Paula Strunden

- Paula Strunden - PhD Researcher @ Academy of Fine Arts Vienna - EU Research Program TACK Communities of Tacit Knowledge : Architecture and its Ways of Knowing- Media Studies Tutor @ Architectural Association London - Co-founder Virtual Fruits - Co-founder Soft Bodies - ABOUT - ABOUT - ABOUT

Based between Amsterdam and Vienna, Paula Strunden is an architectural designer and Ph.D. researcher who builds location-based extended reality (XR) installations, merging virtual and mixed reality technologies with physical objects and crafts. As founder of the internet platform XR Atlas she advocates for an inter- and transdisciplinary historiography of virtual technologies and sheds light on the work of female pioneers in the history of VR ︎ ︎ ︎ X R Atlas Website

X R R E S E A R C H / With a focus on designing speculative room-scale installations and performative 1:1 Extended Reality Models (XRM), Paula’s research delves into possible futures of spatial computing and investigates how we can live, work and play within a hybrid physical/digital world. Since March 2020, she is affiliated with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, conducting a Ph.D. by design in the research framework TACK Communities of Tacit Knowledge: Architecture and its Ways of Knowing, as part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions within the European Framework Program Horizon 2020 ︎ ︎ ︎ TACK Website

X R I N S T A L L A T I O N S / Since graduating from the Bartlett UCL in 2018, Paula's mixed reality work has been exhibited at film and design festivals internationally as well as at the Royal Academy of Arts, Q21 Vienna, Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, MU Artspace Eindhoven and the Tallinn Architecture Biennale. As partner of Soft Bodies, she developed with John Cruwys the research-led design project Weightless Bricks Act I & II that has been supported by the Dutch Stimuleringsfonds for Digital Culture and nominated for The Netherlands’ most prestigious film award The Golden Calf (in Dutch: Gouden Kalf) in the category of Best Interactive 2020 ︎ ︎ ︎ Soft Bodies Website

X R C O U R S E S & W O R K S H O P S / As Associate of Store and co-founder of Virtual Fruits, Paula has led XR workshops at public high-schools, universities and cultural institutions in London and abroad, such as Whitechapel Gallery, Zabludowicz Collection, V&A, Kunsthalle Vienna and Nieuwe Institut Rotterdam. She tutored at the Bartlett UCL summer school programme, holds a Communication & Media Studies course at the Architectural Association London, and runs a history/theory seminar on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna ︎ ︎ ︎ Virtual Fruits Website

For any questions or thoughts about potential collaborations,
please get in touch via p a u l a @ s t r u n d e n . c o m

︎ ︎ ︎

XR Installations
Mirrorworlds // Imagine: A Room Of Us All (ongoing)
Powers of Being 1/0 (ongoing)
Rhetorical Bodies (2023)
Alison’s Room (2022)
Infra-thin Magick (2021)
Weightless Collaboration (Act II) (2020)
Talking Trees of Tallinn (2019)
Weightless Production (Act I) (2019)
Micro-Utopia: The Imaginary Potential of Home (2018)

VR Experiences
2000 Ton City (2017)
The Glasshouse (2017)
Housing Lab (2016)

XR Talks Archizoom EPFL (Lausanne), Architectural Association (London), Architecture Biennale (Tallinn), Bartlett School of Architecture (London), Bauhaus University (Weimar), Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (Seoul), Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), ETH (Zurich), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), Goldsmith University (London), MAGAZIN (Viennna), MAK (Vienna), Nederlands Filmfestival (Utrecht), Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Royal Academy of Arts (London), TU (Delft)
XR Workshops, Summer Schools & Seminars
Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Vienna), Akademie van Bouwkunst (Amsterdam), Angewandte (Vienna), Architectural Association (London), Ars Electronica (Linz), Bartlett School of Architecture (London), Bauhaus (Dessau), Bauhaus University (Weimar), Filmakademie (Amsterdam), Kunsthalle (Vienna), HzT (Berlin), MAGAZIN (Viennna), MAK (Vienna) , STORE (London/Rotterdam), Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam) ,Technical University (Innsbruck), TU (Delft), V & A (London), UdK (Berlin), Whitechapel Gallery (London), Zabludowicz Collection (London)

