Tina Sauerlaender is artistic director of the VR ART PRIZE by DKB in cooperation with CAA Berlin.

Tina Sauerlaender is an art historian, curator and writer who focuses on the impact of the digital and the internet on individual environments and society as well as on virtual reality in visual arts. She is co-founder and director of the independent exhibition platform peer to space and has been organizing and curating international group exhibitions since 2010, like The Unframed World. Virtual Reality as Artistic Medium for the 21st Century (House of Electronic Arts Basel, 2017). Together with curator Erandy Vergara she developed the exhibition series Critical Approaches in Virtual Reality Art and realized projects like Envisioning the Future. Other World Perspectives in Virtual Reality Art (Halcyon Arts Lab, Washington, DC, 2018) or Speculative Cultures. A Virtual Reality Art Exhibition (Kellen Gallery, Parsons/The New School, New York, 2019).

Tina Sauerlaender, photo by J. Pegman, 2020

‘Virtual reality means experiencing works of art instead of merely viewing them. In virtual reality, there is no longer any distance from the world as we experience it. One is situated in the middle of the work of art and exists at the centre of a digitally created world. This approach enables a completely unique access and experience for the viewer.’

Since March 2012, Sabine Himmelsbach has been the director of HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel). After studying art history in Munich, she worked for galleries in Munich and Vienna from 1993–1996, and later became the project manager for exhibitions and conferences for the Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, Austria. In 1999, she became the exhibition director at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. From 2005–2011, she was the artistic director of the Edith-Russ-House for Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany. In 2011, she curated ‘gateways. Art and Networked Culture’ for the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn as part of the European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011 program. Her exhibitions at HeK in Basel include ‘Ryoji Ikeda’ (2014), ‘Poetics and Politics of Data’ (2015), ‘Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pre-absence’ (2016), ‘unREAL’ (2017), ‘Lynn Hershman Leeson: Anti-Bodies’, ‘Eco-Visionaries’ (2018) and ‘Entangled Realities. Living with Artificial Intelligence’ (2019). As a writer and lecturer, she is dedicated to topics related to media art and digital culture.

(c) portrait Sabine Himmelsbach by Christian Knoerr

‘The medium of virtual reality heralds a paradigm shift within the creative process, its experience regarding narrative structures and its reception and perception. It is exciting to witness how artists visualise their perceptions as an entirely new experience.’

Astrid Kahmke is the director and co-founder of the Virtual Worlds Festival and the head of the European Creators’ lab for artistic XR. In the past she has produced international feature films which won numerous awards, was creative director of the Bavarian Film Centre for seven years and curated the international ‘i4c’ conferences. Due to her expertise, she is in demand internationally to appear as a speaker, guest lecturer and panelist. Together with INVR, she produced a VR installation that premiered at the Biennale Venice VR 2019 and is member of the scientific advisory board of the academy for theatre and digitality in Dortmund. Astrid participates in numerous juries and committees with a focus on narrative XR.

‘VR seems to be the fulfillment of our most ancient dreams: to be fully immersed in a new world.’

Wolf Lieser from Wiesbaden founded the DAM Projects in 1998, consisting of the DAM online museum, DAM Gallery  and the DAM DIGITAL ART AWARD |DDAA|. He created the first gallery for digital media in London during the years 1999 – 2002. Since 2003, he has been at the DAM Gallery in Berlin. The emphasis is on digital media in art from the 1960s to the present. In 2009, he published his introductory book Digital Art, which has been translated into six languages. He regularly participates in international talks, symposia and juries.

‘What is extraordinary about virtual reality art? The spectator becomes the centre of an artistic experience. You don’t look at a work of art from a distance anymore, you are situated right in the middle of it. “Go in instead of look at” was what the U.S. performance artist Allan Kaprow said, and this sums up the experience.’

Ulrich Schrauth is the initiator, as well as the creative director, of the ‘VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival’ in Hamburg and supervises various international projects within the field of digital media as a creative director. In addition, he is the XR & Immersive Programmer for the annual BFI London Film Festival. On a regular basis he acts as a jury member, for the Fedora Digital Art Prize, Laval Virtual/France and the VREFEST Rome/Italy, among others.

In addition, Ulrich is the speaker and moderator, with a focus on immersive art, for the SXSW Festival Austin/Texas, the Film Festival in Cannes/France and the European Jazz Conference Novara/Italy, just to name a few. Ulrich Schrauth has many years of professional experience in artistic planning, the organisation and curation of festivals, theatre and music productions.

(c) portrait Ulrich Schrauth by Catrin-Anja Eichinger

‘Virtual reality exists only because the viewer sees it. It offers, unlike the encounter with art in real space, a holistic experience. The immersive experience within an individual and interactive world enables a new sensual perception beyond the market-driven object fetishism, and thus stands for a new concept of art.’

Alexandra von Stosch is an author, curator and lecturer with a doctoral degree in art history. After graduating from the Sorbonne in Paris, she was responsible for national art-in-architecture projects, as well as for the art collection of the Société Générale, La Défense. From 1997 to 2001, she founded and directed the International Centre for Curatorial Studies in New York. In Berlin she was co-founder of the Contemporary Arts Alliance Berlin, supporting talents in the fields of fine arts, dancing, music and drama. Among other things, she taught at Humboldt University, and since 2017 at the Barenboim Said Academy. Furthermore, Alexan­dra von Stosch is a member of the board at Villa Aurora/Thomas Mann House e.V., at Stadt­museum Berlin, on the scientific board of Berlinische Galerie, as well as an art juror. In 2015, she founded Bauhaus Council Berlin e.V., a platform for future discourse for the Bauhaus Archives. Since March 2017, she heads the Art & Culture Department of the Artprojekt Group and has been a member of the Executive Board since January 2019.