Peter Weibel
Odessa, 1944 - 2023
Peter Weibel connects art, media theory and science in a career central to European media art.
Artwork in the collection
"Das Tangible Bild", 1991 / 2019
About the artwork
Das Tangible Bild allows visitors to deform their image in real time through a touch-sensitive rubber screen. Sensors translate physical deformation into changes in the image projected over a Cartesian grid. The work asks how an interface transforms our relationship with space and representations of the body.
Artwork in the collection
"The Endless Sandwich", 1969
About the artwork
The Endless Sandwich shows a chain of viewers sitting before television sets. A fault forces the last viewer to intervene, triggering successive interruptions until they reach the real television. The actual viewer’s action completes the process, connecting representation, repetition and participation.
Artwork in the collection
"Media May Rewind Reality", 1969
About the artwork
Media May Rewind Reality contrasts a real candle burning down with reversed footage of another candle apparently growing. The work acts as a vanitas about time, finitude and the ability of media to reverse appearances. It received the eighteenth ARCO-BEEP Electronic Art Award.
Artistic career: Peter Weibel
Career and projects
Peter Weibel was an artist, theorist, curator and central figure in European media art. His studies spanned literature, medicine, logic, philosophy and film. He developed an extensive teaching career and led institutions and projects including Ars Electronica, Frankfurt’s Institut für Neue Medien and ZKM in Karlsruhe. His research connected art, science and technology, questioning the role of interfaces in constructing reality. His international honours included the Oskar Kokoschka Prize and recognition in France’s Order of Arts and Letters.