Events

Event | Talk

CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS

  1. Artist Scientist Dialogue
  2. With Helena Nikonole and Alvaro Rodriguez
Thu, 2 July 2026, 7:30 pm (on-site + online)
animal created by AI Close up of speakers on stage talking
Welcome to the next “Artist Scientist Dialogue” in context of the current research project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS. Artist Helena Nikonole will introduce aspects of her artistic practice, including her projects Acoustic Agriculture and Speculative Species Evolution, and share some ideas behind her collaboration with Alvaro Rodriguez on microbial communities and sound. Dr Alvaro Rodriguez will introduce metagenomics, the technique he has been applying for studying microbial communities, and discuss its possible applications to understand the behaviour of the microbial communities exposed to sound stimuli. 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. We are currently receiving strong outcomes in transdisciplinary knowledge transfer, artistic research, art science communication, and some new artworks critically highlighting 21st-century innovations. Join us for the event on-site or online. Read more
Event | Workshop

CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS

  1. Sonic Mind. Sound, Consciousness, and Technology
  2. Workshop with Julius Holtz
Sat, 27 June 2026, 11 am - 6 pm (booked out!)
Welcome to the workshop “Sonic Mind. Sound, Consciousness, and Technology” with sound artist and researcher Julius Holtz, presented within the CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS programme by Art Laboratory Berlin. The workshop examines how emerging technologies and increasing human–machine interrelations transform concepts of identity, consciousness, and community. Positioned at the intersection of sound art, neuroscience, and technological innovation, Holtz presents his research through projects such as Introspective Garden, focusing on the generation of sonic environments via sensor technologies, data sonification, and participatory methodologies. Participants can engage in embodied listening sessions that integrate theoretical reflection with practical experimentation, addressing mindfulness, collective perception, and human-machine interaction. The workshop further investigates the relationships between neural activity and adaptive soundscapes, considering their social, artistic, and ethical implications, and is open to artists, designers, researchers, and other interested participants. Read more
Event | Long Night of Science

Art Laboratory Berlin at Long Night of Science (Berlin Dahlem)

  1. Collaborative Art Science Projects with the Rillig Lab | Ecology of Plants (FU Berlin)
Sat, 6 June 2026, 5 - 10 pm (Berlin Dahlem!)
Art Laboratory Berlin joins the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften 2026 (6 June, 5–10 pm) together with the Rillig Lab | Ecology of Plants at the Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 12/14, 14195 Berlin. Founded in 2006, ALB is an award-winning platform at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Our decade-long collaboration with the Rillig Lab has produced various artist residencies, the research group “DIY Hack the Panke”, festivals such as “Matter of Flux” (2023) and “Bodies of Water” (2025), and the ongoing programme “CHRYSALIS. Artists in Labs”. Get a LNDW ticket and join us in Berlin Dahlem — everyone welcome! Read more
Event | Colloquium

IN PROGRESS… | COLLOQUIUM

  1. Research in Art, Science, and Humanities
  2. With Aisen Caro Chacin and Zahra Mokhtari
26 May 2026, 8 pm CET (online only)
close up of a sculpture, circles with metal mesh, yellowish cat to the photograph Trees photographed from below with a green-yellow cast to the photograph
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

  1. Artist Scientist Dialogue
  2. With Margherita Pevere and Germán Joosten
Thu, 21 May 2026, 7:30 pm CET (on-site + online)
“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

  1. Pond Codex: Of Life and Death in Berlin's Small Water Bodies
  2. Workshop with Margherita Pevere and Germán Joosten
Sun, 10 May 2026, 11:00 - 18:00
a lake or pond surrounded by trees flasks and graduated cylinder son a table people sitting in the background
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

  1. Research Exchange and Get-Together
  2. With Fara Peluso, Jemma Woolmore, and Matthias Rillig
Wed, 29 April 2026
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

Archive

Event | Residency, Talk

Echoes from Waterlands

  1. Presentation of Winter Studio Residencies
  2. Fara Peluso | Sarah Hermanutz
27 - 29 January 2023

In connection with their winter studio residencies at Art Laboratory Berlin, artist designer Fara Peluso and artist Sarah Hermanutz will invite the public to learn more about their cuartistic practices on from 27 until 29 January 2023, with a public conversation on 29 January 2023.

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close up of a sculpture, circles with metal mesh, yellowish cat to the photograph
Event | Colloquium, Reading Club

In Progress… and Inspired by…

  1. Colloquium + Reading Group
  2. A look back at 2022
6 December 2022

The Colloquium addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present or future projects as a the work-in-progress. The Reading Club is an event series, a hybrid format derived from reading group and artist talk formats. This time two formats happen together.

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Event | Festival

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Program Overview
  2. Series with artists and scientists
August - November 2022

We use the Panke River in Berlin-Wedding as an artery for a series of interdisciplinary participatory workshops and talks with artists and scientists: Creating future visions about a green(er) world, exploring possible taphonomies of trash, discussing paths and origins of food and sharing cultural investigations and storytelling.

