[spectre] SCIENCE AWARD PRESENTED TO OLIVER GRAU

[Image Science]

SCIENCE AWARD PRESENTED TO OLIVER GRAU 

Prof. Dr. habil. Dr. hc. Oliver Grau, MAE was awarded the appreciation
prize of Lower Austria 2019 for the development of Image Sciences and
the field of Media Art research. The science gala on October 9, 2019 in
Grafenegg provided the framework for the award ceremony with the
governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.


Laudatio for the Jury: Mag.a Dr.in Ingrid MATSCHINEGG, Institut für
Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 

FH-Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Wolfgang AIGNER, MSc Fachhochschule
St. Pölten; Mag. Dr. Gerhard BAUMGARTNER, Dokumentationsarchiv des
österreichischen Widerstandes; FH-Prof.in D r.in Barbara ENTLER, IMC
Fachhochschule Krems
Prof. Carl-Philipp HEISENBERG, PhD, IST Austria Klosterneuburg;
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Rudolf KRSKA, Universität für Bodenkultur
Wien; Priv.-Doz.in DIin Dr.in Angela SESSITSCH, AIT Austrian Institute
of Technology

“In the age of digitization the preservation of media art is an
important component of digital art history. The creation of the largest
international online archive of digital art, which is located in Lower
Austria, is a notable success. Lower Austria has received worldwide
visibility in the area of innovative humanities due to Grau.”
Oliver Grau is being awarded with the appreciation prize of the
province of Lower Austria for his outstanding scientific achievements in
the field of image science which deals with the knowledge of the
emergence, function, and effect of images. The award winner grew up in
Erlangen, studied art history at the Universities of Hamburg and Berlin;
at the latter he defended his dissertation in 1999 about immersive art
and with his publication in 2003 „Virtual Art: From Illusion to
Immersion“ he presented the internationally most quoted book in the
field of art history/image sciences over the last two decades. In 2004
he qualified as a university lecturer in media studies at the University
of Linz (Habilitation) and since 2005 he has been the first chair for
image science at the Danube University Krems (DUK) where he has since
been living with his family. At the DUK he leads the renowned Department
for Image Science (DBW) and the graphic collection of Göttweig Abbey.
Since his appointment in Krems he has developed the research center into
an internationally unique transdisciplinary center where basic science
is conducted and also postgraduate courses take place on, among other
issues, digital media art, cross-media design, and digital collection
management. Grau thus contributes significantly to the development,
professionalization, and international networking of the still young
field of image science.

In our current digital media society, which to a large part constitutes
itself through images, the acquisition of image competence is one of the
greatest societal and scientific challenges. Since the beginning of his
activities at the DUK, Oliver Grau has continually sought to expand the
study programs at the DBW and was able to broaden the educational
opportunities with highly successful third-party funding activities;
most recently for the Joint-Master’s degree program “Media Arts Cultures”
attracting funding to the tune of over a million Euro from the Erasmus+
Excellence Program of the European Commission. An important focus of his
research is on the documentation and study of media art using innovative
digital humanities tools. For example, it was possible to develop the
worldwide online archive of digital art [www.digitalartarchive.at] which
has been located in Lower Austria for 14 years. The collaborative and
web-based recording of the complex digital works of art in collaboration
between scientists and living artists in the “Archive of Digital Art"
for the documentation of media art is pioneering. Building on the
project "Interactive Archives and Meta-Thesaurus for Media Art Research”
the Digital Humanities Lab at the Danube University under the leadership
of Grau is pursuing the aim of integrating media art into the field of
art history where it remains under-represented. The implementation of
numerous research projects is carried out with the support of
competitive project funds raised from international and national
research funding programs and agencies. Through these projects Lower
Austria has received global visibility in the area of innovative digital
humanities which has been reinforced by the organization of
international conferences, most recently the conference “Re:Trace" as
part of the conference series “Media-ArtHistories” in Göttweig and at
the Danube University Krems with participants from 50 countries. Oliver
Grau is considered to be one of the most cited researchers in the field
of image and art sciences. He is the author and editor of nine books,
has published over 80 contributions in scientific publications, and has
curated numerous exhibits. The awardee has held over 350 lectures and 90
keynote speeches at international conferences at universities and
museums around the world. For his extensive scientific accomplishments
he has already received numerous awards as well as an honorary
doctorate. In 2015 he was appointed member of the scientific society
„Academia Europaea“ with its headquarters in London.

https://klausranger.smugmug.com/Events/Wissenschaftsgala/Wissenschaftsgala-N%C3%96-2019/
http://www.noe.gv.at/noe/Wissenschaft-Forschung/NOE_Wissenschaftspreis19_Preistraeger.pdf