About
Starting in 2024, after many years of collaborative creative work, we have decided to pursue different paths. You can still reach us at our former email address: info@refrakt.org
Alex: alexandergovoni.com
Carla: carlastreckwall.de
We are a Berlin-based artist collective and design studio, working on transmedia projects in mixed realities at the intersections of art, design, technology and models of perception. In 2015 we developed the augmented reality app Refrakt in collaboration with Michael Schröder and have been working together with him ever since. In a digital society, where technology increasingly starts to shape our perception and behaviour in everyday life, our work focuses on the nature of the medium itself.
We have a background in visual communication and work in editorial design—either in a classic form or combined with new media. In our conceptual artwork, we primarily use augmented reality to reflect on today’s communication and overall changes caused by the digitization of our lives.
App
The digital space is ubiquitous, yet invisible to the naked human eye. The Refrakt app is a virtual museum revealing this increasingly relevant part of our daily lives and social interactions. By crossing the boundaries of physical space, various objects of all kinds of media play with the viewer’s perception of parallel realities. The device being used becomes an apparatus for this new world and lets the viewer interact with his immediate surroundings.
By scanning selected images, digital artworks become visible and the original pieces get transformed in virtual reality. Refrakt is a blueprint for future museum models which position non-physical works of art in physical space. May it be as an intervention in a classical museum in transforming paintings into something completely new or as a comment on current political mischiefs. The capabilities of these new forms of communication are nearly infinite. The project is applicable in various ways. Augmented reality provides many opportunities and communication forms that are new in a museum context but work as a great addition to exhibited artworks. Refrakt is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Android support is currently under development.
Exhibitions
Appearances & Talks
Awards
2022
Sacred Grounds
as part of FUTUR21 Festival
LWL Industriemuseum
Zeche Zollern, Dortmund
Zu sehen 2022 – 2025
2019
Building Castles in the Cloud
Building Beau Rivage, Loutraki, GR
2018
Slide to Expose
Collaboration with Nicole Ruggiero and Molly Soda
Kunsthalle Mainz, DE
Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, DE
Cyfest 11, St. Petersburg, RU
Humber Street Gallery, Hull, UK
2017
Beyond Matter
Part of Volvo Art Session
Schiffbau, Zurich, CH
Slide to Expose
Collaboration with Nicole Ruggiero and Molly Soda
Babycastles, New York City, USA
Junior High, Los Angeles, USA
Brighton Digital Festival, UK
Today Art Museum, Beijing, CN
States of Mind
Online exhibition by Refrakt and Tony Grayson
Planet Earth, PE
2016
Building Castles in the Cloud
Part of the group exhibition Postdigital Ecosystems
Babycastles, New York City, USA
ChimaTEK: Chimacloud Control Center
Collaboration with Saya Woolfalk
Fulton Center, New York City, USA
Everything is a Remix
Group exhibition
whitebox, Munich, DE
2015
Hack de Patria
Guerilla Intervention of the
Venezuelan presidential election
Collaboration with the collective
Dismantling the Simulation
Venezuela, VE
ww1.0
Collaboration with Dean O’Gorman
B3 Biennial of the Moving Image
BRAUBACHfive
Frankfurt am Main, DE
Objects in Mirror are Closer
than they Appear
Guerilla exhibition
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, DE
2019
AR in Art
HFBK
Hamburg, DE
Das augmentierte Museumsgebäude
Berlin, DE
Kein Kino
Zurich, CH
Reclaiming Urban Space with AR Technology
A MAZE.
Berlin, DE
2018
Digital Futures
Talk with Prof. Dr. Thomas Gegenhuber
Leuphana University of Lüneburg, DE
Workshop: ARound the City
German Cultural Center
Cluj-Napoca, RO
2017
This Happened #8
Hamburg, DE
See a video of the talk here
Opportunities of digitalisation for
cultural institutions
for The Arts+ at Kunstwerke
Berlin, DE
2016
We Are Museums
Bucharest, RO
The Arts+
Frankfurt am Main, DE
re:publica TEN
Berlin, DE
2015
B3 Biennial of the Moving Image
Frankfurt am Main, DE
2017
Lumen Prize Founder’s Award
for Slide to Expose
(Collaboration with
Molly Soda and Nicole Ruggiero)
2021
ADC Bronze
for ENT005 Adorno – Fun ist ein Stahlbad
European Design Award
for ENT005 Adorno – Fun ist ein Stahlbad
Teaching
2023
Deep Fake News
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
Konzepte und Techniken
für raumbasierte Augmented Reality
Anwendungen im Ausstellungskontexten auf Unity-Basis
University Kassel
2020/2021
Re:Präsentation
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
AR in der Visuellen Kommunikation
Workshop
HFK Bremen, DE
2019
AR in Urban Space
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
Press
ARTE Tracks
artefakt
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
DW Deutsche Welle
felt zine
i-D
inforadio
KUNSTFORUM
Libération
Monopol (2015)
Monopol (2018)
Motherboard (Vice)
Museum and the City
NEON
New York Times
SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Widewalls
2018
Virtual Normality
Exhibition catalogue
VfmK Verlag für moderne Kunst GmbH
About
We are a Berlin-based artist collective and design studio, working on transmedia projects in mixed realities at the intersections of art, design, technology and models of perception. In 2015 we developed the augmented reality app Refrakt in collaboration with Michael Schröder and have been working together with him ever since. In a digital society, where technology increasingly starts to shape our perception and behaviour in everyday life, our work focuses on the nature of the medium itself.