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Event | Workshop

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Koji Workshop
  2. Workshop | ink Agop
26 - 27 November 2022

The Koji workshop by ink Agop introduces the symbiotic relationship between microorganisms and human cultural activities by demonstrating the connection between Koji mould and food culture in Japan. Participants make rice koji and experience the multiple parallel fermentation processes using koji, yeast and lactic acid bacteria.

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Event | Talk

TERRA XENOBIOTICA OR HOW TO BELONG

  1. Artist Talk | Saša Spačal
25 November 2022

Bio media artist Saša Spačal will speak about her currently evolving new artistic research project. During the months of October and November 2022 the artist undertakes artistic research for her new project Terra Xenobiotica or How to Belong at the lab of the Rillig Group | Ecology of Plants, Institute of Biology, Freie Universtität Berlin and at Art Laboratory Berlin.

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Event | Reading Club

Inspired by…

  1. Reading Club
  2. With Guest Artists Interspecifics
22 November 2022

Inspired by… is an event series, a hybrid format derived from reading group and artist talk formats. In each session, an invited artist will choose a specific text or excerpt from a book that was inspirational for the artist’s practice and/or a particular project that the artist will introduce.

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Event | Talk

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Notes on Somatodelia
  2. Artist Talk | Tad Ermitaño
20 November 2022

In his films and artworks Tad Ermitaño creates an uneasy field in which a facility with technology collides with a kind of postcolonial guilt slamming its head against the limits of empiricism. In this artist talk with curator Tengal Drilon, Ermitaño will discuss the methodologies behind his recent works, shown at Art Laboratory Berlin earlier this year.

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Event | Workshop

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Algature Workshop
  2. Workshop | Fara Peluso
12 November 2022

The workshop connects practices of DIY biology with art and design. Through a participatory format, the audience from different backgrounds are involved in an immersive experience with algae’s ecology, a DIY photo-bioreactor prototyping and a discussion on speculative practice focused on raising more awarenesse about daily habits.

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close up of a sculpture, circles with metal mesh, yellowish cat to the photograph Trees photographed from below with a green-yellow cast to the photograph
Event | Colloquium

IN-PROGRESS… | COLLOQUIUM

  1. Research in Art, Science, and Humanities
  2. With Saša Spačal and Joana MacLean
8 November 2022

The Colloquium addresses an international interdisciplinary research audience to present and discuss past, present or future projects by artists, scholars, curators or editors from the fields of art, science and the humanities, focusing on the work-in-progress.

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Event | Workshop

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. The Materiality of Ghosts
  2. Workshop | Cammack Lindsey
30 October 2022

In this workshop we will explore ghosts in relation to historical and environmental relics with intimate discussions, readings, and written poetry. We will experiment with our voices and harmonies, while learning about breathing and our body resonance to amplify our stories together in a final composition of our poems through a performance.

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Event | Reading Club

Inspired by…

  1. Reading Club
  2. With Guest Artist SU Yu Hsin
11 October 2022

Inspired by… is an event series, a hybrid format derived from reading group and artist talk formats. In each session, an invited artist will choose a specific text or excerpt from a book that was inspirational for the artist’s practice and/or a particular project that the artist will introduce.

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Event | Workshop

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Wetland Ecologies: Life in Transitional Zones 
  2. Workshop | Sarah Hermanutz, India Mansour, Fara Peluso
8 October 2022

In the workshop the artist, the designer and the biologist will introduce the participants to the river Panke and changing perceptions of wetlands and essential ecosystems – through situating, storytelling, contextualizing, experiencing, sampling, examining, collaborating.

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Event | Walk & Talk

HACK THE PANKE Festival

  1. Reflecting Symbiosis
  2. Walk & Talk | Saša Spačal and Matthias Rillig
3 October 2022

In our last event of the festival artist Saša Spačal will introduce us into her artistic research about symbiosis and interspecies entanglements. Ecologist Matthias Rillig will give us an insight into his research on soil and plant ecologies especially on the symbiosis of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with plants.

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Event | Workshop

PANKE INTERVENTIONS

  1. Taphonomy of Trash
  2. Workshop | Kat Austen
1 October 2022

Based on research developed for the Palaeoplasticene project’s Open Artistic Research Platform, participants will be introduced to the concept of incidental taphonomy, exploring the transience of organic existence and humanity’s relationship to long-lasting materials such as plastic.

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Event | Festival

HACK THE PANKE Festival

  1. Program Overview
  2. Festival with artists and scientists
September - October 2022

Art Laboratory Berlin welcomes you to the HACK THE PANKE Festival on art, science and sound in Berlin Wedding during summer 2022. The festival takes place as a part of Draussenstadt Call for Action program. All the events are free. For taking part in the workshops, it is necessary to sign up.

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