Oliver Grau

Prof. Dr. habil. Oliver Grau studied Art History, Economics, Archaeology, and Italian Literature in Hamburg, London, and Siena. In 2004, he completed his habilitation with the thesis "Becoming Image: Concepts of Evolution and Progress in the Histories of Images." From 2005 to 2022, he held the first-ever Chair Professorship for Image Science in the German-speaking world, a position he established and led at the Department of Image Science at Danube University Krems.

Grau's research encompasses the histories of media art, immersive images, art and emotion, telepresence, artificial life (AI), and digital humanities. He has made pioneering contributions to Digital Humanities and has authored several influential works. His book "Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion" (MIT Press, 2003) is one of the most cited art history monographs in recent decades, with over 2,900 citations. Other notable publications include "MediaArtHistories" (MIT Press, 2007), a foundational text for the field, as well as Museum and Archive on the Move (2017), Digital Art under the Looking Glass (2019), and Retracing Political Dimensions (2021).

As a founder of the field of MediaArtHistories, Grau initiated its international conference series and led the Immersive Art project beginning in 1998, which resulted in the creation of the first international archive for digital art (ADA). He also developed innovative curricula, including the MediaArtHistories MA and Digital Collection Management. Grau’s work has been recognized internationally, earning him election to the Academia Europaea and features in leading media outlets such as Scientific American, Nature, DIE ZEIT, and FAZ.