IN PROGRESS… | COLLOQUIUM
- Research in Art, Science, and Humanities
- With Aisen Caro Chacin and Zahra Mokhtari
The Colloquium (on 26 May online only) addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present, or future projects by artists and scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science, and the humanities. Artist and researcher Dr Aisen Caro Chacin will discuss a performance artwork exploring human dependency on critical care machines and our co-evolution with AI. Physicist Dr Zahra Mokhtar will discuss how groups (ants, cells, or social media users) can form coherent movements or sudden opinion shifts without a central leader. Following the original meaning of colloquium as “speaking together”, we want to provide a platform for exchange and embrace various kinds of work processes which are often not seen or talked about. Read more
Event | Talk
CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS
- Artist Scientist DIALOGUE
- With Margherita Pevere and Germán Joosten
“Their world-building power lies in holding”: ponds and their ecology is marked by apparent stillness. The small water bodies that constellate the urban territory of Berlin unfold their intricate ecology in an apparent absence of motion, so different from the perpetual flow of rivers or the large tidal motions of lagoons. Drawing from her performance practice, artist and researcher Dr Margherita Pevere places the capacity of ponds to “hold” and transform living and dying matter at the heart of her research in the context of the ongoing research project Chrysalis. Artists in Labs. In the talk Margherita Pevere and her research partner, environmental anthrolopologist Dr Germán Joosten, will present their exchange across art and science, share the results and observations on their recent workshop “Pond Codex: Of Life and Death in Berlin’s Small Water Bodies” (10 May 2026), and bring the audience into the shallow but powerful depths of Berlin small water bodies. Read more
Event | Workshop
CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS
- Pond Codex: Of Life and Death in Berlin's Small Water Bodies
- Workshop with Margherita Pevere and Germán Joosten
Margherita Pevere and Germán Joosten invite the audience to join the life cycle of Berlin’s ponds and small lakes. Acting as biodiversity hotspots and regulators of temperature, these small water bodies play a key role in urban ecology. Among their dwellers is Daphnia – commonly known as water flea – a small invertebrate which feeds on phytoplankton (microscopic algae), thus keeping phenomena like algae blooms in check. Its life cycle is fascinating: it reproduces mostly through cloning itself, but when things get rough, it can adapt to the environment, switch to sexual reproduction, and produce eggs that remain dormant in the sediment until better conditions arise. Daphnia can reveal much about the health, history, and possible futures of the small urban water bodies. Through hands-on sessions and speculative storytelling, workshop participants will assume a pond’s more-than-human perspective and explore Berlin as seen by its small aquatic inhabitants. Read more
Event | Meet up, Talk
ART SCIENCE MEET UP
- Research Exchange and Get-Together
- With Fara Peluso, Jemma Woolmore, and Matthias Rillig
Art Laboratory Berlin and the Rillig Lab host an Art Science Meet Up in Berlin, bringing together artists and scientists interested in interdisciplinary research. The first session, open to the public, features presentations on current projects: Fara Peluso explores DIY bioplastics and community gardening to rethink human–ecological relations; Jemma Woolmore investigates chemical pollution through collaborative and embodied artistic methods; and Matthias Rillig presents research on how ecosystems respond to combined environmental pressures such as climate change, pollution, and land use. The second session invites participating artists and scientists to collaboratively design experimental approaches, discussing methods, concepts, and formats for joint research, followed by group exchange and collective reflection. Read more
Event | Colloquium
IN-PROGRESS… | COLLOQUIUM
- Research in Art, Science, and Humanities
- With Karolina Żyniewicz and Regine Hengge
The Colloquium (on 17 March online only) addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present, or future projects by artists and scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science, and the humanities. The topics could refer to an art project, a book, text or chapter, a research or exhibition project, a lab experiment, a lecture series, a conference concept, or other. The presentations and exchange will focus on the work-in-progress. Methodological approaches – theoretical or practical – are also of great interest here. While researching, we often tend to shift between practical inquiry and theoretical research, browsing various disciplines. Following the original meaning of colloquium as “speaking together”, we want to provide a platform for exchange and embrace various kinds of work processes which are often not seen or talked about. Read more
Event | Video documentation
Art Laboratory Berlin 2025
- Video Documentation
A huge thank you to the ALB team, to all the artists, researchers, and contributors, to our open-minded and wonderful public, and to our cooperation partners and colleagues for sharing this year with us. Our ‘YEAR IN REVIEW 2025’ video offers a glimpse of the encounters, experiments, conversations, and collaborations that shaped our year. And heartfelt thanks to the participants of our 2025 programme and to the institutions that supported it! Read more
