Short (50 words)
Vanessa Graf (she/her) is a writer and researcher interested in the materiality of data. Her past projects have examined the fantasies and narratives powering Alpine data centers, the imaginaries upholding Polish and Austrian internet infrastructure, and the language of narratives of technological progress. She is currently writing a novel.

Extended (150 words)
Vanessa Graf (she/her) is a writer and researcher interested in the materiality of data. In her work, she is interested in the material and discursive practices that make digital data: its infrastructures, materials, cultures of collection, hard- and softwares, languages, and imaginaries. In 2025, she completed her PhD at the Critical Media Lab Basel and the Kunstuniversität Linz. The project, Head in the Cloud, examines the dreams, fantasies, and narratives powering the data center industry in the Alpine ecosphere. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from SciencesPo Paris, an M.A. in Media and Culture Studies from the University of Art and Design Linz, and is completing a B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Salzburg. Her work has been exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival and the Biennale Warszawa. Currently, she is working on her first novel, a taxonomy of nature data repositories, and her still untitled postdoc project.

Awards and Scholarships
2025: Award of Excellence / Staatspreis für die besten Dissertationen, Republic of Austria
2025: Jahresstipendium Literatur, Salzburg
2022 – 2025: DOC.CH Scholarship, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
2021 – 2022: Junior Fellowship, International Research Center for Cultural Studies Vienna (IFK)
2021: Talentförderungspremie Literatur, Oberösterreich
2020: Förderpreis der Rauriser Literaturtage
2020: Förderpreis der Literaturbiennale FLORIANA
2020: Medienstipendium und Residency, Nationalparks Austria
2020: Emanuel und Sofie Fohn Stipendium