Talks

Interdisciplinary artist Kristina Cyan, russian born currently lives and works in Vienna.
 She acquired education BA in Architecture, MA Design in St Petersburg, MA Art Theory and Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Her artistic work and practice focus on the intersection of (media- and bio-) technology, body-politics, politics of images, and feminist and environmental studies.
 From her point of view, technology is not only a tool but also represents hybridity politics of extensions end entering questions of information, identities, publicity and politics.
These issues concern globalization, processes of interaction with society and advanced media technologies and do affect and influence our fragmented perception of reality and materiality. And this is the area, where her aesthetical concerns are addressing a challenge of ethics.

Her works have been shown at international institutions and festivals, such as Mumok and Film Museum Vienna, Media art festival Osnabrück, B3 Bienalle moving images Frankfurt, Science&Art residency in Jena, Art&Science Fest St. Petersburg and AVU gallery Prague.

Entstanden an einem langen Abend ist die Einsicht, dass viele Gruppen und Szenen enttäuscht auf die Versprechen der Digitalisierung zurückblicken und sich bei deren Umsetzung im Stich gelassen fühlen. Jedoch findet zwischen den Gruppen und Szenen wenig Austausch über Gemeinsamkeiten und potenzielle Lösungen statt. Aus diesem Manko und mit der Idee die Dinge zu ändern ist das HackThePromise Festival entstanden.

Der Verein „Digitale Aussicht“ wurde als organisatorisches Gefäss für das HackThePromise Festival gegründet. Er wird getragen von einem interdisziplinären Team aus Lernenden, Studierenden, Kunstschaffenden, Filmbegeisterten, Informatiker:innen, Lehrpersonen und gesellschaftlich engagierten Mitgliedern.

Marc Pilloud entwickelte als Jugendlicher mit Robox eines der frühen deutschsprachigen C64-Adventures und wie sollte es auch anders sein, Robox war eine KI, die die Menschheit auslöschen wollte.

1995 absolvierte er dann das Studium zum Dipl. Informatik Ing. ETH inklusive höherem Lehramt.

Nach dem Studium gründete er 1996 zusammen mit Richard Eisler comparis.ch.

Seit 2009 arbeitet er als selbstständiger Berater und Referent für Schulen und Schulämter unter dem Label Nextmeme Digital.

Seit 2016 ist er Dozent im interdisziplinären Studiengang Digital Ideation der Hochschule Luzern. Er unterrichtet dort Module rund um Medientheorien, Webtechnologien und diversen «emerging Technologies» wie Metaverse, Blockchains, NFTs, Sprachassistenten und natürlich generativer KI.

Seit Zug 37 von AlphaGo im Jahr 2016 ist sein Interesse an KI aus der Studienzeit neu erwacht. Er hat sich in den letzten Jahren ein differenziertes Verständnis aus verschiedenen Perspektiven erarbeitet um das Thema einfach vermitteln zu können. Aktuell arbeitet er an den Grundlagen für die spekulative Ideation einer positiven Zukunft mit KI.

Nach 40 Jahren beginnt er langsam zu verstehen, wie man Robox möglicherweise besiegen kann.

Helena Nikonole is a new media artist, independent curator, researcher and educator based between Berlin and Istanbul. Her field of interests embraces AI, hacktivism, hybrid art and bio-semiotics. One part of her practice is dedicated to utopian scenarios of post-human future and art as innovation l, while another is focused on dystopian present and critical approach to technology.

She presents talks, lectures and workshops in the field of Art & Science and AI & Art at different institutions including transmediale festival (Berlin), Paris College of Arts, Art Laboratory Berlin, Mutek Festival (Montreal and Tokyo), Leiden and Eindhoven Universities (Netherlands), Swiss Interactive Media Days, Creative Days Vienna, IMAL (Brussels) and many others.

Her artistic work has been presented internationally by institutions and festivals such as Ars Electronica, ZKM Museum (Karlsruhe), CTM Festival (Berlin), Athens Digital Arts Festival, Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Drugo More (Rijeka), Digital Art Zurich Festival, "YouFab Creative Award 2019 Winners Exhibition" at SHIBUYA QWS (Tokyo), Open Source Body Festival 2022 (Paris), Warsaw Biennale 2022, Cairotronica Festival 2025 etc.

Her curatorial projects include exhibitions such as Learning Machines (Electromuseum, Moscow, 2019), Art Code (Solyanka Gallery, parallel program of Art for the Future International Festival, Moscow, 2021), Cybernetic Serendipity (Akbank Cultural Center, Istanbul, 2023) and Golden Horn Light Festival (funded by Contemporary Istanbul Foundation and opening in Istanbul in September 2025).

In 2019, Nikonole received special prize from the YouFab Creative Award (Tokyo, Japan).
She was awarded a prize in the Web Art category by the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) in 2021.
She was nominated for the S+T+ARTS Prize of the European Commission in 2022 and won the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2023.
In 2025, she holds fellowship from the Berlin Senate for her artistic research on AI and political ideologies.

Dr. Lukasz Olejnik, LL.M., is an independent researcher and consultant specializing in cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. He is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
He holds a PhD in Computer Science from INRIA (France) and an LL.M. from the University of Edinburgh. His academic affiliations have included University College London, Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, and Oxford’s Centre for Technology and Global Affairs. He served as a member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group.

Previously, he was a cyberwarfare advisor at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, focusing on the humanitarian consequences of cyber operations. He is the author of Philosophy of Cybersecurity and Propaganda books, and of numerous scientific publications, op-eds, and policy analyses.

Dr. Olejnik works with public and private organizations on cybersecurity, data protection, R&D, and emerging technology policy.

Basel.Codes is a welcoming collective of coders, artists and designers. Unsorted.Love is a swiss-based collective exploring the intersection of technology and artistic expression. Together we are B.L.U.C! unsorting code, loving A/V performances.

In its first iteration of B.L.U.C, this group of algorithm casters will enchant the room with the most exquisite sounds and visuals. Expect the conjuring of arcane sonic engines, like Strudel, Sonic-Pi and Supercollider. While the visual sorceresses and sorcerers will summon intricate visions from Hydra, Screamer and P5LIVE. The MD5 sigil will be broken unleashing 128-bit spirit hashes to enchant patterns and compositions.

Entstanden an einem langen Abend ist die Einsicht, dass viele Gruppen und Szenen enttäuscht auf die Versprechen der Digitalisierung zurückblicken und sich bei deren Umsetzung im Stich gelassen fühlen. Jedoch findet zwischen den Gruppen und Szenen wenig Austausch über Gemeinsamkeiten und potenzielle Lösungen statt. Aus diesem Manko und mit der Idee die Dinge zu ändern ist das HackThePromise Festival entstanden.

Der Verein „Digitale Aussicht“ wurde als organisatorisches Gefäss für das HackThePromise Festival gegründet. Er wird getragen von einem interdisziplinären Team aus Lernenden, Studierenden, Kunstschaffenden, Filmbegeisterten, Informatiker:innen, Lehrpersonen und gesellschaftlich engagierten Mitgliedern.