Event | Workshop
CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS
- Ideologies in the Machine: Political Bias in Large Language Models
- Workshop with Helena Nikonole
This hands-on workshop with artist and researcher Helena Nikonole, pursuing a PhD at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte) on Large Language Models and Political Ideologies, explores how contemporary AI systems encode and reproduce ideological narratives. The event takes place in the framework of the project CHRYSALIS. Artists in Labs, organised by Art Laboratory Berlin in cooperation with Berlin Open Lab and other cooperation partners, with the generous support of the Lotto Stiftung Berlin. The workshop will take place in the Einstein Center for Digital Future in Berlin Mitte. Focusing on Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, as well as derivative systems like text-to-image generators, participants will investigate how AI reproduces political bias and ideological framing through language and visual representation. Through experiments with politically charged prompts, participants will analyze how these models interpret ideology, shape discourse, and amplify systemic bias. Read more
Event | Talk
CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS
- Artist Scientist Dialogue
- With Julius Holtz and Julia von Thienen
Join us 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. Read more
Event | Panel Discussion
CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS
- Panel Discussion | With Helena Nikonole, Álvaro Rodríguez, Julius Holtz, Ludmila Litvin, Margherita Pevere, Germán Joosten, Regine Rapp, and Christian de Lutz
Join the presentation of our current research project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS at the Berlin Science Week 2025 on 8 November 2025. We will give an insight into Berlin-based artists researching in Berlin science labs – with topics on neuroscience, artificial intelligence, biodiversity, and ecology! 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. 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 all three Berlin universities, the Charité, and the University of the Arts Berlin, 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 highlighting 21st-century innovations. In this year’s BSW panel discussion we present three artists of the project CHRYSALIS together with their scientific partners of the respective Berlin science laboratories. Read more
Event | Festival
BODIES OF WATER
- Learning from the River Panke through Art, Science, and Storytelling
- Workshops, Walks, Talks, Reading Sessions, Panel Discussions, Performances
Art Laboratory Berlin welcomes you to the two-day festival BODIES OF WATER exploring themes around urban waterways, in context of the ongoing series ON WATER | PARCOURS by the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). With the art science collective DIY Hack the Panke and scientists from the fields of eco hydrology and medicine, we will explore what forms an urban river takes and what lives in and around the Panke river. There will be workshops, walks, talks, reading sessions, panel discussions, and performances for participants of all ages. Let’s embark on a multi sensorial and transdisciplinary journey along one of Berlin’s fastest flowing bodies of water! Join us on 21 and 22 June to explore our connectedness to water, urban waterways, and the river Panke through learning, crafting, sensing, walking, and listening. Read more
Event | Colloquium
IN-PROGRESS… | COLLOQUIUM
- Research in Art, Science, and Humanities
- With Robertina Šebjanič and Marco Barotti
The Colloquium (on 8 April it will be online) addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present, or future projects by artists and scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science, and the humanities. The topics could refer to an art project, a book, text or chapter, a research or exhibition project, a lab experiment, a lecture series, a conference concept, or other. The presentations and exchange will focus on the work-in-progress. Methodological approaches – theoretical or practical – are also of great interest here. While researching, we often tend to shift between practical inquiry and theoretical research, browsing various disciplines. Following the original meaning of colloquium as “speaking together”, we want to provide a platform for exchange and embrace various kinds of work processes which are often not seen or talked about. Read more
Event | Workshop
Politics of AI
- Artistic Research
- With Helena Nikonole
WORKSHOP FULLY BOOKED /// The hands-on workshop Politics of AI with artist and researcher Helena Nikonole explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, as well as text-to-image AI systems, reproduce biases and embed political ideologies. Participants will experiment with AI-generated responses to politically charged prompts, analyze biases in text-based AI outputs, and examine how these biases extend into AI-generated imagery. Through practical exercises, we will critically assess how AI models shape narratives, reinforce stereotypes, and amplify bias through a feedback loop. Helena Nikonole will share her insights and artistic methodology, demonstrating how artistic research can serve as a critical tool for exposing and subverting AI biases. Read more
Event | Course, Meet up, Talk, Workshop
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Event | Performance, Talk
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Archive
Bio & Beers
- with Biotinkering e.V.
