Oliver Grau (rođen 24. listopada1965. ) je njemački povjesničar umjetnosti i teoretičar medija s naglaskom na znanost o slici, modernost i medijske umjetnosti, kao i kulturu 19. stoljeća i talijansku umjetnost renesanse.
Održavao je predavanja na međunarodnim turnejama,[1] dobio brojne nagrade,[2] objavio međunarodne publikacije na engleskom, španjolskom, portugalskom, srpskom, makedonskom, slovenskom, korejskom, kineskom jeziku. Njegovo glavno područje istraživanja je povijest medijske umjetnosti, uranjanje (virtualna realnost), i emocije, kao i povijest, ideja i kultura teleprisutnosti i umjetnog života. Grauova knjiga Virtual Art, koja je obrađena u više od 50 recenzija, ponudila je po prvi put povijesnu usporedbu teorije uranjanja na razini slika-promatrač, kao i sustavnu analizu trilogije: umjetnik, rad i promatrač, u uvjetima digitalne umjetnosti. Istraživanje je povezano s novim modelom evolucijske povijesti medija iluzije koji rezultira s jedne strane relativnom ovisnošću o novim čulnim potencijalima sugestije, a s druge strane o promjenjivoj snazi otuđenja gledatelja (medijska kompetencija).
Grau je osmislio nove znanstvene alate za humanističke znanosti / digitalne humanističke znanosti, upravljao je projektom "Immersive art" institucije "The German Research Foundation (DFG)", čiji tim je 1998 g. počeo razvijati prvu međunarodnu arhivu za digitalnu umjetnost[3] pisanu na open source platformi na sveučilištu Danube-University Krems i otada je prate brojni spin-off projekti.
Od 2000 g. DVA je bila prva on-line arhiva na kojoj se može redovito pratiti video dokumentacija. Od 2005 g. Grau je upravitelj baze podataka Goettweigs grafičke zbirke, najveće austrijske privatne grafičke zbirke koja sadrži 30.000 djela, u rasponu od Albrecht Duerera do Gustava Klimta. Grau je razvio novi međunarodni nastavni plan i program za znanost o slici:
MediaArtHistories MA, akademski stručni program upravljanja digitalnom zbirkom, program dizajna izlaganja, vizualne kompetencije i master program znanost o slici.
[4] Povrh toga, uvođenjem prijenosa predavanja putem weba (the Danube Telelectures), novi interaktivni format održavanja predavanja i rasprava je zaživio i odaslan je strimingom širom svijeta.
Nakon studija u Hamburgu, Berlinu i Sieni i doktorskog rada, Grau je predavao na Humboldt sveučilištu u Berlinu, bio je gost različitih istraživačkih laboratorija u Japanu i SAD-u i nakon poslije doktorske kvalifikacije predavača (habilitation) 2003 g. radio je kao profesor na različitim međunarodnim sveučilištima. Djelovao je kao savjetnik u međunarodnim stručnim časopisima i različitim udrugama. Grau organizira različite konferencije.[5] Od 2002 g. Grau je pokušao udružiti istraživanje medijske umjetnosti i njenu povijest koje su raspršene na mnogim poljima i zato je bio osnivački ravnatelj Refresh!-a, First International Conference on the History of Media Art, Science and
Technology, Banff 2005 (2007 Berlin, 2009 Melbourne, 2011 Liverpool) - prva međunarodna konferencija o povijesti medijske umjetnosti, znanosti i tehnologije.
O.Grau: MediaArtHistories, MIT Press-2007 i on-line tekstualna arhiva mediaarthistory.org su rezultat ovih konferencija. Neke od nagrada: 2001 g. izabran za člana Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Scientific Academy and the Leopoldina; 2002 g. InterNations/Goethe Institute; 2003 g. Book of the Month, Scientific American; 2003 g. dobiva istraživačku stipendiju od njemačko-talijanskog centra Villa Vigoni; 2004 g. dobiva nagradu Media Award of the Humboldt University.
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Retracing Political Dimensions: Strategies in Contemporary New Media Art, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2020.
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Digital Art through the Looking Glass: New strategies for archiving, collecting and preserving in Digital Humanities, Krems/Wien/Hamburg: Danube University Press 2019.
Oliver Grau (Ed.) Museum and Archive on the Move: Changing cultural Institutions in the digital Era, Munich: DeGruyter 2017.
Documenting Media Art: A Web 2.0-Archive and Bridging Thesaurus for MediaArtHistories. in: Leonardo Journal, Vol. 52, No. 5, 2019.
