"Monika Fleischmann is one of the leading pioneers in applications of virtual, mixed and augmented reality to art and culture. With her partner, Wolfgang Strauss, she founded Netzspannung.org ...", Kim Veltman, 2005, Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute   

Monika Fleischmann, (b. in 1950 in Karlsruhe, Germany) is a distinguished research artist and media scholar celebrated for her groundbreaking contributions to media art. Initially studying fashion design in Zurich, Switzerland, her expertise is underlined by state diplomas in art and Schulspieltheater/performing arts from the Berlin University of the Arts, coupled with advanced training in computer graphics. Her extensive career spans diverse fields such as fashion design, art education, and broadcasting. Since the 1980s, she has collaborated with her partner, the architect Wolfgang Strauss, on architectural projects and initiated major research projects on intuitive human-machine interfaces and interactive media art. Since the mid-1980s, Fleischmann has engaged with digital media, establishing herself as a recognized authority in new media art.

In 1987, Fleischmann co-founded the first German research institute for digital media, art, science and technology, ART+COM ("The Billion Dollar Code") in Berlin. Her contributions to the field, including work in virtual and mixed reality, are further evidenced by her significant involvement in the founding of various research departments, such as MARS (Media Arts ReSearch & Exploratory Media Lab), at national research institutions such as the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD) and the eCulture Factory at the Fraunhofer Research Association (Media Communication // AI).  

Two of the most notable works created by this collective are the interactive table, "Berlin-Cyber City" (1989), which was created in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and "Home of the Brain" (1989-1991), which was the world's inaugural virtual reality piece utilizing a data glove and head-mounted display. This work was honored with the Golden Nica of Prix Ars Electronica in 1992. "Liquid Views" (1992), the digital reflection of Media Narcissus, is arguably one of the most influential works in the field. "PointScreen" (2003), a Minority Report HCI, represents a groundbreaking invention for touch and touchless interfaces. "Semantic Map" (2001-04), a pioneering work in neural networks, has come to be a standard in artificial intelligence data analysis.

In 2004, the public installation "Energy Passages," which was designed to engage visitors in a playful yet informative way, was exhibited for four weeks at the square in front of the Literaturhaus in Munich. The objective of the exhibit was to measure visitors' moods and levels of energy, with the goal of gaining insight into the political worldview of the newspaper in question, as well as the individual worldviews of its readers. "Energy Passages" and "Semantic Map" exemplify strategies of interactivity that leverage AI to "augment human intelligence," offering a unique opportunity for visitors to engage with technology in ways that are both engaging and educational. "The question is not whether machines can think, but whether people can still think when everything is automated." [link]

Fleischmann has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Golden Nica for Interactive Art at the 1992 Prix Ars Electronica, the 2017 Female Inventor Award in Berlin, Germany, [link] and at SIGGRAPH 2018 – The Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art. [link] In 2018, she was also designated a Member of the SIGGRAPH Academy. [link] Furthermore, she was bestowed with the 2023 eCulture Award from Anilla Cultural Montevideo in Uruguay. [link] The awards recognize her considerable impact within the domain of new media art. In 2024, Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss were inducted into the AWE XR Hall of Fame as two of the inaugural virtual, mixed, and augmented reality artists. [link]

The artist is currently engaged in the process of creating a new work and revisiting with Wolfgang Strauss their existing archives, one of which is located at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media. Their objective is to reconstruct various of their groundbreaking works. A book about their joint work over the last four decades is in preparation, as is a film about their history as artists in a scientific environment with numerous inventions and a patent for capturing gestures in the air, which, despite various applications, could never be realized as a product. It was not until a decade later that the invention was possible to patent in the USA. In the early days of digital media in the 1980s and perhaps even today, there was a paucity of technical understanding on a global scale, particularly in the realm of research policy in Germany and Europe.