ABOUT

Public Art Lab (PAL) is a Berlin based action research lab and platform for urban media art that investigates, curates, and produces artistic projects in the urban public sphere at the intersection of media arts, urban planning and creative technologies. PAL is specialised in creative citymaking, citizen science and translocal dialogue that empower social interactions and citizens' engagement. These collaborations create citizens' platforms, new artistic market places, festivals and networks that facilitate an open co-design process with the stakeholders to facilitate community place-making and neighbourhood building. Recent action research projects of PAL are the Creative Europe funded pro...

Susa Pop is a curator, cultural entrepreneuer, lecturer, artistic director and co-founder of Public Art Lab, the Urban Media Art Academy and the Connecting Cities Network. Having originally studied Design at the University of Arts, Berlin and EU Cultural Management, she is interested in curating translocal networks / scenarios and creative city-making platforms through urban media art which foster digital placemaking, community building  and citizen science  at the intersection of urban planning, creative technologies, science and economies. Susa Pop is a poineer in the field of urban media art. She curates, gives lectures worldwide and has initiated most of the Public Lab projects incl...

Ela Kagel is a freelance curator and producer. She holds an M.A. in European Cultural Planning from the De Montfort University in Leicester / UK and is a member of Public Art Lab since 2005. Ela is co-initiator of the Mobile Studios project and curator of Upgrade! Berlin, a series of events on digital culture. Together with Public Art Lab, she has initiated and realised various projects such as the Mobicases, mobile documentary units, which have been presented at the Upgrade! International Festival in Skopje 2008, the HTMlles Media Art Festival in Montreal / Kanada and the EU Wheeling Tour of the Public Law Organization EPLO in 2011. Online since 1996, Ela has focused her work...

Wiegner modifies urban settings into artificial landscapes. In his installations mood, ambience and spatial perception underline the importance that Wiegner attaches to a dialogue with the observer. For the reopening of the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, 20 meter long light sculptures were installed in the forecourt, with reference to the Berlin Wall which was previously there. In winter, their intensely red glow imparted warmth and energie. This spectacular object became a popular meeting point and photographic shooting location. In the summer of 2000, 100 objects from light were installed in the 450 meter long Elbtunnel in St.Pauli, Hamburg submerging it into a mysterious ‘subaquatic-...

Christina Mandilari is working for Public Art Lab as a project manager and researcher. Being a member of the Public Art Lab team since 2015, Christina has participated in the activities of City Visions Jena festival, worked as curatorial assistant for the programme Connecting Cities, developed the photo editorial of the book ‘What Urban Media Art Can Do’, coordinates the Digital Calligraffiti project and is actively involved in the Action-Research process of Future DiverCities programme for Public Art Lab. Always interested in how each culture and society is expressed through artistic formats, she has studied Archaeology & Art History  in the University of Ioannina, Greece and Un...

Virna Setta is the Communication Manager of Future DiverCities, one of the main projects Public Art Lab participates in. She has studied Communication and Journalism in Paris, where she explored the industry of digital culture (sound and image) through various job opportunities. Her strong interest in electronic music lead her to take the first steps in the producing process, implementing acoustic notions within digital sound. A kid of internet as a community manager, she believes in the open source philosophy and artistic concepts related to hacking technologies. Virna is hosted by Public Art Lab since August 2016, when she moved to Berlin.

Joanna works as freelance curator and cultural manager. Her involvement with Public Art Lab includes the coordination of Connecting Cities Network, City Visions Jena festival as well as the development of new international projects. Before graduating in Cultural Science at the University of Hildesheim (Diploma) and in Marseille in Médiation Culturelle des Arts Contemporains (B.A.) she studied Business Management at the University of Cologne. (more…)

Sarah Langnese supports Public Art Lab as curatorial and project assistant. After graduating in cultural studies (social sciences, linguistics, economics) in Frankfurt Oder and Paris, she studied intercultural Franco-German studies in Freiburg and at the ENS de Lyon with a focus on political philosophy. Complementing her intercultural and academic background, Sarah gained experiences in multiple fields: She worked for international advertising agencies, as editor for online platforms as well as press attaché for a TV channel. For Public Art Lab Sarah is involved in the editing of curatorial texts and press material, in external and internal communication, in social media management an...