Digital Art’s Complex Expression and Its Impact on Archives and Humanities: For a Concerted Museum Network of Expertise and Preservation. In Oliver Grau, Wendy Coones, Viola Rühse (eds.) Museum and Archive on the Move: Changing Cultural Institutions in the Digital Era, Berlin: De Gruyter 2017, pp. 99-117.
Alguma vez nos vamos habituar à imersão? Histórias da Arte dos Media & Ciência da Imagem - Will we ever become used to Immersion? Media Art Histories & Image Science. In Victor Flores (ed.) A terceira Imagem - A Fotografia Estereoscópica em Lissabon: Documenta Portugal, pp. 39-62.
The Complex and Multifarious Expression of Digital Art & Its Impact on Archives and Humanities. In: A Companion to Digital Art. edited by Christiane Paul. Wiley-Blackwell, New York 2016, 23–45.
New Media Art. In: Oxford Bibliographies in Art History. edited by Prof. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann. Oxford University Press, New York 2016, S. 1–18.
Our Digital Culture threatened by Loss. In: Valentino Catricalà: Media Art: Towards a new definition of Arts in the Age of Technology. Pistoia 2015, S. 39–44.
ARCHIV 2.0: Media Arts Impact and the Need for (Digital) Humanities. In: Giselle Beiguelman (Ed.): (itaú cultural). Sao Paulo 2014, S. 97–118.
Druckgrafik bis Medienkunst: Neue Analyseinstrumente für die historisch vergleichende Bildforschung. in: Rundbrief Fotografie, Vol. 21 (2014), No. 1/2 [N.F. 81/82], S. 108-116.
Our Digital Culture Threatened by Loss, in: The World Financial Review, 2014, pp. 40-42.
New Perspectives for the (Digital) Humanities, in: The Challenge of the Object, Congress Proceedings of the 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art. T. 1-3. Ed. by G. Ulrich Großmann/Petra Krutisch, Nuremberg 2013, S. 990-994.
Image Science & MediaArtHistories. New Infrastructures for 21th Century. in: Gunther Friesinger, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Thomas Ballhaus (Eds.): Mind and Matter. Comparative Approaches towards Complexity, Bielefeld: transcript 2011, S. 29-37.
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Истории на медиумската уметност (Media Art Histories, Macedonian Translation), Генекс, Кочани, 2009
Oliver Grau: Lembrem a Fantasmagoria! Polìtidca da Ilusào do Sèculo XVIII e sua vida apòs a morte Multimìdia, In: Diana Domingues: Arte, Ciència e Technologia (Media Art Histories, Portuguese Translation), Sao Paulo, Editora Unesp: 2009
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Virtuelna umetnost, (Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, Serbian Translation), Beograd: Clio, 2008
Oliver Grau: Media art needs Histories and Archives (Korean Translation), In: The 5th Seoul international Media Art Biennale, conference proceedings, Seoul: 2008
Oliver Grau: Intermedijske etap navidezne resni`cnosti v 20. stoletju: Umetnost kot navdih evolucije medijev (Intermedia Stages of Virtual Reality in the Twentieth Century: Art as Inspiration of Evolving Media, Slovenian Translation), In: Mojca Zlokarnik: Likovne Besede, Ljubljana, Janus: 2008
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Media Art Histories, MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0262514989 (Übersetzungen in Brasilien und Mazedonien). [Rezensionen: Deutschland: Christoph Klütsch: MediaArtHistories, in: kunsttexte.de, 1.07.2007; USA: Robert Atkins: Channeling New Media, in: Art in America, Dezember 2008, p. 47 – 50 https://www.academia.edu/44723806/Grau_Media_Art_Histories_Art_In_America_12_08; Serbien: Matko Mestreovic: Kako razumjeti medijsku umjetnost, in: Zarez IX/208, 14. lipnja 2007, p. 8f.; Australien: Daniel Palmer: Walter Benjamin and the Virtual: Politics, Art, and Mediation in the Age of Global Culture, in: TRANSFORMATIONS, Issue No. 15, November 2007; Polen: Mariusz Pisarski: Historie sztuki mediów, in: TECHSTY, Literatura i Nouva Media, 7.7.2007; Brasilien: Sergio Kulpas: histórias da artemídia, in: Encyclopédia Itaú