REINCANTAMENTO is a Research and Publishing Group exploring Technology, Radical Imagination and Rituality. Based across Berlin, Venice, Milan and Turin, we run independent publishing practices, develop playful interventions and ritual practices, and host gatherings that rethink our relationship with technology.

REINCANTAMENTO channels Mediterranean magical knowledge and speculative hope into experiments with cooperative economics and situated software to create sites of collective inquiry.

As a collective force, REINCANTAMENTO refuses the fixation on identity, working instead within wider networks of transformation.

A collectively organised space based in Basel for gathering, exchanging ideas, and connecting meaningfully in communities through chats and invited guests.

Born in the space-time distortions of the Internet, Crassula Shang is a digital artist, archivist, and writer who carries her grandmother's surname, the spectral traces of post-socialist history, and an ambivalent view on feminist techno-fantasy.

Malte Oing is a Berlin-based artist whose work focuses on the interfaces between digital and analog life and the effects of capitalism on people and society.

He explores topics such as technology, humanization of computers and consumption, always in the field of tension between capitalism and digital infrastructure. He combines photography, digital techniques and installations to reflect on complex social issues in a humorous and critical way.

Otto Ostermann is a spatial designer, media artists and researcher based in Berin. In his practice he deals with collective negotation of spatial ressources and social-geographic relations of gamified militarization. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture (Detmold School of Design) and is currently studying Design and Computation at UDK and TU Berlin as well as Emergent Digital Media (class Hito Steyerl) at AdbK Munich.

Helen V. Pritchard is an artist-designer, geographer and queer love theorist. Their work considers the impact of computation on social and environmental justice and how this configures the possibilities for life—or who gets to have a life—in intimate and significant ways. They are the co-editor of ‘Data Browser 06: Executing Practices’ (2018);‘Sensors and Sensing Practices’ (2019), the manual 'Infrastructural Interactions: Survival, Resistance and Radical Care' (2022) and the anthology ‘Plants By Numbers: Art, Computation and Queer Feminist Technoscience’(2024). They are also the co-editor of the Future Media Series (Goldsmiths Press). Helen is Professor and Head of Research at the Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM), Basel Academy of Arts and Design, FHNW. They also hold an associate professorship in Queer Feminist Technoscience at University of Plymouth and co-organise with The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest (TITiPI).

Kit Braybrooke is a postdigital anthropologist and designer from Vancouver, Las Vegas and London who explores how technological innovation can invite more-than-human communities—animal, vegetal, machine, and algorithmic—to walk together across new terrains. As Professor and Head of the MA Transversal Design at FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel, their work critically examines the systems, spaces, and power structures that shape our world. From hacker cultures and transfeminist futures to experimental platforms like living labs, commons, and circular economies, Kit’s practice applies feral digital methods to drive systems change across Europe, Asia, and beyond. They are a director of the transfeminist design studio We&Us and co-founder of the community Art Tech Nature Culture, and their work has been showcased by institutions including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, British Museum, Furtherfield, BBC and others.

Qingyi Ren 任晴宜 is a non-binary digital artist and Science, technology and society (STS) researcher whose work delves into the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. With a passion for unravelling the complex web of gender theory, AI ethics, and digital identity.

They are currently based in Basel and Linz, dedicate their artistic practice to unveiling the subtle biases ingrained within the realm of machine learning and its profound impact on marginalized identities. Through their thought-provoking artistry, they challenge the status quo and inspire critical conversations surrounding the ethics of artificial intelligence.

They are currently a PhD candidate in the collaborative MAKE/SENSE Program at The University of Arts Linz and The Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW.

Jana Vanecek ist Künstler:in, Autor:in, Aktivist:in und Researcher:in. Durch Installationen, Performances, Vorträge und Publikationen thematisiert Vanecek Neurodiversität, Biokapitalismus, Gesundheits(un)gerechtigkeit und Klassismus – stets mit starkem Fokus auf Sprache. Hierfür verbindet Vanecek Konzeptkunst mit Autotheorie sowie Popkultur mit Wissenschaft. Vanecek, wählt Themen meist auf Grundlage persönlicher Erfahrungen aus, doch liegt der Fokus dabei nicht auf der eigenen Person, sondern auf den vorherrschenden Praktiken, Diskursen und Barrieren, die auch viele andere Menschen prägen.

Jana Vanecek war 2021 für den Swiss Art Award nominiert, erhielt 2020 und 2022 den Kunstpreis der Stadt Zürich und wurde 2023 vom der Schweizer Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia mit einem Aufenthalt in China ausgezeichnet. Vaneceks Arbeiten wurden international gezeigt und sind Teil der Kunstsammlung der Stadt Zürich. Jana Vanecek identifiziert sich selbst als non-binär, neurodivergent und crip.

Mona Hedayati is an Iranian-Canadian artist working across computation art, sound design, and sensory studies. She studied digital media and social-political art and design. Her work has been constantly informed by bringing audiences together to think of building otherly social constitutions even if in a live performative context only. She has designed participatory sound performances to question the individualist attitudes and explore speculative possibilities of collectivity. Hedayati has worked across an array of contexts and implemented multiple technologies to compose her performances. As a result, she has disseminated her work at international venues as diverse as Fylkingen New Music and Intermedia Center (SE), NYC Electroacoustic Music Festival (USA), Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence (DE), IMPAKT Center for Media Culture and Radio WORM (NL), Kunsthal Extra City (BE), ISEA x2 (FR-AU), Body Electric Retrospective (CA), Ars Electronica x3 (AT), Kasko Center for Art and Performance and MESH Festival (CH), Barents Spektakel Festival (NO), among many others.

Eiie legt den künstlerischen Fokus auf Objekt-ontologische Betrachtungsweisen von pseudo-Entitäten. Diese fliessen in audiovisuelle Räume und virtuelle Strukturen ein, die digitale gesellschaftliche Entwicklungen erfahrbar machen. Die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der technischen Welt inspiriert zu neuen Denkweisen und lädt dazu ein, bestehende Strukturen zu hinterfragen. Eiie porträtiert die Emergenz zwischen digitalen Mitteln und Desaster. Die interaktiven Performances entstehen jeweils reziprok mit Rezipient*innen. Nach Ausbildung am Hyperwerk wurden Eiies preisgekrönte Werke auf unterschiedlichen Kontinenten gezeigt. Eiie lebt und kreiert im Internet.

