Benjamin Heidersberger
Benjamin Heidersberger (born in 1957 in Braunschweig, Germany) is a German media artist, journalist, entrepreneur and culture manager. He lives and works in Berlin and Wolfsburg.
Early life
Heidersberger studied physics, biology, and computer science at the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1978. From 1978 to 1984, he was part of the interdisciplinary artist group Head Resonance Company in Wolfsburg. Along with the artist Peter Elsner, they conducted research on how ideas become reality in architecture, music, performance and installation.
Career
In 1984, he moved to Hamburg to work for a PC-dealer, Polisoft and later ABC Trading. From 1988 onward, he was an editor of the Computer-Magazine, MACup, about hardware and software, and later about art, technology, and society.
In 1989, he co-founded the Ponton-Lab as an artist group and realised interactive media and TV-projects on Documenta- 8 and Documenta- IX, in Japan 1993 as well as on Ars Electronica 1986, 89, 90 and 96 under the brand Van Gogh TV.
In 1992, the international project Piazza virtuale was realised, transmitting during the 100 days of Documenta daily 90 minutes of live-TV from 12 studios across Europe.[1][2] The same year he curated the exhibition "Creative Software - On Men and Milestones" at Ars Electronica.[3]
In 1993 and 1994, Heidersberger taught Design of Electronic Media at Merz-Academy in Stuttgart. Ponton-Lab was formed into a full-service internet agency with up to 20 employees and realised the websites niedersachsen.de for the Lower Saxony State Government and deutschland.de for the Federal Press Office and later the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1998 he launched Kulturserver, an online community for art and culture consisting of online-services for 20.000 artists similar to social media. The project was invited to present at the international conference “Cultura y Desarrollo” in Havana.[4]
In 2002, he founded the Heidersberger Institute in Wolfsburg Castle to archive and publish the work of his father, photographer Heinrich Heidersberger. The Institute collaborates with contemporary artists to contextualise that work. In the same year he was curator for netart on the 4th Werkleitz Binnale.
Beginning in 2011 Heidersberger gave lectures at the Department of Media Studies and Musicology in Humboldt-University. In 2012, he curated and produced the concert of the Japanese composer Shinji Kanki, for the Alvar Aalto Festival in Wolfsburg. He realized the algorithmic piano composition Pentatonic Permutations[5] in a series of concerts and sound installations, among others at Ars Electronica 2016.[6]
In 2017, he began curating the production-arts festival Drehmoment for the KulturRegion Stuttgart.[7]
Awards and nominations
1991 Smithsonian Award, Washington - Nominee
1993 Siemens International Media Art award, by ZKM Karlsruhe
1993 Prix Ars Electronica
1994 Interactive Media Festival, Los Angeles - Nominee
2000 Best of Business-to-Business Award, as CEO, category Multimedia
2002 eMIL- Award, category User Interface
2003 eMIL- Award, category Internet
2004 WebFish award of the Lutheran Church in Germany (EKD), category Innovation
2008 WebFish of the EKD, category Internet
Bibliography
Heinrich Heidersberger: Wolfsburg - Bilder einer jungen Stadt. Herausgeber, with Bernd Rodrian, ISBN 3-89479-826-2.
Johannes Ehrhardt (Hg.): Netzwerk-Dimensionen. Kulturelle Konfigurationen und Managementperspektiven, Die virtuelle Piazza. 1992, ISBN 3-89238-045-7.