Cultural: arte e tecnologia, August 2007; Großbritannien: Charlie Gere: MediaArtHistories, in: The Art Book, Volume 15, Issue 1, S. 51–52; Österreich: Eric Kluitenberg: MediaArtHistories, in: Springerin: Hefte für Gegenwartskunst, Vol. XIII, No. 3, 2007, p. 74.; Uruguay: Angel Kalenberg: Between Chaos and Cosmos, Rezension MediaArtHistories, in: Relaciones, Nr. 286, March 2008, p. 26–27; Litauen: Renata Sukaityte: Mediju menas kaip moksline-eksperimentine erdve, in: Menotyra, 2008, T. 15. No. 2, p. 50–61; Frankreich: Jens Hauser: MediaArtHistories: Eine andere Kunstgeschichte, ARTE.tv, Februar/2007; medienwissenschaftlich: Malte Hagener: Rezension von: Oliver Grau (Ed.), MediaArtHistories, MIT, Cambridge, MA-London 2007, in: Cinéma & Cie, no. 9, Fall 2007; bildwissenschaftlich: Martin Schulz: Rezension von: Oliver Grau: MediaArtHistories, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 2007, in Kunstform 9 (2008), no.09]
Oliver Grau (Ed.): Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, (Chinese Translation), Tsinghua University Press 2006
Oliver Grau: Arte Virtual. Da Ilusào à imersào (Virtual Art, Portuguese Translation), Sao Paulo, Editora Unesp: 2005
Oliver Grau: Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2003. ISBN 9780262072410. Rezension von Alison Abbott in Nature (Book of the Month) 427, page 17 (2004): Art that draws you in, Art Monthly, Michael Gibbs, Virtual Art, Mar. 2003; European Photography, Guy van Belle: Oliver Grau: Virtual Art, Issue 73/74, Vol. 24, 2003, pp. 104-105.; Italy: Anna Maria Monteverdi: Esperienze artificiali multisensoriali, Recensione a Oliver Grau, Virtual Art. From illusion to immersion, in: Teatro e Nuovi Media, No. 52, 2003; Frankreich: Cahiers du MNAM, Éditions du Centre Georges Pompidou, Jean Da Silva: Notes de lecture, Stephen Wilson: 'Information Arts'/Oliver Grau: 'Virtual Art', No. 87, Spring 2004, Taiwan: Art & Collection, Taipei, The Aura of the Digital, Interview, May 2004, pp. 106-111; Schweden: Svenska Dagbladet, Karl Steinik: Panoramat i den virtuella konsten, June 23, 2004, Argentinien: Florencia Rodriguez: Todo Lo Sólido Se Desvanece En La Illusion. Oliver Grau En Buenos Aires, in: summa+ 75, 2005, pp. 146-7; Spanien: Lucia Santaella: Virtual Art, Rezension, in: DeSignis 7 (Barcelona) 2006
Oliver Grau: The Database of Virtual Art: For an expanded concept of documentation, in: ICHIM, École du Louvre, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Proceedings, Paris 2003, S. 2-15.
Oliver Grau: Telepräsenz: Zu Genealogie und Epistemologie von Interaktion und Simulation, in: Peter Gendolla u.a. (Hg.): Formen interaktiver Medienkunst. Geschichte, Tendenzen, Utopien, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp 2001, S. 39-63.
Oliver Grau: Zwischen Bildsuggestion und Distanzgewinn, in: Klaus Sachs-Hombach und Klaus Rehkamper (Ed.): Vom Realismus der Bilder: Interdisziplinare Forschungen zur Semantik bildlicher Darstellungsformen, Magdeburg: Scriptum-Verl. 2000, S. 213-227.
Oliver Grau: New Images from Life, in: Ryszard Kluszczińsky (Hg.): Art Inquiry. Recherches sur les Arts, Volume II (XI), Lodž 2000, S. 7-25.
Oliver Grau: Hingabe an das Nichts: Der Cyberspace zwischen Utopie, Ökonomie und Kunst in: Medien. Kunst.Passagen, Nr. 4, 1994, p. 17-30.
Denmark, Aarhus, University of Aarhus, 16.-17.09.2010, invited lecture
China, Hong Kong City University, School for Creative Media, Renewing Knowledge Structures For Digital
Humanities, 11.8.2010, Invited Lecture
Great Britain, London, EVA, British Computer Society, Covent Garden, 05.-07.07.2010, Keynote
Russia, Moskau, Museum Garage, Center for Contemporary Culture, , 23.05.2010, invited lecture
London: University of Westminster, Visual Culture Studies in Europe, 05.02.2010, Keynote
Colombia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Escuela de Artes Plásticas, Bogota, Internationale Conference, INTERMEDIOS - SOCIEDAD Y TRANSPARENCIA, 09.-11.09.2009, Keynote