Elisabeth Zoe Knass . zoelisa . Born and raised in Austria Elisabeth lives in Vienna since 1984. After her studies in cultural anthropology and communications at the University of Vienna (with an emphasis on audio-visual media and intercultural connections) she went on a field research journey through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize to collect material for her thesis. Following this experience she continued her education in an IOAC at Webster University St. Louis MO and graduated 1999. Her individualized degree program included studies in Media, Art, Anthropology and Ethnology. The curriculum provided an exploration of the relationship between culture and communications media. Both photography and video formed the basis for investigating communication within or across cultures. At Danube University Krems she finished her studies in TV & Film Production with a masters degree. Since the late 80's Elisabeth is working as graphic designer and in various commercial media productions. She worked as writer, director and producer for public television, and several cross-media production companies. She participated in many multimedia projects and extended her work into interactive media and web design. As visual artist she is on one hand concentrating on photography in connection with image manipulation and graphic design. On the other hand she is creating experimental single channel audio-visual work and collaborates with other artist in this field. Digital Images Besides being interested in the process of capturing images I am specifically focused in creating new images by combining them in digital collages. For these I am connecting photos that I have taken or photos that friends or even unknown people have taken. So I treat them as "found-footage" and combine and connect them with my own images. Sometimes I lean more towards the use of original material, sometimes I recycle mainly material from other sources but in the end the pieces and series that I am creating are expressing content that had not been in the individual elements that I combine. The possibility of manipulating and altering my material to express the ideas and concepts of my pieces is an exiting aspect of this work. I like to disguise and reveal at the same time but by doing this I shift meanings and redefine original messages. Digital Compartments This project began in summer 1989 and it was finished in summer 2000. According to my concept each year a specific region was traveled through and photos from each region were taken. Out of each collection a series of 12 images was selected in each of these 12 consecutive years, ending up with 144 images, one for every month. The selections were scanned and digitally manipulated, choosing a different method for each year. The final collection of 144 digital images was published in various formats. The title expresses my original idea of condensing a part of an individual lifetime by using significant or marking places and relating this process to the broader background of a significant part of our calendar approaching the year 2000. Year after year 12 of my images inhabit the last 12 "compartments" of the end of the 20th century.