmos Sphaerae" VR artwork, curated by Christiane Paul.
2021 CINEQUEST Best Immersive VR for “My Identity Is This Expanse.” (Guest VR artist for this VR experience by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron.)
2020 FILM FERNSEH FONDS BAYERN (Film Commission Bayern) concept and prototyping grant for a mixed reality VR installation on the elemental cycles of life.
2020 NANTESBUCH FOUNDATION commission. "Suspended Spring" video artwork, for the "Arts for Spring" exhibit.
2020 FILM FUND LUXEMBOURG funding as guest VR artist for “My Identity Is This Expanse” VR experience, directed by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron.
2020 GOETHE-INSTITUT MONTREAL New Nature grant for AR collaboration with Prof. Dr. Luisa I. Falcon.
2019 PIN Friends of the PINAKOTHEK der MODERNE Benefit Auction, Munich. Nothing of him that doth fade … 3D ceramic print & AR installation auctioned to Julia & Anton Hofmeier.
2019 KNIGHT FOUNDATION/MICROSOFT Immersive Technology in the Arts grant, as AR artistic advisor for Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown, with the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, CA.
2019 DIGITAL GRAFFITI Artist in Residence, AR large projection Evolution of Fish (with /p), Alys Beach, Florida.
2019 DANUBE UNIVERSITY Krems, Austria. Seminar on History, Theory and Practice of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, Department of Image Science.
2018 WHITNEY MUSEUM of AMERICAN ART, commision: augmented reality artwork Unexpected Growth (with /p).
2018 iX VSIONARY PIONEER AWARD, Society of Art and Technology (SAT), Montreal, Canada
2018 VRHAM PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD for Land of Cloud: The Cloud Deities Speak VR artwork, Hamburg
2018 UNIVERSITY of ART and DESIGN, Visiting Professor of Augmented Reality. Linz, Austria
2018 Co-Founder and artistic advisor, ARpoise open source augmented reality platform.
2017 GOOGLE VR TILT BRUSH Artist in Residence for Land of Cloud, San Francisco, California
2017 NEA (NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS) Boston Cyberarts AR exhibit, Salem Maritime Museum, MA.
2017 GOETHE-INSTITUT NEW YORK. Co-organizer (with Caroline Sinders) of FACETS Un-Conference on Art and Artificial Intelligence.
2015 SEATTLE ART MUSEUM, augmented reality commission for the SAM Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle.
2015 DIGITAL SYNESTHESIA commission for I am Sound interactive installation (with Christoph Reiserer).
2015 “The OPEN,“ SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS, Singapore. Class project "Augmenting Singapore," Nanyang Technological University School of Art, Design and Media.
2014 & 2015 Visiting Associate Professor at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore School of Art, Design and Media (ADM). (1 semester per year).
2014 Honor Roll of the IT History Society for the visual design of the Connection Machine CM-1/CM-2 supercomputer.
2014 Arts Council England and Wellcome Trust grants for a commission for "Fractured Visions" from the AXNS Curatorial Collective, London.
2014 Visiting Artist, MFA program in Experimental and Documentary Studies, Duke University
2013 MacDowell Colony Fellow
2012 - 2013 Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) Liverpool commission for "Biomer Skelters."
2012 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund award as artistic adviser for the Caribbean Cultural Center - African Diaspora Institute project "Mi Querido Barrio."
2012 Zero1 Biennial and Samek Art Gallery commission
2011 - 2014 Visiting Artist at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
2011 - 2012 Artist-in-Residence at the Goethe-Institute Second Life, for which she created "Dislocative Sculpture" and “Perceptive Dislocations” performative events in collaboration with the United|Dislokations|Kartell (U|D|K)
2011 - 2012 Visiting Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts
2011 Co-Founder of Manifest.AR Augmented Reality Artist Group
2009 Nomination for the World Technology Award
2009 IBM Innovation Award for artistic creation in art and technology for "Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall," awarded at Boston Cyberarts Festival.
2007 Virtual Reality Workshop at the Ecole Superieure d’Art, Aix-en-Provence
2007 Grant from the Berlin Capital City Cultural Fund (Hauptstadtkulturfonds) to produce "Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall."
2006 City of Munich prize for Young Art/New Media (Junge Kunst/Neue Medien Preis der Landeshauptstadt München), curated by Bettina Wagner-Bergelt and Dr. Stephan Urbaschek, for "In the Land of Babari-an."
2006 City of Munich prize for Young Art/New Media (Junge Kunst/Neue Medien Preis der Landeshauptstadt München), curated by Bettina Wagner-Bergelt and Dr. Stephan Urbaschek, for "In the Land of Babari-an."
2005 Founder of The Upgrade! Munich
2004 - 2005 Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Visual Studies (where she produced "The Travels of Mariko Horo" and began work on "Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall.")
2003 Japan Foundation Fellowship and Artist in Residence at the Kyoto Art Center
2002 - 2004 Highlights of the Permanent Collection / http://sjmusart.org/exhibition/collection-highlights
2001 Nomination for Rockefeller Foundation New Media Arts Fellowship
1999 Artist-in-Residence at the IAMAS Media Arts Academy, Gifu (where she created "Beyond Manzanar")
1998 WIRED Magazine and Asian American Arts Foundation award for "Beyond Manzanar"
1996 Global Information Infrastructure Next Generation Award for extraordinary achievement on the Internet and information highway for "Starbright World" at Worlds, Inc.