Ben Kaczor’s singular sound bridges a wide emotional spectrum. Focalizing influences of techno, deep house and dub techno the swiss artist produces a minimal, straightforward sound. It is a vulnerable and raw aesthetic that speaks to the softest parts of one’s heart while being equally at home on the dancefloor. Deeply inward- gazing, balancing dubby, monochrome atmospheres and melancholia, his music produces deep self-connection in different environments.
The DJ, producer and curator is guided by the aim to create spaces and sounds that bring people closer to themselves. Approaching creativity in flow and as flow, Kaczor's engagements touch multiple domains from ambient live performances to dusty clubnights. Behind that stands a firm belief that resonance in its essence is equally impactful in sound therapy and dancefloor contexts. Being instinctively drawn to resonance—whether in sound, form, or idea—allows Ben to let it guide his creative choices and direction.
In 2023 he became part of Dial Records, where he released 2 LPs so far - on both ends of his club-oriented and ambient- experimental spectrum. The acclaimed album “Petrovo Uhu” brought forth the recognizable Kaczor- sound: Softly insisting, kindling raw emotions, yet deft and modern.
Alongside fellow swiss artist LB Honne Ben Kaczor founded the Label St. Odes - an outlet to issue the finest deep house and dub techno. The label underlines multidisciplinarity - focusing on ambient and experimental performances, visual art and clubnights. In general, the artist embraces a collaborative approach to his work. Under the name Tarik Hensen, his alias together with Swedish artist and companion Martinou, he released two deep and contemplative EPs. Ben’s singular sound across that variety of projects brought him to play extensively in Asia, Europe and Mexico.
Across all his projects, Kaczor consistently returns to a core pursuit: creating something that’s meant to be felt, not deconstructed.

Dylan Cawthorne is an aerospace and drone engineer, applied ethicist, artist, activist, and former Associate Professor. Dylan's goal is to make the world a better place using ethics, technology, activism, and art. Dylan is a proponent for the use of ethics and human values in engineering, and is an activist engineer. His academic area of expertise is using value sensitive design methods and ethical principles to design and build prototype drones that uphold the highest human values. He recently published a book on this topic, called "The Ethics of Drone Design". Dylan is interested in technology as both a subject matter and a medium for his art. He works in multiple mediums, including sculpture, performance, installation, video, and painting. You can read more about Dylan's work at: www.dylancawthorne.com.

Sabin Schumacher ist Stadträtin in Lörrach und Beauftragte für Menschenrechte und Drogenpolitik der Piratenpartei Deutschland. Im Dreiländereck engagiert sie sich seit vielen Jahren grenzüberschreitend politisch in vielfältiger Weise zur Digitalisierung und Sozio- und Subkultur.

Vielleicht ist es egal, woher Jan Schekauski kommt, was er zuvor tat. Was zählt sind neue Ideen, gemeinsam realsiert mit unterschiedlichen Menschen an unterschiedlichen Orten. Und neue Ideen können jederzeit entstehen, jederzeit alles verändern. Genau davon, worüber sein aktueller Film "Exit Through the Debt Shop" erzählt.

Maximilian Hanisch (he/him*1988 in Dresden) ist Regisseur und Performer. Er studierte Schauspielregie am Thomas Bernhard Institut des Mozarteums Salzburg und Expanded Theatre an der Hochschule der Künste Bern. In seinen Projekten ist er beständig auf der Suche nach inhaltlich und formal neuem Terrain und wählt den Einsatz der Mittel entsprechend dem Thema. Er organisiert Bilder und Texte nach musikalischen Prinzipien und kombiniert dabei Arbeitsweisen aus zeitgenössischem Tanz, dokumentarischem Theater und bildender Kunst. Dazu wählt er Themen mit hoher politischer Relevanz aus und übersetzt sie in theatrale Modelle. Thematische Schwerpunkte sind die Verbindung von moderner Überwachungstechnologie und digitaler Intimität.
Die Gruppe Wave of Images besteht aus Videodesigner Andreas Bütler, und Digitaldramturgin Kristina Malyseva und Maximilian Hanisch und wird 2026 gemeinsam die Performative Installation "Filterworld" realisieren."

In 2013, Daniel received his BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. He later completed his MFA with distinction at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016, supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Daniel Vollmond currently lives and works in Basel, Switzerland and in Germany. His work has been exhibited across Europe and internationally.

* * *

Daniel is an artist who continuously learns and adapts to new tools and techniques. He works independently across media with a strong focus on technology, moving image, and interaction—both offline and in digital spaces. DIY, coding, and building things are at the heart of his practice.

His work is deeply informed by his upbringing near the Iron Curtain in rural Germany, close to Hof, a border town adjacent to the former GDR in the so-called 'Former West'. Even though the Iron Curtain collapsed in 1991, its cultural and geographic divisions remained visible for years. A general lack of perspective drove many young people to migrate to cities. At the age of nineteen, Daniel left too. Before moving to Berlin, Amsterdam and London, he spent a Voluntary Social Year in India, where he understood the geopolitical meaning of 'geography' for the first time - specifically what it meant to be born in a rich country: 'to be born privileged'.

These formative years continue to shape his artistic work, which explores social dynamics and everyday conditions, often in an attempt to 'hack' or subvert embedded structures and belief-systems. His practice interweaves personal experience with broader political and historical contexts. It operates somewhere between direct interaction with the viewer, autobiography, documentary and speculative fiction, often resulting in scenarios where the artwork appears to "make itself" through its engagement with the audience: a negotiation that interferes with the structure of the world, and that in turn allows others to interact with its complexities and its contradictions.

Social networks and building a sense of togetherness are central to his practice. Daniel also holds lectures and workshops and regularly collaborates with others, including his partner, Lynne Kouassi. Since 2023, he has co-organised the ANTHROPOZÄNTA in Hof, Germany: an annual residency and exhibition project in collaboration with Sophie Innmann. He also is a founding member of term7, an anonymous collective that publishes tutorials on digital security, online privacy, and FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software), exploring the social dynamics of online communities and digital activism at the intersection of art and politics.

868labs is a Berlin-based initiative creating tactical tools for off-grid communication. Founded by new media artist Helena Nikonole, creative technologist Katerina Kataeva, and anonymous collaborators, the collective's first prototype — 868 Wearables — offers open-source, artist-designed devices for encrypted, long-range messaging. We build systems that opt out of surveillance infrastructure without opting out of connection.

Entstanden an einem langen Abend ist die Einsicht, dass viele Gruppen und Szenen enttäuscht auf die Versprechen der Digitalisierung zurückblicken und sich bei deren Umsetzung im Stich gelassen fühlen. Jedoch findet zwischen den Gruppen und Szenen wenig Austausch über Gemeinsamkeiten und potenzielle Lösungen statt. Aus diesem Manko und mit der Idee die Dinge zu ändern ist das HackThePromise Festival entstanden.

Der Verein „Digitale Aussicht“ wurde als organisatorisches Gefäss für das HackThePromise Festival gegründet. Er wird getragen von einem interdisziplinären Team aus Lernenden, Studierenden, Kunstschaffenden, Filmbegeisterten, Informatiker:innen, Lehrpersonen und gesellschaftlich engagierten Mitgliedern.

Entstanden an einem langen Abend ist die Einsicht, dass viele Gruppen und Szenen enttäuscht auf die Versprechen der Digitalisierung zurückblicken und sich bei deren Umsetzung im Stich gelassen fühlen. Jedoch findet zwischen den Gruppen und Szenen wenig Austausch über Gemeinsamkeiten und potenzielle Lösungen statt. Aus diesem Manko und mit der Idee die Dinge zu ändern ist das HackThePromise Festival entstanden.

