https:\/\/ars.electronica.art\/aeblog\/en\/2025\/10\/26\/christine-schoepf\/<\/a><\/p>\nIt is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Christine Sch\u00f6pf\u2014a formative figure in media art and for all of us, without whom Ars Electronica would not be what it is today.
\n\u201cEvery idea, every project needs its supporters, needs people who stand for visions, and those who know how to get excited about these visions; in some cases, it needs fighters with a dash of guerrilla mentality and, ultimately, it needs a degree of tenacity and persuasiveness.\u201d
\nChristine Sch\u00f6pf in \u201c1979-2004. Ars Electronica. 25 Years of Network for Art, Technology, and Society\u201d
\nArs Electronica would not be what it is today without Christine Sch\u00f6pf. She covered the first festival of art, technology, and society in 1979 as a journalist and helped organize subsequent festivals. In 1987, she played a leading role in conceiving the Prix Ars Electronica, which she produced until 2004. In 1996, she helped Hannes Leopoldseder initiate the Ars Electronica Center and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. From 1996 to 2020, she and Gerfried Stocker served as the artistic directors of the Ars Electronica Festival. Christine Sch\u00f6pf helped shape the development of Ars Electronica, fought for it, and was jointly responsible for its success. Christine Sch\u00f6pf passed away on Friday, October 24. She was 77 years old.
\nAfter graduating from school, Christine Sch\u00f6pf wants to become a theater director. Her mother is less than enthusiastic about this, trying to convince her to pursue a different path. She succeeds. Her daughter moves to Vienna and begins studying German and Romance languages in order to become a teacher. However, after attending classes at a high school, Christine Sch\u00f6pf realizes that she will \u201cnever, ever\u201d become a teacher. While waiting for the results of her dissertation on Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, she applies to ORF Upper Austria. She sends a series of proposals for one-hour radio features on social issues. The regional director at the time finds these proposals interesting and wants to meet their author. This is the first encounter between Christine Sch\u00f6pf and Hannes Leopoldseder (director of ORF Upper Austria in Linz from 1974 to 1998, ORF information director in Vienna from 1989 to 2002). Instead of producing long features, Christine begins working as a freelancer on a weekly ORF radio culture magazine in 1977. A year later, in 1978, she starts as an editor for the news service, and in 1982 she becomes head of the culture and science department, a position she holds until her retirement in 2007. In retrospect, she says that she only \u201cslid\u201d into journalism, because she was simply interested in it.<\/p>\n
Prix Ars Electronica Jury 1990; photo: Press
\nChristine Sch\u00f6pf\u2019s enthusiasm for art and interest in current issues inspire her to take action outside of ORF. In doing so, it\u2019s not primarily beauty that Christine Sch\u00f6pf values in art. She is interested in art that addresses exciting topics and stimulates thought\u2014art that aims to be relevant. This is particularly evident in the Prix Ars Electronica, which she initiates in 1987 \u2013 even though she is not initially convinced that the prize, which would come with a one-million-schilling endowment, is a good idea. However, she ultimately decides to take on the task. She conceives a completely new type of international competition, which is announced in three categories, and in just a few years, it establishes itself as the most prestigious media art prize in the world.<\/p>\n
Christine Sch\u00f6pf, Prix Jury 1998; photo: ORF
\nIn 1996, Christine Sch\u00f6pf writes another chapter in the success story of Ars Electronica. \u201cThe next step was undoubtedly when Gerfried Stocker arrived and the Ars Electronica Center was built. This brought new programs that appealed to young people.\u201d In retrospect, the success of this project seems inevitable, but in the mid-1990s, that\u2019s far from certain. This is particularly evident in the efforts to establish the Ars Electronica Futurelab, initiated at the same time to develop the museum\u2019s content and installations. Sch\u00f6pf recalls, \u201cAt the time, we held endless meetings to discuss the new Ars Electronica Center. I always insisted that there had to be a workshop and a research facility, otherwise the whole thing would come to a standstill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Press Breakfast 2001; photo: press
\nFrom 1996 onward, she and Gerfried Stocker, who is just 32 years old at the time, form the artistic direction of the Ars Electronica Festival. Together, they develop the themes and program for the Linz event, which is becoming the world\u2019s leading event for art, technology, and society.<\/p>\n
CyberArts 2004; Opening im O.K; photo: ORF
\nIn 2008, Christine Sch\u00f6pf receives the Grand Gold Medal of Honor from the city of Linz and the Culture Medal from the province of Upper Austria. In 2009, she is appointed an honorary professor at the University of Arts in Linz. In 2018, she is awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art….<\/p>\n
*The “Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.” I didn’t know that there was such a thing, but obviously this was someone who deserved it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
*She founded the Ars Electronica prize. *Alas, at Share Festival we know how it feels to lose a person like that. https:\/\/ars.electronica.art\/aeblog\/en\/2025\/10\/26\/christine-schoepf\/ It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Christine Sch\u00f6pf\u2014a formative figure in media art and for all of us, without whom Ars Electronica would not be what it is today. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\n
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