ORNELLA FIERES
1984 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Represented by Sexauer Gallery Berlin & signs and symbols New York City
The works of media artist Ornella Fieres render the world of yesterday visible through the eyes of today's algorithms. Working in Berlin, she draws on photographs, films, and documents from personal estates and scientific archives, transferring them into the present through manipulated computational processes and artificial intelligence. By confronting historical material with contemporary technologies such as machine learning and computer vision, her multimedia installations explore how memory, perception, and history are reinterpreted in the digital age.
Fieres's multimedia installations have been exhibited internationally at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou Paris, Goethe-Institut Toronto, Literaturhaus Berlin, NurtureArt Gallery New York, Kunstverein Speyer, and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. She has given lectures and presentations at Volksbühne Berlin, Haus am Lützowplatz Berlin, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, and at New Lab New York, where she held a research residency in 2017.
Fieres regularly speaks and publishes on the relationship between artificial intelligence, image archives, and contemporary art. She teaches in the Studium Generale program at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and is currently pursuing a PhD project focusing on artificial intelligence in contemporary artistic practice.
EDUCATION
to date: PhD studies on AI as a Hidden Presence in Art Production, HfG Offenbach
2012: Diploma in Visual Communication with the majors Conceptual Photography in the class of Prof. Martin Liebscher and Theory of Perception in the class of Prof. Hans Zitko. Graduated with honors at the HfG Offenbach
2005: Macquarie University Sydney, Australian Media and Australian Art
HONORARY WORK
2017–2023: Board Member of SALOON Network – a free network for women in the art industry world-wide
PRESENTATIONS / TEACHING
2025: Seminar: Universität der Künste Berlin, Studium Generale (WS 2025/26)
2025: Guest Lecture: HfG Offenbach, KI Lab, Germany
2025: Presentation: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany
2024: Guest Lecture: Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
2022: Guest Lecture & Publication: KU, Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany
2022: Presentation & Panel: Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
2021: Guest Lecture: HFBK Hamburg Pop & Squat Festival, Germany
2021: Guest Lecture: HfG Offenbach, Germany
2021: Portfolio Consulting: HfG Offenbach, Germany
2019: Presentation: (Dis)abled Technobodies, Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany
2018: Guest Lecture: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, US
2018: Presentation & Panel: Why have there been no great women artists?, ACUD Macht neu, Berlin
2017: Presentation: New Lab, NYC, US
2016: Presentation: Pecha Kucha Art Night, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany
SOLO-SHOWS
2025: We Measure the Distance, Sexauer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2025: Es liebt uns nichts, Sexauer Showroom, Berlin, Germany
2025: An Algorithm for Snowfall, Studio IIII, Berlin, Germany
2024: Possibly from Natural Light, Klotzshows, Brussels, Belgium
2023: We will all be here always, signs and symbols, NYC, US
2021: Letters to M_HTR (online exhibition), signs and symbols, NYC, US
2021: INTERACTIONS 4 (two-person exhibition with John Isaacs), SEXAUER, Berlin
2021: Light Shines Through the Curtains of Time (two-part online and physical exhibition), curated by Tina Sauerländer, PRISKA PASQUER, Cologne, Germany
2020: Ich halte es für eine Tragödie, daß wir uns nicht gefunden haben, SEXAUER, Berlin
2020: A group of people walking down a snow covered street, signs and symbols, NYC, US
2018: The recurring Frequency of a fading Moment, SEXAUER, Berlin
2018: The Structure and Function of hidden Things, signs & symbols, NYC, US