Der Verein „Digitale Aussicht“ wurde als organisatorisches Gefäss für das HackThePromise Festival gegründet. Er wird getragen von einem interdisziplinären Team aus Lernenden, Studierenden, Kunstschaffenden, Filmbegeisterten, Informatiker:innen, Lehrpersonen und gesellschaftlich engagierten Mitgliedern.

Entstanden an einem langen Abend ist die Einsicht, dass viele Gruppen und Szenen enttäuscht auf die Versprechen der Digitalisierung zurückblicken und sich bei deren Umsetzung im Stich gelassen fühlen. Jedoch findet zwischen den Gruppen und Szenen wenig Austausch über Gemeinsamkeiten und potenzielle Lösungen statt. Aus diesem Manko und mit der Idee die Dinge zu ändern ist das HackThePromise Festival entstanden.

Der Verein „Digitale Aussicht“ wurde als organisatorisches Gefäss für das HackThePromise Festival gegründet. Er wird getragen von einem interdisziplinären Team aus Lernenden, Studierenden, Kunstschaffenden, Filmbegeisterten, Informatiker:innen, Lehrpersonen und gesellschaftlich engagierten Mitgliedern.

Politischer Analyst, Beisitzer im Vorstand der Piratenpartei Deutschland und der Piratenpartei Baden-Württemberg. Mehrfacher Redner auch auf der Pirate Security Conference in München.

Ich arbeite als Cyber Security Manager & Red Team Engineer, weil BADASS PROBLEM SOLVER keine offizielle Berufsbezeichnung ist hochqualifizierter und erfahrener Cyber Security Spezialist mit über 30 Jahren
Erfahrung in der Konzeption, Implementierung und dem Management komplexer ICT/OT-Infrastrukturen und Sicherheitslösungen.  Ausgezeichnet durch eine schnelle Auffassungsgabe, Verantwortungsbewusstsein und lösungsorientiertes Handeln. Tiefgreifendes Fachwissen in ICT/OT-Security, Ethical Hacking und Cloud-Technologien (Azure, AWS).  Erfolgreich in Enterprise-, KMU-, Staatsdienst- und internationalen Umfeldern tätig.  Begeisterter Bug Bounty Hunter und Defcon Black Badge Winner. Diese höchste Auszeichnung im Bereich ”Hacking” zu erreichen ist einfach unübertreffbar.

Kit Braybrooke is a postdigital anthropologist and designer from Vancouver, Las Vegas and London who explores how technological innovation can invite more-than-human communities—animal, vegetal, machine, and algorithmic—to walk together across new terrains. As Professor and Head of the MA Transversal Design at FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel, their work critically examines the systems, spaces, and power structures that shape our world. From hacker cultures and transfeminist futures to experimental platforms like living labs, commons, and circular economies, Kit’s practice applies feral digital methods to drive systems change across Europe, Asia, and beyond. They are a director of the transfeminist design studio We&Us and co-founder of the community Art Tech Nature Culture, and their work has been showcased by institutions including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, British Museum, Furtherfield, BBC and others.

Ozan Güngör(none) is an artist, designer, and researcher. Ozan's work explores the convergence of technology, politics, space, and infrastructure. Fascinated by how everyday frameworks, tools, and spaces can amplify marginalised voices, Ozan's practice encourages us to reconsider and renegotiate our relationships with power structures that are omnipresent yet often invisible. Ozan co-founded the HackThePromise festival, is a member of the Unofficial Hiking Society art collective, and works at the MA Transversal Design Program at the HGK.

Dr. Heiko Schmid ist Kunst- und Medienwissenschaftler, Kurator und Autor. Er arbeitet zu Themen aus Kunst-, Medien- und Kulturgeschichte, dem Science-Fiction Genre, der digitalen (Populär-)Kultur sowie zu Komplexität informierenden Vermittlungsstrategien. Heiko Schmid ist Präsident der Kommission KiöR (Kunst im öffentlichen Raum) der Stadt Zürich. Er lebt und arbeitet in Zürich (Schweiz).

Hi, I'm Simon, an eco-social designer and artist from the Netherlands with a passion for design, mountains, and music. Within design, I focus on exploring complex ecological and societal issues from a planetary perspective — considering more-than-human actors, planetary boundaries, and entangled systems. Currently, I am exploring political narratives and experiences of loss in society.

Shusha Niederberger ist Künstlerin, Vermittlerin und Forscherin im Bereich digitale Kultur und Kunst. Sie hat bildende und digitale Kunst studiert, für das HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste Basel) die Kunstvermittlung geleitet, und zu digitalen künstlerischen Praktiken und die Commons geforscht. Gegenwärtig arbeitet sie an ihrer Dissertation zur Position des Users in der gegenwärtigen kulturellen Situation des Digitalen, das von datengetriebnenen Infrastrukturen geprägt wird.
http://www.shusha.

Born in the space-time distortions of the Internet, Crassula Shang is a digital artist, archivist, and writer who carries her grandmother's surname, the spectral traces of post-socialist history, and an ambivalent view on feminist techno-fantasy.

Nach einem Studium in Graphic Design und einer langjährigen selbständigen Tätigkeit als Grafiker an der Schnittstelle von Design und Technologie – gemeinsam mit Michael Kryenbühl unter dem Namen Johnson/Kingston – sowie Lehrtätigkeiten im In- und Ausland, verlagerte Ivan Weis seinen Schwerpunkt mit dem Abschluss des Masterstudiums in Transversal Design zunehmend auf gestalterische Forschung und projektbasiertes Arbeiten.

Nicole Hipp is a new media artist and technologist based in Berlin, Germany. She graduated with degrees in Interaction and Digital Media from Centro - diseño, cine y televisión in Mexico City, complementing her education with a diploma in Contemporary Art. Her works explore the ever-evolving landscape where art and technology converge.
Hipp’s identity as a lesbian, autistic, German-Mexican woman is central to her artistic vision, infusing her work with themes that challenge conventional narratives. Her art serves as a powerful commentary, encouraging viewers to confront complex social and personal issues. She addresses subjects that provoke dialogue and diverse opinions, fearlessly engaging with sensitive topics such as sexual abuse and racism.
Through extensive research and conceptual exploration, each project emerges from a foundation of deep understanding and lived experience. Converting research into observation, she examines the topic from multiple perspectives, uncovering core themes that ultimately shape each project’s narrative. Guided by a principle-centered approach, she selects innovative, technology-based mediums that align with the concept.
Each of Hipp’s artworks confronts viewers directly, urging them to dismantle ingrained societal norms and engage deeply with themes of inclusivity and diversity. By challenging comfort zones and exposing hidden biases, her work demands a reconsideration of assumptions, leaving a provocative and lasting impact.