We have a background in visual communication and work in editorial design—either in a classic form or combined with new media. In our conceptual artwork, we primarily use augmented reality to reflect on today’s communication and overall changes caused by the digitization of our lives.
Please feel free to contact us for further information about projects and collaborations.
App
The digital space is ubiquitous, yet invisible to the naked human eye. The Refrakt app is a virtual museum revealing this increasingly relevant part of our daily lives and social interactions. By crossing the boundaries of physical space, various objects of all kinds of media play with the viewer’s perception of parallel realities. The device being used becomes an apparatus for this new world and lets the viewer interact with his immediate surroundings.
By scanning selected images, digital artworks become visible and the original pieces get transformed in virtual reality. Refrakt is a blueprint for future museum models which position non-physical works of art in physical space. May it be as an intervention in a classical museum in transforming paintings into something completely new or as a comment on current political mischiefs. The capabilities of these new forms of communication are nearly infinite. The project is applicable in various ways. Augmented reality provides many opportunities and communication forms that are new in a museum context but work as a great addition to exhibited artworks. Refrakt is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Android support is currently under development.
Exhibitions
2022
Sacred Grounds
as part of FUTUR21 Festival
LWL Industriemuseum
Zeche Zollern, Dortmund
Zu sehen 2022 – 2025
2019
Building Castles in the Cloud
Building Beau Rivage, Loutraki, GR
2018
Slide to Expose
Collaboration with Nicole Ruggiero and Molly Soda
Kunsthalle Mainz, DE
Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, DE
Cyfest 11, St. Petersburg, RU
Humber Street Gallery, Hull, UK
2017
Beyond Matter
Part of Volvo Art Session
Schiffbau, Zurich, CH
Slide to Expose
Collaboration with Nicole Ruggiero and Molly Soda
Babycastles, New York City, USA
Junior High, Los Angeles, USA
Brighton Digital Festival, UK
Today Art Museum, Beijing, CN
States of Mind
Online exhibition by Refrakt and Tony Grayson
Planet Earth, PE
2016
Building Castles in the Cloud
Part of the group exhibition Postdigital Ecosystems
Babycastles, New York City, USA
ChimaTEK: Chimacloud Control Center
Collaboration with Saya Woolfalk
Fulton Center,New York City, USA
Everything is a Remix
Group exhibition
whitebox, Munich, DE
2015
Hack de Patria
Guerilla Intervention of the
Venezuelan presidential election
Collaboration with the collective
Dismantling the Simulation
Venezuela, VE
ww1.0
Collaboration with Dean O’Gorman
B3 Biennial of the Moving Image
BRAUBACHfive
Frankfurt am Main, DE
Objects in Mirror are Closer
than they Appear
Guerilla exhibition
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, DE
Appearances & Talks
2019
AR in Art
HFBK
Hamburg, DE
Das augmentierte Museumsgebäude
Berlin, DE
Kein Kino
Zurich, CH
Reclaiming Urban Space with AR Technology
A MAZE.
Berlin, DE
2018
Digital Futures
Talk with Prof. Dr. Thomas Gegenhuber
Leuphana University of Lüneburg, DE
Workshop: ARound the City
German Cultural Center
Cluj-Napoca, RO
2017
This Happened #8
Hamburg, DE
See a video of the talk here
Opportunities of digitalisation for
cultural institutions
for The Arts+ at Kunstwerke
Berlin, DE
2016
We Are Museums
Bucharest, RO
The Arts+
Frankfurt am Main, DE
re:publica TEN
Berlin, DE
2015
B3 Biennial of the Moving Image
Frankfurt am Main, DE
Awards
2021
ADC Bronze
for ENT005 Adorno – Fun ist ein Stahlbad
European Design Award
for ENT005 Adorno – Fun ist ein Stahlbad
2017
Lumen Prize Founder’s Award
for Slide to Expose
(Collaboration with
Molly Soda and Nicole Ruggiero)
Teaching
2023
Deep Fake News
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
Konzepte und Techniken
für raumbasierte Augmented Reality
Anwendungen im Ausstellungskontexten auf Unity-Basis
University Kassel
2020/2021
Re:Präsentation
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
AR in der Visuellen Kommunikation
Workshop
HFK Bremen, DE
2019
AR in Urban Space
University of the Arts
Berlin, DE
Press
Publications
