Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer
Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer are internationally renowned media artists, researchers and pioneers of interactive art.
Laurent Mignonneau studied video art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Angoulême, France. Christa Somerer studied botany and anthropology at the University of Vienna and sculpture at the University of Fine Arts in Vienna. The two met in 1991 at the Media Institute run by media pioneer Peter Weibel.
Their work together has resulted in more than 20 interactive artworks for which they have received numerous awards, including: the Ars Electronica Ovation Award, Interactive Media Festival, Los Angeles - the Multimedia Association's Multimedia'95 Award, World Technology Award, Japan, The Arts of the World Technology Network, UK. Their work has been shown in over 200 international exhibitions and is part of museums and collections worldwide.
Their interactive art installations have been called a symbol of the times and "epochal" for developing natural and intuitive interfaces and applying scientific principles such as artificial intelligence, complexity and generative systems to the innovative interfaces they have developed.
Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer are currently professors and heads of the Department of Interface Culture at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria.