ART+COM Studios

About ART+COM Studios

ART+COM Studios is a design and media practice working from studios in Berlin and Cologne. Using new media, the studio designs and develops installations, objects and spaces in both analogue and digital form, creating environments that let people experience things which would otherwise be unimaginable in everyday life.

Technology is treated as a means of artistic expression, a medium for interactive communication and a route to sensory experience. The stated aim is to augment visitors' capabilities and show them new ways to interact with the world.

Three Areas of Practice

Art

ART+COM designs media sculptures, installations and interventions that give their locations an identity going beyond function and architecture. These projects arise through commissions for public space and private initiatives, and also from the studio's own initiative - an unusual commitment for a commercial practice, and one that keeps its experimental work independent of client briefs.

Communication

The studio conceives and creates media installations and spaces that translate complex content into tangible experience. This covers analogue and digital exhibits, brand spaces, exhibitions and museums designed to captivate visitors and prompt interaction. It is exacting work: an exhibit must communicate a difficult idea to a non-specialist audience within seconds, and survive years of continuous public handling.

Research

Research and development is treated as a source of inspiration, a basis for experimentation and a decision-making tool when seeking cutting-edge interfaces and new forms of interaction. This work has produced generative applications, computational reflectives and new solutions in augmentation and interactive surfaces.

Heritage

Originally founded in 1988 as the registered association ART+COM e.V., the studio emerged from the early German new-media scene and now works for international clients across industry, culture and research. That founding date places it among the pioneers of digital and interactive design in Europe - it predates the public internet.

Interdisciplinary Team

Colleagues from media design, media art, IT development, programming, communication and product design, science, engineering and project management work together at the studios. Projects are developed in interdisciplinary teams contributing different perspectives, with the shared aim of pushing boundaries and creating something new.

That mix is essential to the work. A media installation must simultaneously function as artwork, software product, fabricated object and reliable piece of equipment - roles that no single discipline can resolve alone.

Structure and Leadership

ART+COM is a limited liability company supported by former members of ART+COM e.V., its employees and its management. Andreas Wiek has managed the company since 2000, and Jan Schmelter was appointed second managing director in 2025, taking particular responsibility for the studio's future creative direction.

Where This Work Meets Architecture

ART+COM operates at the boundary between architecture, exhibition design and technology. Museums, brand environments and public spaces increasingly depend on media content as an integral part of the architecture rather than an addition to it, which means these installations must be coordinated with building services, structure and visitor circulation from an early design stage.

Market Position

The studio is among the most established new-media design practices in Europe, competing on conceptual strength, technical capability and a long record of built interactive work for cultural institutions and global brands.

Why AEC Teams Should Know ART+COM

For architects and clients planning museums, visitor centres or brand spaces, ART+COM is a leading reference for how media, interaction and space can be designed together across the built environment.