- Dr. Mirela Alister, Rüdiger Trojok, Alessandro Volpato and Biotinkering e.V.
The Bio & Beers format is for everyone: we start with a 20 minutes presentation, followed by discussions while having beers. In addition there will be occasional DIY workshops!
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Nonhuman Subjectivities
- Interdisciplinary Dialogs in the Sciences and Humanities
- Antonia Ulrich and Marie Neuwald
For the closing event of the exhibition On Animals. Cognition, Senses, Play we are pleased to invite you to an interdisciplinary dialog with philosopher Antonia Ulrich and Marie Neuwald from NABU.
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There be Dragons
- Human Impact on the environmentally sensitive Galapagos and Lord Howe Islands
- Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger
In the Age of the Anthropocene, this talk will explore how humans impact on our world both by their presence and indirectly by their lifestyle. This is a science-art investigation of tourism and its effects on closed eco systems.
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Nonhuman Subjectivities
- 1000 Handshakes
- François-Joseph Lapointe
As part of the opening of the 2016 transmediale festival of art & digital culture at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Art Laboratory Berlin will present the performance 1000 Handshakes by and with François-Joseph Lapointe.
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SciArt Café
- with Berlin iGEM team
The iGEM Berlin team (http://igem.berlin/) presents their fourth SciArt Café. Under the main theme of “Programming Life – Good Code/ Bad Code?” we will hear scientists and artists working with bioscience and afterwards discuss topics of synthetic biology.
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Art Science Swap
- Two Heads Are Better than One
- Nenad Popov
Participants of the workshop are divided in the pairs of one artist and one scientist. Each pair will receive a problem to think about, each using their own method. That is the easy part. Then they are asked to switch roles.
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Mind Blind
- Therapeutic Interventions for Human/Nonhuman Communications
- Sarah Hermanutz
In her performance-lecture Sarah Hermanutz draws upon methods and aesthetics of academic lectures and psychological testing/treatment to engage with the gaps and pains of cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer.
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Plan Bienen
- A project by
- Tessa Zettel and Sumugan Sivanesan
With Plan Bienen the artists attempt to make real and speculative connections between two parallel crises – one within European economic systems and the other in honeybee ecologies. Considering Berlin’s development as a multicultural ‘creative’ capital…
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Workshop with Anna Dumitriu
- Anna Dumitriu
On this practical and discussion-based workshop participants will begin to learn how to work safely with bacteria as an artistic medium using commonly available supplies. They will start to develop a ‘bacteriocentric’ view of the world…
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Synthetic Biology Workshop
- C-LAB
This workshop, led by Howard Boland, is for artists, designers, DIY biologists, and especially lay people who wish to gain practical experience with the processes and methods in the creation of new life forms, bio-materials and new forms of expression.
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Biomimicry
- Integrating Nature's elegant solutions into the design process
- Dr. Prateep Beed
Biomimicry is a creative method for sustainable innovation and product design in today’s world.
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DIY Bio Lounge
- in cooperation with Rüdiger Trojok
To open our 2014 programme Art Laboratory Berlin will be presenting three days of events on open source biology and micro-organisms organized with Rüdiger Trojok and in connection with the transmediale and CTM festivals
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Synaesthesia
- Discussing a Phenomenon in the Arts, Humanities and (Neuro-)Science
- Interdisciplinary Conference
As a theoretical addition to our exhibition series SYNAESTHESIA (October 2012 – July 2013), Art Laboratory Berlin held an international interdisciplinary conference to further explore and theoretically question the field of multisensory perception.
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Current Art Practices on Time and Technology
- Gretta Louw, plan b (Sophia New and Daniel Belasco Rogers) , Igor Štromajer
In connection with the exhibition Controlling_Connectivity by Gretta Louw and the series Time and Technology Art Laboratory Berlin presents an artists’ talk on the theme current art practices on time and technology featuring Gretta Louw and plan b (Sophia New & Daniel Belasco Rogers) as well as the internet artist Igor Štromajer
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Controlling_Connectivity
- Performance
- Gretta Louw
Controlling_Connectivity uses the pervasiveness of internet-based social networking, as well as the obligation and opportunity for constant connection with these platforms as a paradigm for a severe and systematic disruption of normal, socially accepted patterns of life and interpersonal interaction during a self-documented performance.
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