Biography
Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss held full professor and administrative positions at the Aalto University, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Finland, and the University of Art and Design Linz, Austria. In his over thirty years’ professional career, he worked as a media designer and producer, writer, editor, reviewer for the European Commission, and expert in quality assurance in higher education.
His academic and professional work gained international recognition through several awards and research grants. He visited as an invited researcher and speaker, e.g., Oxford University–Internet Institute, Seoul National University, National Institute of Multimedia Education Tokyo, University of the Arts London, Zurich University of the Arts, and Tongji University, Shanghai.
His research activities encompass the multi-layered and multi-faceted social, technical and aesthetic aspects in participatory media culture, along with its diverse modes and concepts of presentation and representation. Current research looks into the practices of mediation and education at memorial places. It investigates the potential of digital media as a means of multimodal communication to meet the expectations and needs of different target groups in this specific environment.
He is the author of Synthesis & Nullification. Works 1991 – 2011 (Springer Wien/New York, 2012), (In)visible. Learning to Act in the Metaverse (Springer Wien/New York, 2008), Virtual School – kunstnetzwerk.at (Peter Lang, 2003), and he has edited VIS-À-VIS Medien.Kunst.Bildung (De Gruyter, 2017), Mashup Cultures (Springer, 2010) and (e)Pedagogy Design – Visual Knowledge Building (Peter Lang, 2005). His books are held by more than 1000 libraries worldwide. (worldcat.org)
Designation
Professor
Education
Terminal degree
PhD
Awarding Institution
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Research/Creative Areas
Participatory media practices, Interactive and mixed media, Digital culture
Teaching Areas
Visual Storytelling, Media Production, Multimedia, Interactive Media, Media and Cultural Criticism
Stefan.Sonvilla-Weiss@zu.ac.ae
