Thomas Heidtmann is a Berlin-based media artist and artist-curator, studied at the Berlin University of the Arts. He works at the intersection of art, science, and technology. As founder of SPARTH (since 2017) he investigates and promotes space-art activities. Since 2015 he has been a co-founder of Lacuna Lab e.V., a Berlin-based, artist-run association.

His works have been presented internationally in the frame of festivals such as Ars Electronica (2020), Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM (2021, 2018, 2017), Milan Design Week (2019), UnBox Festival (2019), Bengaluru Fantastic (2017), ISEA Hong Kong (2016) and Retune Festival (2016). He was involved in projects at Fundació Joan Miró (2017) and Hamburger Bahnhof (2011). Additionally, he lectured in institutions such as Srishti Institute (2017), Goethe-Institut Bangalore (2017) and Martin-Gropius-Bau (2016). Organisations such as Goethe-Institut (2017–2021) and Senate Department for Culture and Europe Berlin (2020–2021) supported him.

He has extensive experience in curating and organising events. At Lacuna Lab, he has been responsible for multiple exhibitions and residencies, such as A Vital Piece of Information – Fragments of a Greater Context (2019) and Serious Sparkles. An inquiry into Artificial Stupidity (2017) in the frame of Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM. In 2017 he organised the world’s first space-art hackathon SPARTH in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Bangalore, India. Since 2018 he has been running the space-art community SPARTHabitat in Berlin.


Selected Exhibitions

  • 2021 // Domino 3 // Salve Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2021 // Moon Gallery: The Bridge // Planetarium Leiden // Leiden, The Netherlands
  • 2021 // Scattered Partners // Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM / Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2020 // Close Cosmos // Ars Electronica / Leiden Observatory // Leiden, The Netherlands
  • 2020 // Moon Gallery Garden // Zone2Source / Het Glazen Huis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2019 // Designblok 19 // Designblok Prague International Design Festival // Prague, Czech Republic
  • 2019 // Hoogtij #57 // Quartair // The Hague, The Netherlands
  • 2019 // Milan Design Week // Ventura Projects / BASE Milano // Milan, Italy
  • 2019 // UnBox Festival // Bangalore, India
  • 2018 // The Moon Gallery // Space Expo // Noordwijk, The Netherlands
  • 2018 // The Moon Gallery // ESA / ESTEC // Noordwijk, The Netherlands
  • 2018 // NOW. A Kinetic Life // Art Laboratory Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 // Srishti Live 2017 / Bengaluru Fantastic Festival // Bangalore, India
  • 2017 // deLight Festival // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 // Autogestión // Museum MAN / Fundació Joan Miró // Barcelona, Spain
  • 2017 // Serious Sparkles. An inquiry into Artificial Stupidity // Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM // Berlin, Germany
  • 2016 // Retune Festival // Berlin, Germany
  • 2016 // ISEA2016HK // OPEN SKY GALLERY ISEA2016 // Hong Kong, China
  • 2016 // Lacuna Lab: Activation // Spektrum // Berlin, Germany
  • 2015 // FAK im Viertel // Speckhaus Gängeviertel // Hamburg, Germany
  • 2014 // The IT Show // Kunstquartier Bethanien // Berlin, Germany
  • 2014 // earlyhumanadapter – Installation I, II // Kleiner Salon / BcmArte / artisticDialogue project // Berlin, Germany
  • 2012 // I like it RAW // Epicentro Art Gallery // Berlin, Germany
  • 2011 // Veilchen // UferHallen // Berlin, Germany
  • 2011 // The White Rabbit // Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart // Berlin, Germany