1992 Nomination for the German Video Art Prize from ZKM Karlsruhe
1991 Diploma in Applied Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
1985 Co-holder of patent for "Method for Interconnecting Processors in Hyper-Dimensional Array" for the Connection Machine CM-1, parallel supercomputer at Thinking Machines Corporation.
1983 M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1979 B.S. in General Engineering/Product Design at Stanford University
Works
- »Goldsegen« 2014
- »Biomer Skelters« 2013
- »Transformation« 2012
- »Clouding Green« 2012
- »secret movements« 2003
- »Beyond Manzanar« 2000
- »Metamorphoses« 1997
- »Starbright World« 1994
- »The Golden Seed« 1991
News
Exhibitions & Events
2006
Conferences:
Publications & References
Skwarek, Mark. »Augmented Reality Activism.« In Augmented Reality Art: From an Emerging Technology to a Novel Creative Medium, edited by Vladimir Geroimenko, 3-30. Cham: Springer, 2014.
Thiel, Tamiko. »Critical Interventions into Canonical Spaces: Augmented Reality at the 2011 Venice and Istanbul Biennials.« In Augmented Reality Art: From an Emerging Technology to a Novel Creative Medium, edited by Vladimir Geroimenko, 31-60. Cham: Springer, 2014.
Redaktion. »Virtuelle Mauer - ein Kunstprojekt.« ecke köpenicker 0, no. 7 (November 2014): 1.
Obtulowicz, Adam. »Multigraphical Membrane Systems Revisited.« In Conference Proceedings for International Conference on Membrane Computing (CMC 2012), edited by Erzsébet Csuhaj-Varjú, 311-322. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2013.
Lodi, Simona. »Illegal Art and Other Stories.« In Unlike Us Reader: Social Media Monopolies and their Alternatives, edited by Geert Lovink and Miriam Rash, 250-251. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2013.
Waelder, Pau. »White Cube Augmented: AR Art and the Gallery Space.« etc Magazine (October 2012 - February 2013): 53-57.
Mesch, Claudia. Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945. London: Tauris, 2013.
Thiel, Tamiko. »Interview, Statement, Artwork.« Leonardo Electronic Almanac 19, no. 2 (2013): 210-219.
Rackham, Melinda. »divisible Instanbul.« real time , no. 106 (December 2011/January 2012): 22-23.
Tanni, Valentina. »Dio-Hirst alla Tate Modern: Mentre fervono i preparativi per la retrospettiva londinese, arriva l'applicazione in realtà aumentata che "celebra" l'artista inglese.« Artribune (March 30, 2012).
Thiel, Tamiko. »Cyber-Animism and Augmented Dreams.« Leonardo Electronic Almanac (April 2011).
Steinberg, Claudia. »Mit Happenings gegen das Establishment.« Kunstzeitung , no. 183 (November 2011): 19.
Thiel, Tamiko. »The Design of the Connection Machine.« In The Designed World: Images, Objects, Environments, edited by Richard Buchanan and Dennis Doordan and Victor Margolin, 155-166. Oxford/New York: Berg, 2010.
Thiel, Tamiko and Teresa Reuter. »Rhetorics of the Interactive 3D Installation ‘Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall’.« In Conference Proceedings for International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS 2010), edited by Ruth Aylett, 129-140. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2010.
Smith, Matthew Wilson. »Liquid Walls: The Digital Art of Tamiko Thiel.« Performing Arts Journal 32, no. 3 (September 2010): 25-34.
Lieser, Wolf. The World of Digital Art. Potsdam: H. F. Ullmann, 2010.
Quiroz Luna, Marcela. »Orientalism, Occidentalism and Other Myths of Origin.« Fahrenheit Contemporary Art Magazine , no. 39 (February 2010): 102-104.
Thiel, Tamiko and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. »Where Stones Can Speak: Dramatic Encounters in Interactive 3D Virtual Reality.« In Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives, edited by Pat Harrigan. Cambridge, MA: MIT-Press, 2009.
Steinberg, Claudia. »Tamiko Thiels virtuelle Projekte.« Kunstzeitung , no. 146 (October 2008): 30.
Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. World of Art Series, New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008.
Thiel, Tamiko. »Life at the Interface of Art and Technology.« On Screen 18, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 32-34.
Smith, Matthew Wilson. The Total Work of Art: From Bayreuth to Cyberspace. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Gessner, Ingrid. From Sites of Memory to Cybersights: (Re)Framing Japanese American Experiences. Heidelberg: Winter, 2007.
Hentschläger, Ursula. »Im Land der Barbaren.« artmagazine: Ihre online Kunstzeitung (November 10, 2006).
Thiel, Tamiko. »Beyond Manzanar: Creating Dramatic Structure in Ergodic Narratives.« In Conference Proceedings for Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE 2004), edited by Stefan Göbel, 246-251. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2004.
Thiel, Tamiko. »Machine Sapiens.« Ylem Newsletter 15, no. 6 (November/December 1995): 5-6.
Thiel, Tamiko. »The Design of the Connection Machine.« Design Issues 10, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 5-18.
Thiel, Tamiko. »Machina Cogitans.« In Genetic art - artificial life, edited by Karl Gerbel, 186-194. Wien: PVS-Verlag, 1993.