Mac Andre Arboleda is an artist interested in exploring the sickness of the Internet through research and dialogue, art and text, organizing and publishing. They are the Founding President of the UP Internet Freedom Network and currently an artist-in-residence at Dreaming Beyond AI. They are currently based in San Pedro City, Philippines while finishing their MA in Media Arts Cultures under an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria; Aalborg University, Denmark; University of Lodz, Poland; LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore). Visit their website at https://sickinternet.me.

Louis is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and crafts-person based in Basel and Berlin. Their interests lie in more-than-human relations, resistance and social transformation. They studied social pedagogy, history, politics and sociology in Scotland and Germany and are currently studying the MA Transversal Design at HGK Basel. Louis artistic practice revolves around collective change, ecological interconnectedness and technology, utilizing performances, games and social interventions.

I traveled the seas aboard container ships, working as a ship mechanic before turning to the arts. I am now studying Art and Social Sciences at Burg Giebichenstein Halle and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. My artistic and academic focus lies in transcultural and collaborative practices, through which I explore questions of aesthetic synergies, structures, boundaries, and transitions. Currently, I am researching the relationships and synergies that arise between a person and an artwork during its creation, observation, and interaction.

Meredith is an artist and creative technologist based in Berlin. He studied biomedical engineering and science communication at Imperial College London. After moving to Berlin he became interested in creative uses of technology. He has worked as a programmer and an artist to create transmedia experiences in virtual reality, for multimedia installations and for the stage. His work focuses in particular on novel uses of machine learning in creative domains and critiquing the broader technological and cultural manifestations of artificial intelligence.
https://merediththomas.co.uk

Julia Gül Erdogan, geb. 1985, studierte Geschichte und Germanistik in Düsseldorf und Bochum. Von 2014-2018 forschte sie im Projekt »Aufbrüche in die digitale Gesellschaft. Computerisierung und soziale Ordnungen in der Bundesrepublik und der DDR« am Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam. Bis 2020 war sie wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Universität Stuttgart. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen in der Technik-, Umwelt- und Kulturgeschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts.

https://julia-erdogan.de/

Bérénice Serra is a media artist and researcher based in Zürich (CH). Her artworks and writings explore how civil society invents tactical forms of agentivity within networked environments. Focusing on modes of communication in visual culture, she critically examines how digital infrastructures shape power dynamics in the circulation of images and information.
Her practice draws on open source intelligence, tactical media strategies, ecology of user-generated content, and post-digital writing systems.
She is currently Guest Professor at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW.

berenice-serra.com/

Puneet is an artist/engineer working at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), eXtended Reality (XR), Critical Design, and Disability Studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada under the supervision of Artist/Researcher Chris Salter.

Puneet’s artistic-research practice investigates how technologies of XR (umbrella term for Virtual/Augmented Reality and body-worn interfaces) can be made accessible for the disabled communities (particularly people with quadriplegia/paraplegia). Concretely, opening the platform of XR for (and with) the disabled communities, developing artistic XR interventions that re-shapes, re-imagines, and provokes the common misconceptions around sensorimotor disabilities.

Puneet’s work has been showcased both in India (from where his roots emerge) and internationally at venues such Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), ISEA (Barcelona, Spain), xCoAx (Treviso, Italy), Electronic Literature Organization (Florida, USA),

Technologist | Accessibility Advocate | Artist | Social Entrepreneur with "Bridge the Gap"

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Viviane Kübler (she/her) coordinates the structure and networking of the “Software Conservation” project at the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and describes herself as a queer-feminist cultural worker with a focus on resistant tools and strategies for reclaiming digital spaces for action. Viviane lives and works in Vienna.

Dr Philippe Sormani is a Senior researcher at the Immersive Arts Space (IAS) of Zurich University of the Arts and the Media of Cooperation Research Centre at the University of Siegen, Germany. Drawing on and developing reflexive video ethnography, he has published on experimentation in and across different fields of activity, ranging from experimental physics (in Respecifying Lab Ethnography, 2014) to artistic experiments (in Practicing Art/Science, 2018). Currently, he is experimenting with "The Metaverse" (at IAS), while preparing a new book on "New AI" (at Siegen). Recent publications include "Interfacing AlphaGo" (Social Studies of Science 2023), The Anthem Companion to Harold Garfinkel (2023) and "Renormalizing Science?" (Ethnographic Studies 2024).

Berlin based duo with German and Japanese heritage exploring the different states of transcendental music creation with instruments in an ancient manner and using custom build software for flipping the bits

Marina is an artist and a film director. Was born in Bryansk and now lives in Moscow. Currently also works as a software engineer. In 2023 graduated from the Moscow School of New Cinema. In 2024 was a resident of the video art and photography workshop in the Free Workshops of MMOMA in Moscow.

Jens Isensee is a multimedia artist with a focus on participative art and interactive video installations. His works are mostly made of temporal materials in combination with technical elements and software. These range from motors, loudspeakers and cameras to computer hardware, sensors, game engines and experimental short films.

Portfolio - https://jensisensee.de

2003 – 2011

Fine Arts Studies, Diploma with distinction at HBK Braunschweig, University of Art | Film class – Prof. Michael Brynntrup | Video installation – Prof. Corinna Schnitt | Sculpture – Prof. Thomas Virnich | Communication design studies – Prof. Eku Wand and Prof. Uli Plank

Grants, Awards

Fellowship – AURORA XR School for Artists, HTW Berlin – 2024
Winner – Deutscher Computerspielpreis, ‚Bestes Expertenspiel‘, München – 2022
Winner – Green Game Jam, ‚Best in Forests‘, UN Environment Programme – 2022
Scholarship – CoLab TechArt, Goethe Insitute Bangalore, British Council – 2020
Nomination – ‚Virtual Materialism‘, A Maze Festival award, Berlin – 2019
Nomination – Azplay Festival, Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao – 2017
Scholarship – Exchange Program – Goethe-Institut Johannesburg – 2017
Winner – Game Jam, Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft, Berlin – 2017
Artist in Residence – Künstlerstätte, Stuhr-Heiligenrode – 2016
Winner – Shortfilm Contest, ‚Transit‘, Public LED screening, VB Brawopark – 2013
Winner – Performance Award, Fulldome Festival, Zeiss-Planetarium, Jena – 2013
Winner – Best Simulation Demo, Intel Level Up Award, Online Award – 2012
Winner – Interactive Implementation, ‚The Imaginary‘, Koordinaten Festival, FH-Kiel – 2012
Winner – Student film contest, ‚Neo Kuben‘, HAWK Hildesheim – 2012

Exhibitions

2024

Herbstausstellung – Group show, Atelierhof Kreuzberg
A Maze Festival – Group show, Silent Green, Berlin
Wash My Fur – Group show, G3, Berlin

2023

re:publica – Presentation, The climate crisis in video games
European Games Showcase – GDC, Swissnex, San Francisco
Winner – Serious Play Award, Serious Play Conference, Rochester, New York

2022

Arbeit – Screening, 48h Neukölln, Rollwerk Atelier, Berlin
Nomination – Games Without Borders Award, Imagine Earth
Winner – 3rd Price, Devcom Indie Award, gamescom, Köln

