Dr. Paula Strunden
Dr. techn. Paula Maya Strunden · b. 1991, German / French · XR Artist & Researcher
paula@strunden.com  ·  strunden.com  ·  xr-atlas.org

Professional Experience

09/2025–08/2027
ETH Postdoctoral Fellow, Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich
03/2025–09/2025
Acting Professor, Emerging Technologies & Design, Bauhaus University Weimar
01/2022–ongoing
XR Atlas, founder (xr-atlas.org)
11/2018–03/2021
Soft Bodies LLP, co-founder (softbodies.co.uk)
08/2018–03/2020
Virtual Fruits, co-founder (virtual-fruits.com)
10/2015–08/2016
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel (architectural trainee)
04/2014–09/2015
Raumlabor, Berlin (architectural assistant)

Recent Exhibitions

10/2026–01/2027
A Wing That Was a Hand · 47 Meter, Leipzig
05/2026
Återfödelsen / Rebirth, R&D prototype showing · MUNCH, Oslo
12/2025–02/2026
Mirrorworlds, Solo Exhibition · MAGAZIN, Vienna
09/2024
Alison’s Room · Ars Electronica, Linz
06/2024–10/2024
Infra-thin Magick · Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
06/2023–08/2023
Rhetorical Bodies · MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven
10/2022–01/2023
Alison’s Room · Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
06/2022–11/2022
Rhetorical Bodies · Freiraum Q21, Vienna
06/2021–10/2021
Micro-Utopia · Cosmowoman, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome
09/2021–11/2021
Je-Roaming, Database Network Interface · Archizoom, EPFL, Lausanne
09/2020
Weightless Bricks (Act II) · NFF Interactive Expo, Utrecht
03/2020–07/2020
Weightless Bricks (Act II) · MU Artspace, Eindhoven
11/2019
Micro-Utopia · Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
10/2019
Talking Trees of Tallinn · Estonian Museum of Architecture, Tallinn
04/2019–05/2019
Weightless Bricks (Act I) · Royal Academy of Arts, London

Architectural Qualification

03/2020–06/2024
Dr. techn., graduated with ‘Excellence’ & Recipient of ‘Award for Scientific Works 2023/24’, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, as part of ITN ‘TACK’ (EU Horizon 2020)
10/2016–07/2018
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London (RIBA/ARB Part II ‘Distinction’)
02/2015–03/2015
CUJAE, Havana, Cuba (Master Studio: Urban Strategies)
01/2013–06/2013
École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais (Erasmus)
10/2009–07/2013
IKA, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (BArch ∅ 1,4 / Carl-Appel Prize for Architecture)

Selected Publications

2024
‘Touching, Licking, Tasting’, AD Multispace, ed. Owen Hopkins (London: Architectural Design, 2024).
2023
‘Exploring Spatial Perception through Performative 1:1 Extended Reality Models’, Perspectives on Tacit Knowledge in Architecture, ed. Tim Anstey et al. (Zürich: TACK Publishing Platform, 2023).
2022
‘Being Here and There: Embodying Virtual Reality’, Manege #2 Automation.
2019
‘Micro-Utopia: A Theoretical and Practical Study of Inhabiting the Virtual’, Design Ecologies, Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2019, pp. 32–63.
Dr. Paula Strunden  ·  Curriculum Vitae1 / 3

Notable Achievements & Awards

2025
Media Art Fellow 2025 · Medienwerk NRW & KHM Cologne
2024
Schindler Scholarship Los Angeles · MAK Museum Vienna
2024
Award for Scientific Works 2023/24 · Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
2024
Artist-in-Residence · Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam
2023
Gouden Calf Nomination, ‘Best Digital Production’
2023
Development Grant Immerse/Interact · Nederlands Filmfonds
2023
Start-Up Grant · Stimuleringsfonds for Digital Culture
2023
Austrian Dissertation Completion Fellowship
2020
3-year PhD Grant · European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme
2020
Gouden Calf Finalist, ‘Best Interactive’
2019
Project Grant · Stimuleringsfonds for Digital Culture
2019
Start-Up Grant · Stimuleringsfonds for Digital Culture
2014
Leonardo-da-Vinci Scholarship
2013
Carl-Appel Prize for Architecture

