Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 27, 2026

Monochrom

Monochrom is an international art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993, and defines itself as "an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism". Its main office is located at Museumsquartier/Vienna.

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Monochrom
Formation1993 (1993)
TypeInternational art-technology-philosophy group
Purpose
  • Arts
  • entertainment
  • movie production
  • publishing
  • education
  • activism
HeadquartersMuseumsquartier, Vienna, Austria
Staff9
Websitewww.monochrom.at Edit this at Wikidata

Monochrom (stylised as monochrom) is an art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993,1 Its main office is located at Museumsquartier in Vienna.2

History and philosophy

In the early 1990s, Johannes Grenzfurthner was an active member of several BBS message boards.3 He used his online connections to create a zine or alternative magazine that dealt with art, technology and subversive cultures, and was influenced by US magazines like Mondo 2000.45 Grenzfurthner's motivations were to react to the emerging conservatism in cyber-cultures of the early 1990s6 and to combine his political background in the Austrian punk and antifa movement with discussion of new technologies and the cultures they create.78 Franz Ablinger joined Grenzfurthner and they became the publication's core team.9

In 1995 the group decided to cover new artistic practices101112 and started experimenting with different media.8

Community and projects

Flyer for Monochrom's publication and community activity, 1996. Drawing by Gerhard Junker, flyer design by Michael Marrak. source ↗

The group defines itself as a movement, culture.813

Monochrom supports initiatives like the Radius Festival,14 Play:Vienna,15 the Buckminster Fuller Institute Austria,16 RE/Search, the Semantic Web Company17 and the Vienna hackerspace Metalab. For a couple of years, Monochrom ran the DIY project "Hackbus" in cooperation with David "Daddy D" Dempsey (of FM4)18

Since 2007, Monochrom is the European correspondent for Boing Boing Video.19

Johannes Grenzfurthner sees Monochrom as a community and social incubator of critical and subversive thinkers.20 An example is Bre Pettis of MakerBot Industries, who got inspired to create 3d printers during his art residency with Monochrom in 2007.21 Pettis wanted to create a robot that could print shot glasses for Monochrom's cocktail-robot event Roboexotica and did research about the RepRap project at Metalab.22 Shot glasses remained a theme throughout the history of MakerBot.23

Rather than pursuing a stable form, monochrom has operated as a transdisciplinary platform combining satire, political critique, fiction, research, and participatory formats to examine cultural, social, and technological systems.24 Its work has included manifestos and activist interventions, telepresence and robotics projects, conference and exhibition formats, television and theatre productions, software- and game-related works, participatory installations, publishing initiatives, and feature films.24

Among monochrom's best-known projects are Roboexotica, a Vienna-based festival for cocktail robotics founded in 1999, Arse Elektronika, a conference and festival series devoted to the relationship between sexuality and technology, the 2002 art hoax Georg Paul Thomann, and Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, a fictional Soviet enclave developed across games, theatre, performance, and film-related works.2526272829

Taken together, these projects have led commentators to describe monochrom as an evolving laboratory for context hacking, experimental storytelling, and critical cultural production.24

monochrom film

monochrom is a registered film production and distribution company. In recent years, film production has become a major focus of the group's work. Most of monochrom's genre and nerd-culture-related film projects have been produced under the label "monochrom propulsion system", a name chosen as a reference to Buckaroo Banzai.30

Filmography

  • To Live and Survive (2025) – directed by Matthias Jaklitsch
  • Solvent (2024) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Hacking at Leaves (2024) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Razzennest (2022) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Transform! (2022) – directed by Marie-Christin Rissinger
  • Masking Threshold (2021) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Avenues (2021) - directed by Sushant Chaudhary
  • Glossary of Broken Dreams (2018) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Traceroute (2016) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl (2014) – directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
  • Kiki and Bubu: Rated R Us (2011) - directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner

Exhibitions and festivals

  • Arad-II, Art Basel Miami Beach / USA (2005)31
  • Die waren früher auch mal besser: monochrom (1993-2013) / Austria (2013)32
  • Junge Szene 98. Vereinigung Bildender Künstler, Wiener Secession, Vienna / Austria (1998)33
  • Roboexotica (Festival for Cocktail Robotics, Vienna, 1999-)3435
  • Robotronika. Public Netbase t0 Media~Space!, Institut für neue Kulturtechnologien, Vienna / Austria (1998)36
  • Seriell Produziertes. Diagonale (Austrian Film Festival), Graz / Austria (2000)37
  • techno(sexual) bodies / videotage / Hong Kong / China (2010)38
  • The Influencers, Center for Contemporary Culture / Barcelona / Spain (2008)39
  • Unterspiel, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver / Canada (2005)40
  • world-information.org. Museum of Contemporary Art, Brussels / Belgium (2000) and Belgrad / Serbia (2003)41
References

References

  1. "monochrom | fanzineindex.de". fanzineindex.de.
  2. "Q21 Backstage Tour – monochrom". 13 November 2020 – via youtube.com.
  3. Kaestle, Thomas (14 April 2016). "The story of Traceroute, about a Leitnerd's quest". Boing Boing.
  4. "monochrom: "Das Hacken treibt uns an"". futurezone.at. 20 February 2013.
  5. Husslein, Uwe; Bornowski, Ralf (1995). Fandom Research (Reader und Index zu deutschsprachigen Fanzines. Ventil-Verlag. p. 70.
  6. "CRE062 by Tim Pritlove: "Monochrom: Das etwas andere Künstlerkollektiv aus Wien", January 2, 2008
  7. "Johannes Grenzfurthner". dkritik.de.
  8. Marc Da Costa, "Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom, Part 3 Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine", Furtherfield.
  9. ""Das Schockmoment ist nur noch Selbstmarketing"". jungle.world.
  10. "Simulacrum Fisticuffs (interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner), Rhysophocles, March 16, 2011". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  11. Erin Kobayashi, "How to be buried alive", Toronto Star, 6 February 2007
  12. Marie Lechner, "[1]", Libération, 4 March 2008.
  13. "monochrom". monochrom.at.
  14. "VIENNA – Radius Festival A Celebration Of Games". 26 April 2016. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016.
  15. "play:vienna". playvienna.com.
  16. "home". Monochrom Shop.
  17. ""Linked Open Data: The Essentials", edition mono/monochrom, Bauer, F., & Kaltenböck, M. (2011)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  18. "Hackbus, A Community Wiki For Mobile Hack Vehicles". 17 July 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  19. "Monochrom: Bye Bye (a short film) - Boing Boing Video". Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  20. "monochrom: Context Hacking – Essay". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  21. "MakerBot hat seinen Ursprung in Wien und würde sich an HP verkaufen". 3druck. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  22. "MADE IN MY BACKYARD / BRE PETTIS | Open Design Now".
  23. Griggs, Brandon (9 March 2013). "Startup unveils 3-D scanner at SXSW". CNN.
  24. "The Digital and Analogue Subversion of monochrom". Furtherfield. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  25. "Cocktail robots mix mojitos in Vienna". Reuters. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  26. "Roboter servieren Cocktails". ORF Wien. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  27. "Roboexotica: Roboter mixen Cocktails". ORF Wien. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  28. "monochrom's ARSE ELEKTRONIKA 2023: Sexponential". Ars Electronica Festival. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  29. Edgley, Charles (2010). "The Anarchy of Desire". Symbolic Interaction. 33 (2): 319–332.
  30. Heller, Ramsey (10 April 2012). "Sierra Zulu Draws Attention to Soviet Austria". futurezone. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
  31. Hofer, Sebastian (27 June 2023). "Out of Unterzögersdorf". profil (in German).
  32. "MUSA homepage: "Die waren früher auch mal besser: monochrom (1993-2013)"". Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  33. wien, basis. "basis wien - Junge Szene Wien '98". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  34. "Cocktail". vienna.at. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  35. Sagan, Sonja. "OTS0037, 20. Nov. 2018, 09:30 drucken als pdf als Text Roboexotica 2018 - Das Festival für Cocktailrobotik mit Star Trek Ehrengast Chase Masterson". ots.at. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  36. "Robotronika". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  37. diagonale (9 February 2000). "Diagonale 2000". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  38. "Techno (Sexual) Bodies - Asia Art Archive". Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  39. "The Influencers Festival in Barcelona". 18 February 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  40. "Unterspiel". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  41. "World-Information.Org". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
External links