Exhibitions: Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique & A.I. Ambiguous Intelligence

The two exhibitions “Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique“ and "A.I. Ambiguous Intelligence" showcase critical design and performative works by students created as part of the Master's program in Culture and Media Management at FU Berlin led by ECDF Professor Florian Conradi (FU Berlin/metaLAB(at)Berlin) during the winter semester 2025/26. The exhibition is on display until June 1, 2026, at the ECDF. Interested visitors can register for a viewing via //e-mail with Friedrich Schmidgall. 

 

Context: Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique

In a state of ontological crisis, all boundaries between human and machine, nature and culture and the organic and inorganic have been severely blurred. We find ourselves exhaustively tackling the turmoil of our own designed circumstances, as we emerge to become extensions of the extensions that we have built. These are times of curious contrivances, novel natures, inescapable automation and posthuman performances – where human and nonhuman entities become entwined, meshed and muddled into new, unwitting entanglements. But from biased machine learning to surveillance capitalism and digital colonialism – what power structures are implicitly and covertly being embedded into these technologies? Do we need to initiate a discussion about political systems of things – about ubiquitous capitalism, algorithmic aristocracy or object-mediated democracy?

The exhibition showcases works by students from FU Berlin: Nelli Abdullaeva, Josephine Kantara, Felix Armbruster, Alma Baute, Henning Berg, Ishraq Al Saadi, Marie Luka Wild, Maria Lenz, Yannik Berger, Alessia Brügger, Janine Heinrich & Lara Makena Arnhold.

With support from Friedrich Schmidgall (ECDF) & guest lecture by Ines Weigand (UdK Berlin/ Weizenbaum Institute).

 

Context: A.I. ±÷›˚ò∆Sѱˆ–A – Ambiguous Intelligence

What power structures are currently being consolidated in algorithmic cultures? Search engines, auto-complete functions and generative images are designed to make our routines easier. The deeper AI becomes embedded in our everyday lives, the more these systems determine our actions, behaviours and ideas. We are currently observing how hidden biases are being reinforced by AI systems and pressurize to dominate the internet with these perceptions and probabilities. What alternative pathways of AI can and have to be formulated, performed and practised to allow visions of ‘alternative intelligences’ to counter current power structures within the co-habitation of coded lifeworlds?

Alternative approaches were explored, forming the basis for an interdisciplinary, reflective seminar. The collective design projects led, among other things, to human-machine collaborations that challenged the boundaries between the themes of human/machine, offline/online and real/unreal. Critical artistic design as performative practice served as a methodology for counter-narratives to enable a more inclusive discourse on visions of AI.

The exhibition showcases works by students from FU Berlin: 

Johanna Linhoff, Ann-Marie La Vitola, Eva Rziha, Anna Seel, Mona Hartel, Josephine Barner, Nastasia Last, Mia Clara Ostern, Nelli Abdullaeva, Inka Jehs, Johannes Hofmeister, Mirjam Lehner, Viktoria Adolf, Rosa Burr & Jan Lettau.

In conversation with: ECDF Professor Michelle Christensen (TU Berlin/ UdK Berlin).

Guest Lectures during the semester: Janne Kummer (Artistic Research) and Robert Lange (Programming of Composing Cyborgs).

With support from: Friedrich Schmidgall (ECDF) & Sidar Torunlu (UdK Berlin).

 

Exhibition: Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique / Vol. 1 

The fist exhibition “Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique“ displayed critical design and performative works developed in the framework of parallel collaborative studio classes by ECDF Professor Michelle Christensen (ECDF/TU Berlin) and ECDF Professor Florian Conradi (ECDF/FU Berlin) during the summer semester of 2025. The exhibition was on display from July 2025 until the February 2026 at the ECDF.

The exhibition showcased works by students from FU Berlin, TU Berlin, UdK Berlin and HU Berlin: Viktoria Adolf, Willi Beeskow, Laura Bouget, Sophie Borgmeyer, Rosa Burr, Phillip Büchner, Gina Chamizer, Hümeyra Demırcıoğ̆lu, Maulana Fawwaz, Lukas Helling, Johannes Hofmeister, Natalia  Iberra, Clara Isakowitsch, Inka Jehs, Anna Job, Pauline  Jacob, Jessica Kakmeni, Nastasia Last, Robert Lange, Yunseo Lee, Marlina Metz,Seyed Naghavialhosseini, Levi Puig, Philipp Proff, Kallum Robinson, Annabelle Riechert, Eva Rziha, Sophie Scholl, Rebekka Schmitt, Sophie  Stein, Natalie Stadtkowski, Emma Steiniger, Ann-Marie La Vitola, Valentina Weinreich & Grace Zang.