Awards / Grants / Residencies

  • 2021 // Ambassador of Change / Flipping the Future (Grant) // Creative Hubs Network Europe / Creative FLIP / Goethe-Institut Brussels / European Union
  • 2021 // Bösenberg-Stipendium (Residency) // Bösenberg-Stiftung / Künstlerhaus Meinersen // Meinersen, Germany
  • 2020 // NEUSTART KULTUR Stipendien-Sonderprogramm (Grant) // Senate Department for Culture and Europe / Kulturprojekte Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2020 // CoLab TechArt Fellowship (Residenz) // Jaaga.in & BeFantastic.in / British Council / Islington Mills, UK / Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore // Bangalore, India
  • 2019 // Multi-sector funding festivals and series (Grant) // Senate Department for Culture and Europe // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 // bangaloREsidency-Expanded (Grant) // Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 // Artists’ Contacts (Grant) // ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 // bangaloREsidency-Expanded (Grant) // Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 // Srishtinterim / Srishti Live (Residency) // Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology // Bangalore, India
  • 2017 // The Story of Space Residency (Residency) // The Story of Space Festival // Goa, India
  • 2017 // bangaloREsidency (Residency) // Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore // Bangalore, India
  • 2014 // artisticDialogue (Residency) // Kleiner Salon / BcmArte // Berlin, German
  • 2016 // Hardest Hack (Award) // Science Hack Day // Berlin, Germany
  • 2016 // Official Selection for OPEN SKY GALLERY ISEA2016HK at ICC Tower (Award) // Hong Kong, China
  • 2016 // Berlin Calling (Grant) // Goethe-Institut Hong Kong // Hong Kong, China
  • 2008 // Nominated for Regina Pistor Prize for Painting (Award) // University of the Arts // Berlin, Germany


Lectures / Workshops / Screenings

  • 2021 // How to make an immersive event? (Online Talk) // Tour de Moon / The University of the Underground // London, UK
  • 2021 // BeFantastic Dialog Session (Online Talk) // BeFantastic / Jaaga // Bangalore, India
  • 2021 // Tycho and Stargazer (Online Talk) // International Day Of Light 2021 / Cosmic Tribe // Karachi, Pakistan
  • 2019 // SPARTH & Moon Gallery (Presentation) // EPSC – European Planetary Science Congress / CICG – Centre International de Conférences de Genève // Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2018 // NOW. A Kinetic Life (Talk) // Art Laboratory Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 // The Art of Planetary Science (Screening) // The University of Arizona / Lunar & Planetary Laboratory // Tucson, USA
  • 2017 // KOSMICA Film Night / Scope Sessions #70 (Screening) // Panke // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 // KOSMICA Film Night (Screening) // Cine Tonalá // Mexico City, Mexico
  • 2017 // The Story of Space Festival (Talk & Workshop) // Goa, India
  • 2017 // Spot on bangaloREsidents 2017 (Talk) // Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore // Bangalore, India
  • 2017 // Retune Studio Visit #13 (Talk) // Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2016 // Art in the Age of Earthquakes / 3rd Pecha Kucha Art Night (Talk) // peer to space / Performing Encounters (Talk) // Martin-Gropius-Bau // Berlin, Germany
  • 2016 // Scope Session #55 (Talk) // Panke // Berlin, Germany


Curation / Events

  • 2021 SPARTH & KOSMICA Institute: The Space Race Conference – Moon, Mars Futures // Stiftung Planetarium / Archenhold Observatory / Senate Department for Culture and Europe // Berlin, Germany
  • 2021 Scattered Partners // Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM / Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 A Vital Piece of Information – Fragments of a Greater Context – Pratyush Raman, Noor us Sabah Saeed // Uqbar // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 bangaloResidency Expanded: Pratyush Raman // Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 Artist-residency ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen: Noor us Sabah Saeed // Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2019 SPARTHabitat #5: Daniela de Paulis // Milan Design Week // Milan, Italy
  • 2018 SPARTHabitat #4: Albert Barqué-Duran // Spektrum // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 SPARTHabitat #3: Bernard Foing (ESA) & Athiye Jawad (Planet Labs Inc.) // Spektrum Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 NOW. A Kinetic Life // Art Laboratory Berlin // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 Lacuna Lab x3 // Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 bangaloResidency Expanded: Bidisha Das // Lacuna Lab // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 SPARTHabitat #2: Nahum // Spektrum // Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 SPARTHabitat #1: Activation // Spektrum // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 Serious Sparkles. An inquiry into Artificial Stupidity // Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM // Berlin, Germany
  • 2017 1st SPARTH – Space Art Hackathon // Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore / Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology // Bangalore, India
  • 2016 Lacuna Lab: Activation // Spektrum // Berlin, Germany


Education

  • Apr 2004 – Sep 2010 // Studies of Fine Arts In classes of Prof. Pia Fries, Anette Haas, Prof. Bernd Koberling, Prof. Daniel Richter and Prof. Karl-Horst Hödicke // University of the Arts, Berlin
  • Aug 2008 // Graduate of Fine Arts // Focus on Painting and New Media