2021

Federal funding – BMWK, Imagine Earth, Climate crisis simulation

2020

Befantastic Triennial – Jaaga, Bangalore, India
Narben – Interactive app, presentation, LOT-Theater, Braunschweig
Netz Werke – Group show, re:publica, Berlin
Voyage – Interactive video installation, Luftfahrtmuseum, Wernigerode

2019

E-Dentity – Group show, KeinMuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
A Maze Game Festival – Group show, Berlin
Imagine Earth – Audience award, White Nights, Berlin

2018

Meta – Solo show, Kunsthaus BBK, Braunschweig
Surviving the Fitness – Group show, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel
Residence II – Group show, Syker Vorwerk, Syke

2017

Game Mixer – Group show, Goethe-Institut Johannesburg
Money Money Money – Group show, Städtische Ausstellungshalle, Braunschweig
Reversed Festival – Group show, Museumsquartier, Wien
Artcore – Group show, Städtische Ausstellungshalle, Braunschweig
Too Much – Screening, Extra Filmfestival, Kub Galerie Leipzig

2016

Kern der Dinge – Solo show, Künstlerstätte, Stuhr-Heiligenrode
Wechselspiel – Group show, Städtische Ausstellungshalle, Braunschweig
Indie Expo – Group show, Respawn Conference, Köln

2015

Hier und Jetzt – Group show, Konsumverein, Braunschweig
IdeenExpo – Group show, Expo, Hannover
The Forest – Group show, Group Global, Berlin
Neu – Group show, Torhaus Galerie, Braunschweig
Nachts sind alle Katzen Grau – Group show, Aula Galerie, HBK Braunschweig

2014

Primat des Privaten – Exhibtion with Deborah Uhde Malerhof, Voigtholz
Funding Aproval – Nordmedia, Imagine Earth, Expo Plaza, Hannover
Intensivstation – Group show, Raumlabor, Braunschweig
StattLAB Collective No.1 – Group show, Stattbad Wedding, Berlin

2013

Objekte für Subjekte – Solo exhibition, Kunstverein Jahnstraße e.V., Braunschweig
Only the Winds – Music film, screening, B3 Bienale, Frankfurt

Roland Fischer (*1974) ist Kurator und Wissenschaftsvermittler mit einem Hintergrund in Germanistik und Naturwissenschaften. Er folgt konsequent seinem Interesse für Wissenschaftsreflektion und entwickelt entsprechende Formate in diversen Kontexten. Wissenschaftsredakteur bei «Wochenzeitung», «Der Bund» und «Basler Zeitung». Parallel zu seiner Arbeit als Wissenschaftsjournalist hat er eine diverse Projekten im Bereich Kunst/Tech/Wissenschaft kuratiert und geleitet. Mit dem SNF-Agora-Projekt «Live-Studie» bot er eine Plattform, um das Publikum aktiv
an wissenschaftlichen Experimenten teilnehmen zu lassen. Als Kurator der Veranstaltungsreihen «Black Box Science» sowie «Wildes Wissen» im Schauspielhaus Zürich brachte er Wissenschaft und Theater auf innovative Weise zusammen. Und das «Mad Scientist Festival» am Naturhistorischen Museum Bern sorgte mit künstlerischen Zugängen zu Wissenschaft aus allen Sparten jeweils für volles Haus. Darüber hinaus hat Fischer diverse Ausstellungen im Bereich Kunst/Tech/Wissenschaft/Gesellschaft kuratiert, von einer Reflektion über öffentliche digitale Räume im Politforum Käfigturm Bern bis zu einer Hommage an Frankenstein und künstliche Kreaturen im Strauhof Zürich. In seinem eigenen Kunstraum «symbiont» in Basel legt er den Fokus auf Kunst als forschende Praxis. Zentral dabei ist die Idee einer «Pluriversität», einer Vielfalt an Forschungspraxen also, jenseits des
Monopols der universitären Hochschulen. Er ist regelmässig Gastdozent an der Hochschule der Künste Bern, der HSLU in Luzern sowie der HGK in Basel und ist Mitglied der Literaturkommission des Kantons Bern.

Helena Nikonole is a new media artist, independent curator, researcher and educator based between Berlin and Istanbul. Her field of interests embraces AI, hacktivism, hybrid art and bio-semiotics. One part of her practice is dedicated to utopian scenarios of post-human future and art as innovation l, while another is focused on dystopian present and critical approach to technology.

She presents talks, lectures and workshops in the field of Art & Science and AI & Art at different institutions including transmediale festival (Berlin), Paris College of Arts, Art Laboratory Berlin, Mutek Festival (Montreal and Tokyo), Leiden and Eindhoven Universities (Netherlands), Swiss Interactive Media Days, Creative Days Vienna, IMAL (Brussels) and many others.

Her artistic work has been presented internationally by institutions and festivals such as Ars Electronica, ZKM Museum (Karlsruhe), CTM Festival (Berlin), Athens Digital Arts Festival, Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Drugo More (Rijeka), Digital Art Zurich Festival, "YouFab Creative Award 2019 Winners Exhibition" at SHIBUYA QWS (Tokyo), Open Source Body Festival 2022 (Paris), Warsaw Biennale 2022, Cairotronica Festival 2025 etc.

Her curatorial projects include exhibitions such as Learning Machines (Electromuseum, Moscow, 2019), Art Code (Solyanka Gallery, parallel program of Art for the Future International Festival, Moscow, 2021), Cybernetic Serendipity (Akbank Cultural Center, Istanbul, 2023) and Golden Horn Light Festival (funded by Contemporary Istanbul Foundation and opening in Istanbul in September 2025).

In 2019, Nikonole received special prize from the YouFab Creative Award (Tokyo, Japan).
She was awarded a prize in the Web Art category by the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) in 2021.
She was nominated for the S+T+ARTS Prize of the European Commission in 2022 and won the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2023.
In 2025, she holds fellowship from the Berlin Senate for her artistic research on AI and political ideologies.

Roman Horbyk is known for his work in media, language, politics, and modern history. He worked as postdoctoral researcher at Södertörn University and Umeå University after defending two dissertations, on illustrated press in the 1920s Weimar Republic and Soviet Ukraine (Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, 2015) and on media power in representations of Europe in Ukraine, Russia and Poland during Euromaidan (Södertörn University, 2017); the latter was shortlisted for the best Swedish dissertation in media studies award. He has also been a Senior Lecturer at Örebro University and an URIS Fellow at the University of Basel, among other academic affiliations he has held in recent years.
Dr Horbyk’s studies are interdisciplinary and focus on various aspects of postcolonial and mediatization theories, sociolinguistics, history of representations and ideas.

Barbara Mączka is a visual artist and researcher currently pursuing her MA in Transversal Design at the Academy of Art and Design (FHNW), Basel. Her practice explores the intersections of hand-painted animation, affective psychology, and experimental illustration as tools for emotional inquiry. Through pigment, gesture, and rhythm, she investigates how analog processes can act as speculative methods for mapping experiences of anxiety and perception. Barbara’s research situates illustration not only as an artistic practice but also as a form of emotional cartography—one that generates knowledge about the ways visual language can soothe, disrupt, and reframe affective states.