Manfred Waffender (Hg.): Cyberspace : Ausflüge in virtuelle Wirklichkeiten, Die digitale Droge. 1993, ISBN 3-49918-185-1
Christoph Ernst, Jens Schröter (Editors): (Re-)Imagining New Media. Techno-Imaginaries around 2000 and the case of "Piazza virtuale" (1992), ISBN 978-3-658--32898-6
References
Spiegel.de: Die imaginäre Pizza, 21. Mai 1992, retrieved July 10, 2018
Wired.com: The Medium is the Mission, 5. Januar 1993, retrieved July 10, 2018
Ars Electronica Archiv: Endo Nano - Die Welt von Innen, 1992, retrieved July 10, 2018
The Guardian: Cuba faces the web revolution, July 22, 1995, retrieved August 8, 2018
Pentatonic Permutations 20121216, retrieved 2018-09-28
Ars Electronica Festival 2016 - Radical Atoms, retrieved July 10, 2018
kulturregion-stuttgart.de: Benjamin Heidersberger wird künstlerischer Leiter für das Projekt 2018, 3. February 2017, retrieved July 16, 2018
Links (A-Z) on the Internet
Chaos Studio Hamburg: Van Gogh TV - Piazza virtuale - Hallo hallo ist da jemand?, 29.12.2021
Drehmoment, Kulturregion Stuttgart, 2018
Expanded.art: Benjamin Heidersberger: The Transition from Analog to Digital, Interview by Anika Meier - 24.07.2023
Heise-Interview zur Ars Electronica, 2019
Humboldt-Lectures
- Die Rhythmogramme Heinrich Heidersbergers. Performance Lecture mit Analogcomputer-Grafiken und Analogsynthesizer, 11.04.2012
- Fundus Fundamentalis: Der AKS von EMS, 15.10.2012
- Benjamin Heidersberger: "Van Gogh TV - Piazza virtuale", 21.11.2012
- Videokommunikation, Lange Nacht der Museen, 10.5.2014
- Der Macintosh-Clone Jonathan, VCFB, 3.10.2016
Martin Conrads: Interaktiv mit Tastentelefon, TAZ, 29.11.2021
Navigationen
- Navigationen 21 2 2021 "Zukünftige Medienästhetik"
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Benjamin Heidersberger; Jan Claas van Treeck: Die Enden des Internet. „Piazza virtuale“ revisited, 2021
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Versorgerin: Die Enden des Internets, Reprint in Dezember 2021
- The Ends of the Internets. A Discussion. February 11, 2022 Benjamin Heidersberger and Jan Claas van Treeck
Netzpiloten: We had a dream. Interview with Benjamin Heidersberger, 25.10.2013
Ponton Euroean Media Art Lab, saved by Scarabaeus, thanks!
Slobodanka Stupar, Zoom with Van Gogh TV
Tilman Baumgärtel: Bilder wie in einer Zoom-Konferenz, TAZ, 20.4.2020
Tilman Baumgärtel: Heute heisst das Chat, TAZ, 12.9.2014
TV-Projects with Ponton/Van Gogh TV (Karel Dudesek, Benjamin Heidersberger, Mike Hentz, Salvatore Vanasco and a team of designers, hackers, programmers)
- 1989 RePublic TV / Ars Electronica
- 1990 Hotel Pompino / Ars Electronica
- 1992 Piazza virtuale / documenta IX
- 1993 Piazza Tokyo / NHK-BS2
- 1993 Service area a.i. / Ars Electronica
- 1995 Comenius / Berkom - Deutsche Telekom
- 1995 Cafe Deutschland / Prototype
- 1995 SWF3 Nachtfieber / SWF3
Van Gogh TV Press, Piazza virtuale, documenta 1992, (download 100 MB)
Warten. - Das Magazin. Heft 1. Bordan, Dana und Rudi Stört (Hrsg.)
Wikipedia deutsch
Wikipedia english
Download - Dateien:
- This is the PowerPoint I am using for my presentation on Piazza virtuale.
20 Jahre Piazza virtuale big fin.pdf - 12778 KB - In 1993 Van Gogh TV got the Recognition of the Prix Ars Electronica for our project Piazza virtuale on documenta IX in 1992.
Ars Electronica Anerkennung.pdf - 1046 KB - Anika Meier is interviewing Benjamin Heidersberger about his upbringing and the development from Analog to Digital.
BENJAMIN HEIDERSBERGER THE TRANSITION FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL.pdf - 9184 KB - Being a fan of Open Access TV I consulted them and developed some ideas about their future (in German).
Buergerrundfunk im Wandel.pdf - 87 KB - This is a presentations about different forms of Generative Art.
Chaos und Ordnung.pdf - 14166 KB - I actually own an original EMS Synthi AKS from the 70ies with its unique user interface. A presentation at Humboldt-University about the revolutionary synthesizer.
Der EMS Synthi AKS.pdf - 3167 KB - An article on Cyberspace.
Die digitale Droge.pdf - 115 KB - A presentation about Heinrich Heidersbergers Rhythmograph from the 50ies and 60ies.
Die Rhythmogramm-Maschine.pdf - 3300 KB - A chapter from: Johannes Ehrhardt (Hg.): Netzwerk-Dimensionen. Kulturelle Konfigurationen und Managementperspektiven, Die virtuelle Piazza. 1992
Die virtuelle Piazza.pdf - 1068 KB - My introduction text for the Festival Drehmoment I curated 2017/18 in Stuttgart.
Drehmoment Text des Kurators final katalog bh.pdf - 35 KB - CeBIT 1989, flyer for the Macintosh clone Jonathan.
Flyer Jonathan Cebit 89.pdf - 3743 KB - Ponton-Lab internet strategy development for the Lutheran Church.
gott im internet.pdf - 1687 KB - Invitation for the Interactive Media Festival Los Angeles, 1994.
Interactive Media Festival.pdf - 1030 KB - Klaus Madzias Press Release for the Macintosh clone at CeBIT.