2017: As if we are passing through tunnels, Studio Picknick, Berlin
2017: The Structure and Function of hidden Things, New Lab, NYC, US
2016: Looks like you tried to go somewhere that does not exist, SEXAUER, Berlin
2014: Not found, 1822-Forum, Frankfurt, Germany
GROUP-SHOWS (SELECTION)
2026: Between Image and Space, Behncke Gallery, Munich, Germany
2025: Art Biesenthal, Some Degree of Friction, Germany
2024: TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES: Visions of the Postdigital, STATION Berlin, Germany
2023: INSIDE / OUTSIDE, PRISKA PASQUER, Paris, France
2023: THE DELICATE THINGS THAT GIRLS DO, signs and symbols, New York, NYC, US
2022: World of Networks, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2022: artists & allies V, signs and symbols, NYC, US
2021: That was then, this is now, signs and symbols, NYC, US
2021: CLUSTERED MINDS (online exhibition), organized by mkv – Medienkunstverein
2021: PARADOXICAL OBJECTS. Video Sculpture Art from 1968 to Today (online)
2021: WINDS OF CHANGE, Priska Pasquer (online)
2019: Touching from a Distance II, Goethe Institut Toronto, Canada
2019: Artists & Allies, signs and symbols, NYC, US
2019: Ostrale Biennale, Dresden, Germany
2018: Recipes for Madeleines, SITE Galleries, Art Institute of Chicago, US
2018: The Missing Room, LAGE EGAL, Berlin, Germany
2018: Touching from a Distance, Literaturhaus Berlin, Germany
2018: Call & Response, NurtureArt Gallery, NYC
2017: Lecture Performance and screening „STARDUST – The Imaginary Universe" by Bjørn Melhus, Kepler 452b, Berlin
2016: Ron McNair, United Artist Theatre, Los Angeles
2013: All Hands Manöver, Kunstverein Speyer, Germany
2012: Spieglein, Spieglein …, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany
2011: Aufbruch/Umbruch, Museum für Kunst & Kulturgeschichte, Marburg, Germany
2009: Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany
PUBLICATIONS
2026: Ornella Fieres & Marc Ries: „KI & Vergangenheit – ‚Ich halte es für eine Tragödie, daß wir uns (nicht) gefunden haben!'", in: KI &, DISTANZ Verlag, Berlin
2026: Ornella Fieres: „I create paths that lead to the clouds in which we go – Das schöpferische Potenzial der KI", in: Are you scared yet, human? Erwartungen, Realitäten und Perspektiven Künstlicher Intelligenz, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld
2016: Ornella Fieres: „Abwesenheitsnotiz: Ornella Fieres, New Yorks Sommer hinterlässt Spuren", Monopol – Magazin für Kunst und Leben (online)
PRESS (SELECTION)
2024: Wynants, Jean-Marie, "Trompe-l'oeil, pretense and other distortions in the galleries of Espace Rivoli," Le Soir, May 21
2023: Schoenegge, Peggy, „(IM)MATERIAL MATTER: About curating online exhibitions," Kunstforum, Mixed Realities, Issue 290, July/August
2023: Duray, Dan, "Five Things to Do in New York's Art Scene June 12-16," The Observer, June 12
2021: Bell, Andrew, "What Do AI and Big Data Mean for Artists and Brands?," UP Magazine, November 8
2021: Schlücker, Robert, „A Computer-Kunst im Paradies," Kölner Kurier, March 23
2021: „Review: Ornella Fieres," EXBERLINER, Issue 201, February 2021
2021: Rieger, Birgit, „Blumen im Cyberspace," Der Tagesspiegel, February 13
2021: Wahlich, Maximilian, „Und wieder kann ich mir kein Bild von Ihnen machen," Art-In-Berlin, December 3
2020: „Couch Gallery Crawl," Thomas Benfield, Vulture, April 16
2018: "Art Out: Ornella Fieres: The Structure and Function of Hidden Things," Musee Magazine, June 19
2018: Colas, A.E., "Art Break: Ariel DeAndrea's Photorealism at Louis K. Meisel and 'Charting the Divine Plan' at the American Museum of Folk Art," ZEALnyc, June 11
2018: "Ornella Fieres," Wall Street International Art, June 6
2017: Art Value 18
2016: PANTA Magazine – Issue 8
2016: Spex Nr. 366 – Flashback 2015 (Jan./Feb. 2016)
2015: art – Das Kunstmagazin Edition 2/2015
2014: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Freitag, 31. März 2014 – Nr. 76)
2012: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Freitag, 6. Juli 2012 – Nr. 155/27 R1)
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