Education
Waltraut Cooper studied Mathematics and Art in Vienna, Paris, Lisbon and Frankfurt.
Waltraut Cooper studied Mathematics and Art in Vienna, Paris, Lisbon and Frankfurt.
Her work is site-specific and depends often on motion for its effect. Cooper"s work explores light, mathematics and color, through the medium of colored fluorescent lights, neon and glass. She is an internationally active artist responsible for several large light art installations.
To coincide with the entry of the 10 new member states in the European Union on 1 May 2004, she realised the Project Rainbow for Europe (highlighting the Coliseum in Rome, the Royal Palace in Warsaw, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna, the European parliament in Brussel, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow).
The project symbolises the utopian political vision of the artist of a united, peaceful continent which is not confined by the European Union frontiers but extends to the geographical limits of Europe and thus opens up the vista of a possible future in peace and prosperity. She has participated three times in the Biennale in Venice and in Festivals and exhibitions in important galleries and museums in Vienna, Frankfurt, Bonn, Berlin, Copenhagen, Rome, Paris, Montreal, Boston and New New York
Waltraut Cooper is considered a Pioneer of Digital Art: the "Klangmikado" (1986) for the Ars Electronica in Linz uses computer algorithms to create improvisation on existing music materials. She currently resides in Vienna, Austria.
1986 Biennale Venice: Science and Art
1987 Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Mathematik in der Kunst der letzten 30 Jahren
1987 Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum: The Art Machine
1988 Montreal: Images du Futur
1988 Linz: Ars Electronica
1988 Toulouse: F.A.U.S.T.
1989 Boston: Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques
1991 New York Bronx Museum: Third Emerging Expressions Biennale
1995 Biennale Venice: Arte Laguna
1996 Bonn Kunsthalle: Kunst aus Österreich 1896-1996
1999 Paris Medienfestival: Pour une ecologie des media
2001 Rome Galleria d´Arte Moderna: Diario
2002 Kopenhagen, Lux Europae
2004 Warsaw, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Brussels, Moscow: Rainbow for Europe
2005 Karlsruhe, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Museum für Neue Kunst
2007 Würzburg, Museum im Kulturspeicher
2007 Vienna, Austrian Parliament
2008 Peking: Olympic Fine Arts
2009 Venedig, Isola Sant´Erasmo: The Light of Sant’ Erasmo.
2010 Istanbul: Europäische Kulturhauptstadt: Lichtflotte
2011 Wien: Leopold Museum: Eclairs Léopold
2012 Budapest: Vasarely Museum: Chance as Strategy
2014 Time Space Existence /Venice Biennale of Architecture
2014 Washington: Strathmore Fine Arts: WHAT’South Uttar Pradesh: New Technologies in Art
2015 Wien, Kairo, Peking, Sydney, New York, Curitiba: Weltweiter Regenbogen
2015 Wiener Regenbogen: Hofburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Naturhistorisches Museum.