Women Leaders: Tamiko Thiel - Artworks exploring the intersection of virtual space and cultural memory

Tamiko Thiel, an MIT engineer redefining art through technology and imagination.

Innovating in design and computing, AR art as critical and social media?

Tamiko Thiel will show how she uses various forms of augmented reality (AR) technology to engage visitors in an interplay between the site and the virtual artwork, to evoke multiple layers of memory and meaning. The artworks are immersive experiences that engage not just the visual and aural senses, but also the kinesthetic sense – the visitors’ awareness of their body in space. Her instal­la­tions range from immersive spaces to wall-sized projections to works visible in what she calls ​“ARscopes” – mobile tablets and smartphones transformed into devices with which, just like micro-scopes and tele-scopes, we can see layers of experience that are normally invisible to our naked eyes. 

Programme: 

17:30 – Guided tour of the instal­la­tion: ​“Waldwandel/​Forest Flux” on the Belval site, with the artist and curator Françoise Poos and Vincent Crapon
📍Place de Hauts Fourneaux

18:30 – Public Lecture and Q&A followed by networking
📍Exact location to be announced soon

Register here

Free event with limited seating 
In English
Organised by The Gender Equality Office and Espace Cultures


Biography: 

In 2024 Tamiko Thiel was awarded the SIGGRAPH Dis­tin­guished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Arts, ranked in the top 10 most famous digital artists by CAI Magazine, 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. After her studies in product design at Stanford University in 1979 and in mechanical engineering at MIT in 1983, Thiel worked at the Thinking Machines Corporation founded by Danny Hillis. Thiel led the product design team creating the form of the first commercial artificial intel­li­gence super­com­put­ers, Danny Hillis’ Connection Machine CM‑1 and CM‑2. She sub­se­quent­ly studied fine arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich, from 1985 to 1991. Thiel has held solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Wolfsburg (2022), The Pho­tog­ra­phers’ Gallery London and DAM Projects Berlin. Her work has also been exhibited at the Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest (2024); ZKM — Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (2022); Casino Luxembourg — Forum d’art con­tem­po­rain, Luxembourg (2021); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2019, 2017); and in a guerilla inter­ven­tion into the 54^th Biennale di Venezia (2011). Thiel lives and works in Munich.