Selected Public Lectures

07/2026
What’s Next? · IKA, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
09/2025
Jour Fixe: Architektur Digital · ABK Stuttgart
05/2025
ITA Open Talks · ETH Zurich
10/2024
Keynote, Culture & Computer Science (KUI), HTW Berlin · Kulturforum, Berlin
07/2024
Modelling the Unseen: The Future of Spatial Experiences in XR · Ballhaus, Berlin
10/2023
Design Positions, Professorship for Emerging Technologies & Design · Bauhaus University Weimar
07/2023
Touching, Licking, Tasting the Virtual · MAK & Vienna Contemporary, Vienna
02/2023
XR’s Embodied Beginnings · Akademie van Bouwkunst, Amsterdam
01/2023
Unveiling the Virtual · Transmediale Art, Angewandte, Vienna
11/2022
Alison’s Room, Disclosing Futures Conference · Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
11/2022
XR Atlas: From Plato’s Cave to the Metaverse · MAGAZIN, Vienna
04/2022
Multisensory Interfaces · Archizoom, EPFL, Lausanne
06/2021
Traversing the Binaries · Goldsmiths University, London (online)
05/2021
Female Imagination and Production of Space · The Bartlett, London (online)
03/2021
Beyond Virtual Reality · Architectural Association, London (online)
11/2020
VR & Architecture, Virtual Dioramas · Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam

Teaching Experience

03/2025–09/2025
‘The Sensing House’, A Transdisciplinary Design Studio · Bauhaus University Weimar
07/2024
‘Embodied Synthesizer’ · Vienna Architecture Summer School
02/2023–09/2025
‘Female Pioneers in the History of VR’ · Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2019–ongoing
XR Workshops & Courses at Cultural Institutions and Universities incl. Architectural Association, Akademie van de Bouwkunst, Ars Electronica Linz, The Bartlett UCL, Bauhaus Dessau, HZT Berlin, MAK Vienna, Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, TU Delft, TU Innsbruck, UdK Berlin, University of Applied Arts Vienna, V&A London, Whitechapel Gallery London, Zabludowicz Collection London
07/2019
‘Infraworlds’ Summer School · The Bartlett UCL, London
09/2018–08/2022
XR Media Studies · Architectural Association, London
2018–2022
After-School Clubs, High-School and Weekend Workshops · STORE London & STORE Rotterdam
Dr. Paula Strunden  ·  Curriculum Vitae2 / 3

XR Works

ongoing
Powers of Being
Multiplayer VR meditation experience for Meta Quest, with tactile hand-tracked objects.
ongoing
A Wing That Was a Hand
Networked XR experience for Meta Quest with embodied interaction, exploring a perspective shift toward non-human and animal life-worlds. In collaboration with Pascal Marcel Dreier. Exhibited at 47 Meter, Leipzig (2026).
ongoing
Mirrorworlds
Collaborative networked XR experience with OptiTrack motion tracking. Research partner Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich. Exhibited at MAGAZIN, Vienna (2025–2026).
2025
Återfödelsen / Rebirth
Multi-act XR experience for Apple Vision Pro, with spatial sound and heat-, wind- and tactile-material installation. Concept & direction with Silvana Imam, commissioned by MUNCH. Exhibited at Festsalen, MUNCH, Oslo (2026).
2023
Rhetorical Bodies: An XR Dance Performance
Networked XR experience, 2 players, 12 tracked wearables and 2 installations. Exhibited at V2 Lab for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam (2024); Prospekthof, Vienna (2024); MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven (2023); Freiraum Q21, Vienna (2022).
2022
Alison’s Room: An XR Archive
Location-based XR experience, 1 player, 4 tracked physical objects and installation. Exhibited at Farrell Centre, Newcastle (2024); Ars Electronica, Linz (2024); Prospekthof, Vienna (2024); AFFR, Rotterdam (2023); Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht (2023); Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam (2022–2023). Nominated for Gouden Calf ‘Best Digital Production’.
2021
Infra-thin Magick: An XR Ceremony
Location-based XR experience, 1 player, 4 tracked physical objects and installation. Exhibited at Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (2024); Prospekthof, Vienna (2024); gta ETH Zurich Exhibit Gallery (2023); Exhibit Gallery, Vienna (2022).
2020
Weightless Collaboration (Act II)
Networked XR experience, 2 players, 2 tracked wearables, 2 physical installations. Exhibited at Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht (2021); MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven (2020). Nominated for Gouden Calf ‘Best Interactive’.
2019
The Talking Trees of Tallinn
Location-based XR experience, 1 player, 5 calibrated hybrid objects and installation. Exhibited at Architectural Association, London (2019); Tallinn Architecture Biennale (2019).
2018
Weightless Production (Act I)
Location-based XR experience, 1 player, 3 tracked physical objects and installation. Exhibited at Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019).
2017
Micro-Utopia: The Imaginary Potential of Home
Location-based XR experience, 2 tracked physical objects, 3 stationary calibrated hybrid objects and installation. Exhibited at Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (2019); VR Days Europe, Amsterdam (2019); Open City Docs, London (2018).
2017
2000-Ton-City
Location-based XR experience with 2 tracked physical objects.
2016
The Glasshouse
Virtual Reality experience.
2016
The Housing Lab
Animated 360° spherical panorama film.
Dr. Paula Strunden  ·  Curriculum Vitae3 / 3