Sara Culmann is a visual artist living and working in Amsterdam.
Their practice spans video, games, computer-generated imagery, and artistic research.
They explore themes such as anthropological perspectives on digital technologies, often viewed through the lens of marginalized classes and genders, the paradoxes of progress, and the ways digital tools both shape and are shaped by cultural representation.

Sara graduated from the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and was a fellow of the AI Anarchies program at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
Their work has been exhibited at STRP Festival (2024), Eindhoven; Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2023); HeK – Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel (2021); Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara (2021); and the Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (2018).
Sara also teaches animation software at the Prague Media School and has lectured in the educational program at the Moscow Experimental Film Festival, as well as Pause/Play: Culture Under Pressure in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Iulia-Andreea Smeu *KITE – Violin/Electronics and Project Leadership (RO/CH)

Iulia-Andreea Smeu (RO/CH) is a composer, violinist, and researcher exploring the intersections of sound, embodiment, and perception. Her practice combines immersive sonic environments, processed instruments, and spatialized electronics to investigate alternative experiences of time and relational listening.
Iulia-Andreea’s artistic research engages with Deep Listening practices and posthuman theoretical frameworks, examining the transformation of the listening body in hybrid performance spaces. Her works, including her projects Phantom Limbs and Listen. Do You Remember the Sound of My Voice? foreground attentive listening and sonic imagination, creating reflective and participatory auditory experiences.

Iulia was part of the Witness.earth Openlab (a project of the Basel Music Academy) as a transdisciplinary researcher, with a focus on ecological awareness and interconnectivity. She represented the project at the Artistic Research Conference 2024 in Klagenfurt, Austria. Iulia is currently training to become a Deep Listening facilitator at the Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and from September 2025 she will begin the One-Year Sonology Program at the Royal Conservatory The Hague, where she will research the theme of Temporal Embodiment in Sonic Spaces.

https://iulia-andreea-smeu.com

ella hebendanz (DE, 1997) is a transmedia artist, designer, technologist, film and performance maker exploring the art-sciences to create audio-visual experiences. Their work centers the corporeal, carnal, erotic, and their research begins at the peripheries of our bodies. A time traveler, ella positions their practice in between analog and digital and works across video, sound, graphic design, poetry, porn and performance. From nocturnal daydreams to mad thoughts on hell and desire, their mind is troubled with questions on how to escape a violently binary system, challenge the status quo of a world that is collapsing, free our bodies, and shift art into activism.
In 2021, they graduated from the BA Interactive/Media/Design at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. During their studies, they co-founded the cyber-feminist collective sWitches and explored the intersection of witchcraft and technology. ella has an ongoing collaborative practice with pamela varela, and in 2023, they won the BAD Award for their artistic-scientific research project re-c(O)unting. Recently they have pursued an MA in the performance practice program Live Art Forms at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg. They have exhibited their work at art spaces, museums, and festivals across Europe and in 2024 they had their debut in Mexico.

pamela varela (MX, 1995) is a multifaceted artivist exploring poetic-political forms of movement, language, sexuality, mysticism, and research as expressive devices to reappropriate the body. She creates transdisciplinary performances mixing diverse media: video, sound, installation, electronics, bio art, words, body-based practices, among others, while using technology to extend the senses, enhance connection, and cross bodily boundaries. She is a Latin American woman who has been developing her artistic practice in Europe, which encourages her to place her creation within the symbiosis of both cultures and explore feminist and decolonial deconstructions of knowledge production and artmaking. Alongside Ines DeRu and ella hebendanz, she co-founded sWitches in 2019, a cyberfeminist collective reclaiming the witch as the wise rebel to hack the technoscientific field through art.

pamela studied architecture for two years in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and graduated in 2021 from the Bachelor Interactive/Media/Design at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. Her individual graduation project together with the collective one of sWitches were nominated for the department's prize, and her personal thesis was nominated for the academy-wide bachelor thesis award, receiving an honorable mention. She published an excerpt from it at the Politics of the Machines Conference in 2021. In 2022, sWitches received the Digital Culture Grant from the Stimuleringsfonds (NL) to develop a technological system to create cyberperformances, a project that was presented in 2024 at the Mesh Festival Conference in Basel. In 2023, pamela and ella won the Bio Art & Design Award together with Joris Koene, a scientist from the Free University of Amsterdam, which allowed them to conduct an artistic-scientific research on the colonial history of the female body in relation to that of Latin America: "re-c(O)unting". The continuation of this work is currently being supported by the Stimuleringsfonds, as well as another upcoming project in collaboration with Marlot Meyer: "Venus Affect", which looks into the relation between audience and performer through technological mediation in performance art. In 2025, pamela graduated from the performative practices master’s degree Live Art Forms at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. Her work has been shown in several art centers in Europe and Latin America, and she lives between the two continents.

My artistic practice combines graphic design, digital media, art, and tattooing, with a focus on abstract drawings and graphic compositions that explore new and unexpected imagery. It often begin with a playful exploration of tools and forms, moving between digital and manual techniques and blurring the boundaries between them. Using both handcrafted drawings and coded design tools, I explore playful and curious approaches to shaping and transforming image visualizations.My work moves between static and moving, from two-dimensional to digital graphics, where coding creates a dialogue between machine-made and hand-made ideas, materials, and tools.

Elin & Annina met during their university studies in Cultural Studies and Social Anthropology. Their collaboration is driven by a shared curiosity for how technology—especially AI—can be used playfully and critically to explore social dynamics and future imaginaries. They approach their work as an open-ended process of experimentation, using artistic tools to investigate the shifting boundaries between human and machine, the everyday and the speculative. Always eager to broaden their own skill sets, they see their projects as spaces for learning, dialogue, and unexpected connections.

Elin & Annina met during their university studies in Cultural Studies and Social Anthropology. Their collaboration is driven by a shared curiosity for how technology—especially AI—can be used playfully and critically to explore social dynamics and future imaginaries. They approach their work as an open-ended process of experimentation, using artistic tools to investigate the shifting boundaries between human and machine, the everyday and the speculative. Always eager to broaden their own skill sets, they see their projects as spaces for learning, dialogue, and unexpected connections.

Thomas Meckel arbeitet als Medienkünstler und Musiker. Er organisiert kybernetische Jamsessions und baut cinematische Spiele für kollektive Improvisationen. Seine Performance »Solaris« wurde im Museum Ludwig (Köln), der Universidad Nacional (Bogotá) und dem Ringlokschuppen (Mülheim/Ruhr) aufgeführt. Gemeinsam mit Tobias Thomas kuratiert er die Konzertreihe »Round« in der Kölner Philharmonie. Er hat Mediale Künste an der Kunsthochschule für Medien in Köln, Kulturwissenschaften in Lüneburg, Angewandte Theaterwissenschaften in Gießen und an der Universidad Nacional de Colombia studiert. Zurzeit arbeitet er mit SONA an einer Virtual Reality Installation aus der Perspektive sehbehinderter Menschen.

