Art and Aesthetics in the Age of AI: A Focus on Artistic Techniques
In addition to experiments with augmented, virtual, and gamified extensions of reality, generative and assistive AI systems are also being applied in artistic production processes. Biases in algorithms, large language models, and motion capture tools are not only deconstructed, but creative alternatives are also developed, and strategies of subversive prompting, glitching, and recoding are tested. In this way, the independent performing arts intervene in our post-digital realities in a critical and creative manner.
- Speakers: Theresa Reiwer ((post) digital artist), Michael von zur Mühlen (director), Rosa Wernecke (performance and media artist), Christoph Winkler (choreographer)
- Moderator: Boussa Thiam
- Format: Inputs and Presentations
- Language: German
- Interpretation: English, German Sign Language (DGS)
- Venue: HAU1, Stage
In Conversation
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Theresa Reiwer
(post) digital artist
© Kristina Kast
Theresa Reiwer
(post) digital artistTheresa Reiwer is a (post)digital artist from Berlin who explores the boundary between the physical and digital worlds through walk-in, often interactive, multi-channel video and spatial installations. Drawing on both sociopolitical and pop-cultural events, she develops narratives that intertwine reality and fiction. Lecture-style elements are conveyed through dialogue between fictional characters, while research is artistically stylized and transformed into speculative scenarios.
Her focus is on artificial intelligence, which Reiwer examines both as a mirror of societal paradigms and as a canvas for alternative visions of the future. Her works have been honored with international awards such as the Lumen Prize Gold Award (London) and have been presented worldwide, including at Ars Electronica’s “Who Owns The Truth” in Linz, the Aargauer Kunsthaus’s “Artificial Creativity,” “Today is A Good Day to Discuss Digital Rights” in Madrid, the After The Algorithm Festival in Zurich, the Chengdu Biennale, the Schauspielhaus Graz, Next Level in Dortmund, and in cities such as Basel, Beijing, Eindhoven, Istanbul, Kassel, Miami, and Stockholm. In 2025, she served on the jury for the AI short film competition “AIsolation,” organized by the Goethe-Institut China in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer.
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Michael von zur Mühlen
Director | Berlin
© Swen Reichold
Michael von zur Mühlen
Director | BerlinSince 2004, Michael v. zur Mühlen has been directing theater, opera, contemporary music theater, and immersive audiovisual formats, including for the Munich Biennale, the Kunstfest Weimar, the NextLevel Festival in Essen, the PAD Festival in Wiesbaden, HELLERAU in Dresden, the Forum for New Music Theater at the Stuttgart State Opera, Impulstanz in Vienna, DNT Weimar, DT Göttingen, the Berlin State Opera, and the Freiburg Theater. From 2016 to 2021, he served as director and chief dramaturg on the management team at the Halle Opera, whose innovative program garnered significant attention and was honored with numerous prizes and awards, including the 2019 Federal Theater Prize. His music theater film “Im Stein” was nominated for the 2022 German Theater Prize DER FAUST and was recognized in the 2021 “Opernwelt” yearbook as an “important highlight of the season.” His video game essay “opera - a future game” was awarded the 2023 German Theater Prize DER FAUST in the “Sound and Media” category and nominated for the Explorer Award at the international AMAZE Festival for Playful Media.
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Rosa Wernecke
Performance and Media Artist
© privat
Rosa Wernecke
Performance and Media ArtistRosa Wernecke is a performance and media artist. She studied Applied Theater Studies in Giessen and Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.
Her performances, installations, and video works center on a queer-feminist approach to technology and media. Her recent works explore topics such as AI bias, techno-feudalism, queer hauntings, and glitches.
Her works have been exhibited at venues including the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul, the Center for the Holographic Arts in New York, the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, and as part of Berlin Art Week. With the feminist performance and media art collective Swoosh Lieu, she has been invited to events such as Tanzplattform Deutschland, the Stückemarkt at the Berlin Theatertreffen, and the Impulse Festival. In addition to her artistic practice, she teaches at art colleges on feminist perspectives on new technologies and media. -
Christoph Winkler
Choreographer | Berlin
© Christoph Winkler Company
Christoph Winkler
Choreographer | BerlinChristoph Winkler is considered one of Germany’s most versatile choreographers. His work encompasses a wide range of formats and spans topics from the deeply personal to the political. Through his work, he consistently manages to find themes that are fully rooted in his art form while also reflecting on current social discourses.
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Boussa Thiam
Culture journalist, host, and voice-over artist
© Neda Rajabi
Boussa Thiam
Culture journalist, host, and voice-over artistBoussa Thiam is a cultural journalist, host, and voice-over artist. Until 2021, she appeared on camera as a reporter for the “rbb Abendshow” and hosted the socio-political discussion program “Urania Kontrovers” for several years. As the host of the podcast “Gamechanger – How Digital Transformation Is Changing Culture,” she will explore the influence of new technologies on art and cultural practices through 2024.
Boussa regularly presents the cultural program on WDR COSMO and the pop culture magazine “Kompressor” for Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and she hosts events, including Human Rights Night, women’s policy conferences such as the UN Women Conference, and the Women Entrepreneurs’ Day for women in business.