Jasmin Grimm is involved in Public Art Lab since 2012 and works as international coordinator for the Connecting Cities Network, which is funded by the European Union and currently includes 21 urban media art institutions. With a background in Media Management (B.A., IJK Hannover) and M.A. in Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikation at the University of the Arts Berlin she formerly gained experiences as researcher in universities, as well as in international advertising and strategic planning agencies and editor of online platforms. At Public Art Lab she is coordinating together with Susa Pop an international networks of partner institutions as well as planning, conceiving and implem...

Joëlle Linden, originally from Luxembourg, supported Public Art Lab as curatorial assistant and intercultural project manager for the past year (2013-2014). She studied Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven (Netherlands) and graduated from the department Man and Communication. As a complement to her studies, she worked for the Berlin-based graphic design studio anschlaege.de. For Public Art Lab she was involved in the organization and realization of events and workshops, the writing of curatorial texts as well as the visual communication e.g. the conveyance of the processes, ideas and concepts into a visual form. Currently Joëlle is doing her M.A. in Cultural Policy, Relations and Diploma...

Anett Reiche is a Visual Designer. She supports Public Art Lab in the fields of visual and multimedia communication both digital and print. Anett developed the visual language for the Connecting Cities Network project which is included in the design of the website, trailers, key visuals in order to establish a visual identity for the project. She also was responsible for filming, photographing, documenting and archiving events held by Public Art Lab. Anett studied Design with a focus on Print and Moving Image at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. After a 12 months residency at CSM she moved back to Berlin and is since working as a freelance Designer. www.anettreich...

Sandra Moskova is supporting Public Art Lab with theoretical and curatorial input since 2013. She has graduated M.A. in Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikation from the University of the Arts Berlin, where she currently works on her PhD in the field of Cultural Science and Narrative Theory (the Knowledge of Literature), supervised by Prof. Thomas Düllo, Chair of Verbal Communication. Sandra also teaches Media- and Communication Theory at MHMK Berlin and University of Osnabrück and works together with Lab for Emerging Arts and Performance (LEAP) Berlin, where she writes the theoretical texts for different exhibitions and artists.

Tobias Grimm is supporting Public Art Lab since 2013 and is doing the presswork as well as Public Relations for the international Connecting Cities Network. Tobias organized several announcements at websites, radio stations and television studios for the previous Connecting Cities Events. He is studying cultural journalism in 5th semester at Macromedia Hochschule für Medien und Kommunikation, MHMK and is especially interested in Public Relations and advertising.

Mirjam Struppek lives in Turin and Berlin and works internationally as urbanist, curator and consultant on media cultural affairs in the urban area. In 2003 she worked at the Video Art Gallery for Still and Motion Pictures in Berlin. In 2004 she founded Urban Media Research and the comprehensive online information platform Interaction Field as well as the monthly organised Urban Media Salon which she continued in Turin in 2013.  Her special interest are interactive, participatory processes and interdisciplinary, creative activities. Since 2007 she is also a member of Public Art Lab Berlin. She has lectured internationally in more than 40 cities, was part of festivals  and conference juries...

David Farine is Public Art Lab’s IT specialist. Trained as a chemist, he follows a multidisciplinary approach towards digital media. He has a vast experience in streaming technologies, online information plattforms as well as mobile technologies. As a technical director, David planned and executed the whole tour of the Mobile Studios – including daily challenges such as creating net connectivity in public spaces, setting up streaming environments and handling large numbers of data from contributors in different European countries. For the Mobicase project he created a community website based on the WordPress software. This was the technical platform for our festival documentation...

Vanini Belarmino, Project Initiator/Curator, is an independent cultural producer specialising in international artistic collaborations. She received academic training in theatre arts art history, European cultural policy and management.   While working for the Asia-Europe Foundation’s Cultural Exchange section (2003-2007), she was responsible for the establishment of its performing art programmes such as I’mPULSE (music) and Pointe to Point (dance). Vanini has spearheaded projects in countries like China, Finland, France, Israel, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and Vietnam. In 2006, she curated Borderless Me –a multi-media ins...

Masa Milhem joined Public Art Lab as the event coordinator for the Urban Media Art Academy Dubai. With deep interest in exploring the role that media, culture and creative processes play in shaping today’s world, Masa pursued her Bachelor of Arts degree in Contemporary Media Cultures at the University of the Arts London. She formerly gained experiences in the fields of Public Relations and Marketing. In 2016 she earned her MSc degree in Marketing and Creativity at ESCP European Business School where she was also involved with startups and an international advertising agency in Paris. She also worked on a mindfulness leadership program and supported an accelerator program based in Berlin. A...