Klaus Madzia To Clone Or Not To Clone.pdf - 2795 KB - Klaus Madzias Spiegel Article about the Macintosh Clone Jonathan.
Klaus Madzia Eins aufs Auge Spiegel 12 89.pdf - 5526 KB - Two generative art forms: A comparison of the rice flour Kolams from South India in comparison with my fathers Rhythmograms.
Kolams und Rhythmogramme.pdf - 34765 KB - Report about Kulturserver (3_1999), the online community for art and culture.
Kulturserver 3 1999.pdf - 747 KB - Report about Kulturserver (3_2000), the online community for art and culture.
Kulturserver 3 2000.pdf - 721 KB - The final report about Kulturserver, the online community for art and culture.
Kulturserver Niedersachsen Abschlussbericht.pdf - 612 KB - MACup text about Apple Macintosh II introduction.
MACup 87 10 Status quo.pdf - 5584 KB - MACup text about the Apple Macintosh Plus technology.
MACup 88 01 extra Innenwelten.pdf - 8649 KB - MACup article about external 10 MB drives.
MACup 88 01 Maxi Player.pdf - 5863 KB - Testing turbo boards for the Macintosh SE.
MACup 88 02 MACH II.pdf - 9559 KB - Testing LaserWriter II.
MACup 88 03 Lieber Laser.pdf - 9154 KB - Connecting Macintosh to mainframes.
MACup 88 06 Lass mich rein lass mich raus.pdf - 10897 KB - Early article about computer viruses.
MACup 88 07 In 80 Tagen um die Welt.pdf - 6377 KB
MACup 88 08 Der Ernst des Spiels.pdf - 3930 KB
MACup 88 10 Auf die Mama kommt es an.pdf - 7775 KB- Speculations about a Macintosh clone.
MACup 88 11 Geburtenkontrolle.pdf - 3977 KB
MACup 89 02 Lesen und Lesen lassen.pdf - 15379 KB- Background article about different image formats.
MACup 89 03 Bilder mit Format.pdf - 6646 KB - Article about the Macintosh clone Jonathan from Taiwan.
MACup 89 05 Erste Gehversuche.pdf - 4235 KB - Article about the Apple Macintosh Laptop and clones.
MACup 90 02 Mobiles Einsatzkommando.pdf - 17959 KB - My research on Cyberspace and virtual reality, meeting Jaron Lanier, Scott Fisher and others.
MACup 90 05 Die digitale Droge.pdf - 13659 KB - Early article about digital photography.
MACup 90 06 Stilleben.pdf - 6956 KB - Article about the Macintosh Portable clone from Outbound Systems.
MACup 90 08 Der Koeder.pdf - 8503 KB - Article about RasterOps MediaTime.
MACup 92 03 Tonangebend.pdf - 3622 KB
MACup Buyers Guide 1 Verbrecher.pdf - 8856 KB
MACup Buyers Guide Festplatten im Test.pdf - 11551 KB- The magazine MACup was doing a special edition for Piazza virtuale.
MACup documenta.pdf - 27026 KB - Trademark registration of Pentatonic Permutations.
MAR 3020162238899 2023-09-30.pdf - 105 KB - Van Gogh TV received the Siemens Art Price by ZKM in 1993 together with Friedrich Kittler, Bill Viola and William Burroghs
Medienkunstpreis 93.pdf - 1744 KB - A wild collection of ideas.
metatext bonn.pdf - 239 KB - This is my patent on the low cost video digitiser AVIS we used for Service area a.i.
Patent DE000004418191C1.pdf - 486 KB - This is the presentation I am giving before Pentatonic Permutations performances.
Pentatonic Permutations Planetarium.pdf - 5546 KB - This is the presentation I am giving before Pentatonic Permutations performances.
Pentatonic Permutations Presentation.pdf - 5542 KB - My Golf certificate.
Platzreife.pdf - 964 KB - Ponton-Lab company presentations in 2000.
Ponton Lab 2000.pdf - 1084 KB - The magazine Retro published an article about my first 8080 microprocessor system.
Retro 32 8080 Selbstbauprojekt.pdf - 6883 KB - The Ponton Media Art Lab was nominated for the Smithsonian Award.
Smithsonian Nominee.pdf - 824 KB - The Invention of Social Media at documenta IX. Tilman Baumgärtels book about Piazza virtuale to download.
Tilman Baumgaertel Van Gogh TV s - Piazza virtuale - 13929 KB - Video communication systems used at Piazza virtuale and Service area a.i. Lecture at Humboldt University.
Video Communication.pdf - 12535 KB - The Nov 93 Wired article on Piazza virtuale on documenta IX by Jules Marshall.
WIRED Nov 93 The Medium Is The Mission.pdf - 6825 KB - My high school exam.
Zeugnis der Reife.pdf - 3268 KB