Thomas Meckel arbeitet als Medienkünstler und Musiker. Er organisiert kybernetische Jamsessions und baut cinematische Spiele für kollektive Improvisationen. Seine Performance »Solaris« wurde im Museum Ludwig (Köln), der Universidad Nacional (Bogotá) und dem Ringlokschuppen (Mülheim/Ruhr) aufgeführt. Gemeinsam mit Tobias Thomas kuratiert er die Konzertreihe »Round« in der Kölner Philharmonie. Er hat Mediale Künste an der Kunsthochschule für Medien in Köln, Kulturwissenschaften in Lüneburg, Angewandte Theaterwissenschaften in Gießen und an der Universidad Nacional de Colombia studiert. Zurzeit arbeitet er mit SONA an einer Virtual Reality Installation aus der Perspektive sehbehinderter Menschen.

Adriani engagiert sich Als blinde Person seit einigen Jahren ehrenamtlich und freiberuflich als Experte für Zugänglichkeit und Inklusion im Kulturbereich. Neben seinem Hauptberuf als Analyst für Entwicklungsprojekte in Ländern des globalen Südens, begleitet Adriani verschiedene Initiativen und Institutionen auf dem Weg zu weniger Barrieren. Sei es durch beratung von einzelnen Performance-Teams, oder in Beratungsprogrammen. Bei SONA ist Adriani als Experte mit Sehbehinderung seit Anfang an dabei und hat die VR-Konzeption mitgestaltet. Seine Lebenserfahrung mit Blindheit und das alltägliche Anwenden von Echo-Location bringen immer wieder wichtige Impulse für die Welt von SONA.

Alexey Boriskin, b. 1986 in Izhevsk, Russia, is a multidisciplinary artist and a software developer, works on the intersection of digital ethics, machine logic, censorship, and media art. His practice is inherently collaborative, focusing on concept development, research, and co-creation. His work has been exhibited at major institutions, including the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Multimedia Art Museum, and the Ural Industrial Biennale.

Currently lives and works in exile following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Education

2023-2024: _Machines of no more war_, Smolny beyond borders

2023-2024: _Digital ethics_, Free university

2021-2022: Concept art school

2003-2008: Penza state technological university, Computer science, master degree

Work experience

2015-2022: Yandex, Expert software engineer

Selected group exhibitions

2024

_Emotional tissue_, online exhibition

2021

_Biennale Art of the future_, Multimedia art museum, Moscow

_Postspeculative design and decolonization of the future_, Electromuseum, Moscow

2020

_Long desired_, abandoned villa Sushnevo-1

2019

_Moskauer Positionen_, Atelier am Eck, Düsseldorf

_After us_, Ural industrial biennale, Ekaterinburg

_Blind spot_, Ekaterina culture foundation, Moscow

Daria Goncharova is a Russian-born interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores the intersection of language, social structures and documents. She has been in exile since 2022 and currently lives in Belgrade, Serbia, where she is actively involved in the local art community. With a background in civil engineering from the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (2011-2015), she also graduated from the Joseph Backstein Institute of Contemporary Art in 2024.
Her work, rooted in research-based methodologies, explores themes of identity through the prism of various bureaucratic processes, as well as processes of interaction with everyday life. She has participated in various residencies each year since 2021. In 2024 she was awarded the Goethe Institute's "Culture Moves Europe" grant, which supports her ongoing exploration of liminal spaces.
Her work has been exhibited in Switzerland, Portugal, Serbia, Germany, Finland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
She has participated in numerous educational programmes as a laboratory and collaborator, continually expanding her exploration of how art can mediate social transformation.

Maika and Luca study Transversal Design at the HGK in Basel. Working on the publication of the Master for the last months, they discovered a shared interest in writing, and how to bridge the gap between imagination and action.

Maika has a background in graphic design and programming. For the last years she was part of the KITeGG research project on AI in design and art teaching and has worked on several teaching formats and tools around this topic.

Luca is a graphic designer and illustrator. Her projects evolve around the topics of the climate crisis, social justice and the crises of our time.

2girls1comp is a modding duo founded in 2023 by Marco De Mutiis (Italy, 1983) and Alexandra Pfammatter (Switzerland, 1993). Their work changes the logic of video games as an act of creative counter-play, revealing the social and economic fabric in which they are immersed: from reclaiming global digital infrastructures to commenting on free labor within the capitalist ideologies of the gaming industry, to showcasing the subtle ways in which play can influence its subjects through its mechanics.

Alina Anufrienko (no pronouns) is a composer, sound designer, cellist and performer and founder of the Documentary Music Lab. Born in 1985 in Omsk, Siberia, Alina left Russia in 2022 after the outbreak of the war of aggression against Ukraine and the increasing repression against the LGBTQ+ community, and continues to work in exile as a performance composer and performer. Projects with Alina's participation have been presented at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Werkstatt Exilmuseum Berlin, the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, Schauspielhaus Stuttgart, HAU - Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and MUDAM Luxembourg, among others. Alina works in various collaborations as a composer, cellist and performer.

Elisabetta Solin (she/her) is a performer, actor, and dancer, born in 2001 in Venice, Italy. After studying drama at the Accademia del Teatro Stabile del Veneto, one of Italy's top theatre academies, she moved to Berlin. Elisabetta’s further studies include working with Troubleyn Jan Fabre, Peeping Tom (with Carolina Vieira), and Johannes Wieland. Her work has been presented at Sasha Waltz & Guests Open Studio:Stage, HAU-Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, and Dock11.

Julia Vollmer is a Bremen-based artist and creative technologist. Her practice explores machine learning, wearables, code and electronics. Interested in the errors and tensions in-between technology, human interaction and our perception she focuses on the hidden labor and resources behind digital tools and AI as they become integral part of daily life.
She holds BAs in Digital Media from Leuphana University and Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong and a MA in Digital Media from the University of Arts Bremen.

Farah Mulla is a multimedia artist based between Goa/Mumbai/ Basel. Her background in science overlaps with her art practice that explores the perception of sound and its effects on human neurology and subjectivity. Often investigating different media, she uses the human voice, field recordings and other modes of inquiries to explore aspects of our listening experience and the invisible agency of sound via multiple modes of perception.

Captivated by the intricate interplay of sensation and perception, Farah Mulla channels her explorations through sensorial interfaces, seeking to articulate the ineffable within our environments. With a profound curiosity for the thresholds where our cognition weaves harmony amidst sensory complexities of the environment, Farah's artistry transcends mere observation, aiming to evoke deeper connections to the spaces we inhabit. Blending her geological background with her artistic pursuits, she delves into the profound effects of sound and our environment, probing the nuanced intersections between natural landscapes and human consciousness. Through her works, Farah invites viewers to immerse themselves in a sensory tapestry where the boundaries between self and surroundings blur, inviting contemplation on our intricate relationship with the world around us. This artistic journey not only redefines our perception of sound but also challenges us to reevaluate our role within the greater ecological symphony.