CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS

Join us on Fri, 28 November 2025 for the first of several upcoming ARTIST SCIENTIST DIALOGUES that will take place in the context of the current research project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS at Art Laboratory Berlin. Composer and sound researcher Julius Holtz, one of the CHRYSALIS artists in residence, will speak in dialogue with Prof. Dr. Julia von Thienen from the German University of Digital Science.


Julia von Thienen is a researcher, educator, and innovator at the intersection of digital engineering and collaborative creativity. Julia’s research in the field of Sonic Thinking and Neuro Design at the Hasso Plattner Institute inspired Julius Holtz’ current artistic investigations into the relationship of sound and Brain Computer Interfaces. In addition, Julius will discuss his artistic research into the interaction among participants, sound environments, the formation of (self-)consciousness, and the creation of spaces that invite active listening.

Through technical, biological, and conceptual insights into the design of his Brain Computer Interface enhanced listening sessions, Julius will demonstrate how he translates mind activity into sound compositions via real-time data sonification. Mindfulness and the practice of active listening are closely connected: What new perspectives emerge from the act of listening to oneself as well as listening to others? What role does conscious and mindful action play for our society and environment? How can technological innovations contribute to fostering or transforming these qualities?

About CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS

During 2025 and 2026, Art Laboratory Berlin is unfolding the new innovative project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS with an interdisciplinary exchange between art and science in Berlin science laboratories, kindly supported by Lottostiftung Berlin. Building on Berlin’s unique status as a global centre for arts and sciences, we aim to create new synergies based on topics of current research. In collaboration with a consortium of scientists from the Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, University of the Arts Berlin, the Charité and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Art Laboratory Berlin is initiating artist-in-lab residencies for four internationally recognized, Berlin-based artists – Helena Nikonole, Julius Holtz, Sybille Neumeyer, and Margherita Pevere. We expect strong outcomes in transdisciplinary knowledge transfer, artistic research, art science communication, and some new artworks critically highlighting 21st-century innovations.

About the speakers

Portrait of Julius Holtz

Portrait of Julia von Thienen

Julius Holtz is a composer and sound researcher whose work explores intersections of electroacoustic music, media art, and interactive sound environments. His practice explores multisensory formats that combine music and sound design, visuals, and audience participation, resulting in projects such as SONIC SCULPTURE (Berliner Festspiele) and INTROSPECTIVE GARDEN (Charité Berlin and MIT). His current research connects generative AI with neural activity, creating adaptive soundscapes that probe our concepts of consciousness, identity, and collectivity. Rooted in Berlin’s 1990s club culture and later shaped at the University of the Arts, his work bridges experimental performance, technological innovation, and artistic research. Julius Holtz’s artistic research operates at the intersection of neuroscience and sound art. It focuses on the development of sound environments that engage participants through sensorics and data sonification, embedding them within the artwork itself. In this context, he presented the project Introspective Garden at Charité Berlin, the HPI Potsdam, and the MIT Tangible Media Group. This research is the starting point for his project in CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS at Art Laboratory Berlin, where Julius is collaborating with scientists from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, HU Berlin as well as the Institute of Physiology about Sleep Research & Clinical Chronobiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Julia von Thienen is a researcher, educator, and innovator at the intersection of digital engineering and collaborative creativity. The approach of her research group unites technological innovation with insights from neuro-psychology, design research, and the arts. With an academic background in neuro-psychology and several decades of experience at engineering departments – such as the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, in collaboration with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – her studies explore creativity from various angles: how we create, who creates, when and where creation occurs, what is produced, and why. She also investigates the impacts that emerge from creative processes, tracing pathways from invention to innovation and the ripple effects that follow. A significant strand of her group’s research examines creation across multiple sensory modalities: language or visuals, sound, tangibles, movement, scent, or taste. Research and teaching in her domain invite a spectrum of approaches, from functional design and engineering to artistic expression. As the initiator of the Neurodesign Group at HPI and in her current role as Professor of Design Thinking Research and Neurodesign at the German University of Digital Science, she enjoys fostering a culture of experimental inquiry into creativity, blending scientific rigour with artistic imagination.