Thanks to all the wonderful collaborators & supporters
Alex Anderson (Co-founder Virtual Fruits)
John Cruwys (Co-founder Soft Bodies)
Fabian Strunden (UX Design)
Kevin Pollard (Sound Design)
Daniel Helmer (Sound Design)
Joelle Galloni (UX Coding)
Jesper van den Ende (UX Coding)
Tu Hoang (Dancer & Choreographer)
Sofia Strunden (Graphic Design)
Alessia Scuderi (Graphic Design)
Emilia Bruck (Voice Over)
Bodo Neuss (Voice Over) (ongoing)
Stimuleringsfonds Creative Industries NL
Nederlands Filmfonds
Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam
MU Hybrid Arthouse Eindhoven
Open City Docs London
Frei_raum Q21 Vienna

EXHIBITIONS - TEXTS - TALKS - WORKSHOPS - Alison’s Room at Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam - Je-Roaming at Archizoom EPFL Lausanne - Expanded Bodies After School Club Store London - Multi-sensory Interfaces at Archizoom EPFL Lausanne -

Links to selected exhibitions

+ Rhetorical Bodies at ‘Hybrid Tales, Hybrid Times’ at MU Artspace Vienna, June - July 2023

+ Alison’s Room at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, November 2022 - January 2023

+ Infra-thin Magick at ‘Speculative Fiction’ at Exhibit Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, July - October 2022

+ Rhetorical Bodies at ‘No Dancing Allowed’ at Frei_raum Q21 / MQ Vienna, June - September 2022

+ Je-Roaming at ‘Database, Network, Interface: the Architecture of Information’ at Archizoom, EPFL in Lausanne, September - December 2021

+ Micro-Utopia at ‘Cosmowoman: Places as Constellation’, National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, 2021

+ Weightless Collaboration at NFF Extended Realities Exhibition in Utrecht, November 2020

+ Weightless Collaboration at MU Artspace in Eindhoven, March-August 2020

+ Micro-Utopia at Virtual Dioramas, Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, November 2019

+ Weightless Collaboration at Expanded Realities Exhibition in London, October 2019

+ Talking Trees of Tallinn at Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Estonian Museum of Architecture in Tallinn, September - November 2019

+ Weightless Bricks at Invisible Landscapes, Royal Academy of Arts in London, February-April 2019

+ Micro-Utopia: The Imaginary Potential of Home at Open City Documentary Festival in London, September 2018

Links to selected talks

+ LECTURE ‘Unveiling the Virtual: A Multisensory Eploration Beyond Sight and Sound’ at Bauhaus University, Dessau, 2023

+ LECTURE ‘XR Atlas’: An Embodied Virtuality Talk at Magazin, Vienna, 2022

+ LECTURE ‘Multi-sensory Interfaces’ at Archizoom, EPFL Lausanne and Zoom, 8 November 2021 ︎ Recording

+ SYMPOSIUM ‘Simulating Atmospheres’ at 4th Austrian Doctoral Symposium in Innsbruck, 21-22 October 2021

+ LECTURE ‘Beyond VR - Designing for the multi-sensory mind’ with Bogomir Doringer at Social Design Studio of A ngewandte Vienna via Zoom, May 2021

+ PANEL DISCUSSION ‘Traversing the Binaries: Unstable States and Dual Truths’ at Goldsmith University via Zoom, May 2021

+ TALK ‘Female Imagination and the Production of Space’ at the Bartlett International Lecture Series via Zoom, March 2021

+ LECTURE ‘Beyond Virtual Reality’ at the Architectural Association via Zoom November 2020 ︎ Recording

+ TALK ‘How will we live in 2040?’ Dutch Design Week Talks: Future Living organised by Frame Magazine in Eindhoven, October 2019

+ SYMPOSIUM ‘The Talking Trees of Tallinn’ at TAB 2019 Symposium Beauty Matters. Just like love, it’s real in Tallinn, September 2019

+ SYMPOSIUM ‘Architecture of the Immersive Internet’ Symposium by Lara Lesmes, Fredrik V Hellberg and James Taylor-Foster at the AA, March 2019

+ PANEL DISCUSSION ‘Constructing A Real Virtuality’ at Royal Academy of Arts London, February 2019

Links to selected texts

+ PUBLICATION ‘Being here and there: Embodying Virtual Reality’ by Paula Strunden / Manege #2 Automation

