Jury Competition 2025
Zhou Bo | Professor of Experimental Art & Light Art Expert
Zhou Bo is a professor and master tutor at the Experimental Art School of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, director of the Lighting Art Institute of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and chief curator of the Chongqing International Light Art Festival in China.
Furthermore, he serves as a member for the Chongqing Artists Association, as a committee member of the Indoor Lighting Professional and the editorial board of *Lighting Design* magazine and is on the committee of the China Illumination Society. Bo is also the executive director and Deputy Secretary-General of the Chongqing Illumination Society.
Ding Wei | Artist, Art Educator & Curator
Ding Wei is a faculty member of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, a member of the Chongqing Artists Association, director of the Chongqing Sculpture Society, and curator of the Third Chongqing International Light Art Festival.
He has presided over the planning and implementation of the large-scale public art project for the T3B Terminal of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (China) in 2025 as well as the planning and implementation of the public art project for Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (China) in 2021.
His public artworks have been selected for the Beijing Exhibition of the 14th National Art Exhibition of China and awarded the second prize in the 9th Chongqing Art Exhibition.
Wei serves a long-term commitment to integrating art education with creative practice and cultivating numerous outstanding art talents. He is committed to the continuous exploration of innovative artistic expressions and promotion of art field development from diverse perspectives.
Marina Konther | Audiovisual artist
Marina Konther, one of the winners of last year's Genius Loci competition, is a freelance audiovisual artist. Her work explores the characteristics of traditional animated film, which she attempts to reinvent by integrating the technique of Video Mapping and VJing. Through the use of texture-rich materials, she creates animated and immersive spaces that appeal to the audience's sensibility.
Luca Pulvirenti | mammasONica
Luca Pulvirenti is a professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and an independent educator active in international programs. His work develops a distinctive tra-digital aesthetic that reconnects animation with theatrical performance and cinematic projection in public spaces.
He is the founder and creative director of mammasONica, a transmedial audiovisual collective exploring the intersections of art, technology, and public space. The studio creates award-winning A/V performances, interactive installations, and immersive storytelling experiences worldwide. From historic landmarks to unconventional natural sites, mammasONica engages with social aesthetics and participatory practices, transforming complex digital narratives into collective emotional experiences.
Over the years, mammasONica has realized large-scale audiovisual projects in iconic and culturally significant venues around the globe. Their work has illuminated the European Parliament in Strasbourg, transformed the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, and reimagined the Romisch-Germanisches Museum in Cologne.
From the iconic Greek Theatre in Taormina to the scenic vineyards of Napa Valley, the powerful Wadi Namar waterfalls in Riyadh, and the solemn Buchenwald Memorial, they have brought site-specific narratives to life. By activating historic locations such as the Atrium in Weimar and Lancaster Castle in the UK, mammasONica fuses contemporary visual language with layered heritage, earning international awards and recognition across both artistic and academic domains.
Beyond artistic creation, mammasONica is deeply involved in educational initiatives that leverage collaborative technology to foster sociability, cultural awareness, and creative participation across all ages.
Area Composer | Media artists
The media artists Ronald Glaube, Dorothee Pilavas and Peter Hölscher create audiovisual art pieces, that changes the perception of locations. Every art piece is composed specifically for the performance location. Area Composer capture pictures and sounds of the location with cameras, recording devices and all their senses. Their compositions - made up of extremely slow pictures that flow into each other and a soundscape that has been specifically made for the art piece - help decelerate and deepen the perception. The human eye can barely make out the subtle changes which creates a new and more intense view. The sound adds an emotional layer and stimulates the imagination – in addition to the visible images, inner images arise in the head.
Area Composer have realized numerous installations in public spaces in Germany and beyond. In 2024 they won the Genius Loci Weimar competition in Buchenwald alongside two other artist groups.
Philipp Geist | Media artist
Berlin-based artist Philipp Geist works internationally in the fields of video and light installations, photography and painting. In 2013, Geist received the German Lighting Design Award in the Light Art category for his installation 'Time Drifts', which he presented at the Luminale 2012. His artworks and audiovisual performances have been exhibited internationally at various renowned festivals and art spaces. Geist's projects are characterised by their complexity, the inclusion of location, sound and moving images. In his video mapping installations, he avoids the use of screens, instead transforming various architectures into moving, painterly light sculptures that challenge the viewer's perception of two- and three-dimensionality.
Thorsten Bauer | Media artist & entrepreneur
Thorsten Bauer is a Creative Director, media artist, entrepreneur, and curator who has been working in the field of spatial media art installations since 2001. As a co-founder of Urbanscreen GmbH & Co. KG, he is considered one of the pioneers of projection mapping and has received numerous international awards in this field. In 2014, he founded his own studio, StudioBauer GmbH, and has since produced permanent media art installations for architecture. His work encompasses the design of media façades for outdoor spaces as well as artistic permanent installations for indoor spaces in buildings.
Hendrik Wendler | Genius Loci Weimar, MXWendler
Hendrik Wendler studied architecture at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and founded device+context, a software company that develops the MXWendler video mapping software package. Since 2004, these media servers have been illuminating clubs, theatres and façades all over the world. In 2012, he founded the artistic festival platform Genius Loci Weimar for the young art direction of video mapping.