+ PUBLICATION ‘Micro-Utopia: A Theoretical and Practical Study of Inhabiting the Virtual’ by Paula Strunden / Design Ecologies

+ Je-Roaming in ‘Database, Network, Interface: the Architecture of Information’ Exhibition Catalogue / Archizoom, EPFL

+ ARTICLE ‘Vom physischen Erlebnis eines virtuellen Raums’ by Arian Lehner about Soft Bodies / Architektur Aktuell

+ INTERVIEW ‘Weightless Bricks Act II: Collaboration’ with Paula Strunden / NFF Interactive

+ ARTICLE ‘The Agile Workplace 2.0: finding new tools for connection’ by Peter Maxwell about Soft Bodies / Frame

+ INTERVIEW #805 with Paula Strunden by Kent Bye/ Voice of VR

+ EXHIBITION REVIEW ‘Bescheiden vr-installaties in Eye Filmmuseum’ by Jan Pieter Ekker / Parool

+ EXHIBITION REVIEW ‘Mogelijke Werelden in Galerie Neus’ by Jeroen Popelier / Mister Motley

+ INTERVIEW ‘Your future remote workplace is half VR half carefully positioned real-life objects’ with Paula Strunden by Rab Messina / Frame

+ ARTICLE ‘Post Digital Communication’ by Peter Maxwell about Soft Bodies / LSN Global

+ EXHIBITION REVIEW ‘Galerie NEUS: een plek voor de ondernemende utopist’ by Marlies Rothoff / Gelderlander

Links to selected courses

+ SEMINAR ‘Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality’ at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, March-September 2023

+ SUMMER SCHOOL ‘Inflatable Bodies’ at STORE Rotterdam, July 2022

+ UNIVERSITY COURSE ‘Psychotropic House’ at the Architectural Association London, Jan - March 2022

+ AFTER-SCHOOL-CLUB ‘Expanded Bodies’ with Sofia Strunden at STORE London, March 2022

+ 1-DAY WORKSHOP ‘Tekenen in Virtual Reality’ at STORE Rotterdam, August 2021

+ UNIVERSITY COURSE ‘Metacampus’ with VR Academy at Academie van Bouwkunst Amsterdam, September - October 2021

+ UNIVERSITY COURSE ‘A Room of One’s Own’ at the Architectural Association London, Jan - March 2021

+ UNIVERSITY COURSE ‘Inhabitable Reliefs’ at the Univeristy of Innsbruck, Dec - March 2021

+ AFTER-SCHOOL-CLUB ‘Creature Feature’ with Marie Walker-Smith at STORE London, Jan - March 2021

+ 1-DAY WORKSHOP ‘Folding Filthy Lucre’ with Alex Anderson at Victoria & Albert Museum London, March 2020

+ 1-DAY WORKSHOP ‘Land of Milk & Honey’ at Zabludowics Collection London, March 2020

+ SUMMER SCHOOL ‘Drawing without Walls’ with Alex Anderson at Whitechapel Gallery London, July 2019

+ DESIGN-CLUB ‘Virtual Vases’ with Alex Anderson at STORE London, January 2019

+ SUMMER SCHOOL ‘Infraworlds’ with Alex Anderson & Thomas Parker at The Bartlett University College London, July 2018

- Female Imagination and the Production of Space Talk Bartlett UCL 3/3/2021 - Beyond Virtual Reality Talk AA 12/10/2020 - NFF Exhibition Utrecht 25/09-3/10/2020 - NFF Gouden Kalf Nomination Best Interactive 2020 - N E W S - N E W S - N E W S

Beyond
Virtual
Reality

Paula Strunden

- Paula Strunden - PhD Researcher @ Academy of Fine Arts Vienna - EU Research Program TACK Communities of Tacit Knowledge : Architecture and its Ways of Knowing- Media Studies Tutor @ Architectural Association London - Co-founder Virtual Fruits - Co-founder Soft Bodies - ABOUT - ABOUT - ABOUT

EXHIBITIONS - TEXTS - TALKS - WORKSHOPS - Alison’s Room at Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam - Je-Roaming at Archizoom EPFL Lausanne - Expanded Bodies After School Club Store London - Multi-sensory Interfaces at Archizoom EPFL Lausanne -

- for more images and videos please visit Vimeo / Instagram or LinkedIn - for more info - CONTACT - paula@strunden.com - ︎ ︎ ︎