RESEARCH INFORMS PRACTICE

PRACTICE INFORMS RESEARCH

About Me

Berlin-based systems theorist, artist and play designer.

My interests include systems theory, play, games, art and cybernetics. I create Playful AI and Imperfect VR. I received a Master-level degree at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Diplom-Informatiker) and a practice-based PhD from the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Plymouth as a Marie Curie Fellow.

I have been teaching at Leuphana University Lüneburg, been a lecturer and Award Leader in Game Arts and Design at the University of Plymouth and Nanjing University of the Arts. I hold a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Besides that, I have a couple of years digital agency experience and have worked and played in a wide range of environments, from large corporate clients to fringe theatre ensembles. I catsit occasionally 😻.

ISCMA Talk 2019

Topics

🔄 Systems Theory

I am actively engaged in artistic research into cybernetics, radical constructivism and systems theory.

🤖 AI / Robots

My work with AI focuses on communication between humans and machines, a fascinating and important topic.

💻 Creative Coding

Creative Coding is an exciting mix of technology and art. I believe that everyone can (not: should) learn to code.

🖼 Digital Art

I like to play with the paradoxes, contradictions, and strange loops inherent in the art system.

🕹 Playful Interactions

My game / play projects start from the premise that games, theatre and events are media and environments for play.

💜 Communication

Communication is at the heart of what I do: writing, teaching, talking, organizing, discussing.

Essays

I occasionally write about topics at the intersection of art and technology. Some of the material is brandnew, other drafts have been sitting on my desk for a while, and some essays have been published before, to be re-edited. Essays feature topics such as AI, VR, art, play, systems or communication, often discussed from a personal experience perspective. Contact me for writing/publishing/syndication inquiries.

July 2018

The story of how the Global Game Jam came to Germany. A brief personal recollection co-organising the event in 2009. Published in July 2018 in the GGJ Book.

August 2021

Imperfect VR and the Miserable Idea of ​​Virtual Reality. An essay on Virtual Reality, Imperfection and on Slavoj Žižek's take of VR as a "miserable Idea". A version in German is available in print.
Published August 24, 2021.

September 2021

VR and Perception in the Eyes of the Animal Another essay on Virtual / Mixed Reality, with a focus on perception. Initially appeared in A MAZE. Magazine No.4 - Edition: Animals in 2016.
Published September 30, 2021.

January 2023

ON THE EARLY DAYS OF HIC ET NUNC. An interview by Alex Estorick with Tais Koshino and me on the history of an avantgarde underground digital art movement born in Brasil. Published in January 2023, also published in the RCS book.

December 2024 (est.)

Planned: An essay on theatre, artificial intelligence and power, reflecting on our project Regie:KI and the co-curated symposium on AI and theatre at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf.

May 2025 (est.)

Planned: An essay on economics and communication.

Selected Projects

My projects live in the intersection of art and technology. I am arranging this section from time to time. Please contact me if you want to know more about a project.

  • 4 Screens

    4 Screens Pop Up Exhibition

  • Utopienvergleich

    105 mal 68. Wir regeln das.

  • Theater in Stücken

    Theater in Stücken!

  • Regie: KI [Illustration: Gerd Altmann]

    Regie: KI

  • Designing Playful Systems

    Designing Playful Systems

  • Hostile Environment Facility Training

    Hostile Environment Facility Training (HEFT)

  • Imperfect VR

    Imperfect VR

  • KlingKlangKlong

    KlingKlangKlong

  • Spiel 1

    Spiel 1

  • Speed Gardening Guerilla

    Speed Gardening Guerilla

  • Bach, Bitches!

    Bach, Bitches! Zwischen U und E.

  • Pedestrian Fitness Initiative for Plymouth

    Pedestrian Fitness Initiative for Plymouth

  • Secret City: Missing Max

    Secret City: Missing Max

  • Grand Tour

    Grand Tour

  • Glockenspiel

    Glockenspiel

  • ACP Krimi Event

    ACP Krimi Event

  • Eine Gegen Eine

    Eine Gegen Eine (One for One)

  • Tidy City

    Tidy City

Selected Academic Publications

Some of my academic publications capturing thoughts about systems theory, artistic practice, play, AI and other stuff. Between 350 and 55000 words. More comprehensive selections on both Researchgate and Academia.edu.

Designing Playful Systems

My PhD thesis (2020), ostensibly describing systems theory, practice and play. Covertly about deconstructing truth and replacing definitions with distinctions.

UoP

The Communication Problem

...in which I argue that AI should be concerned with communication instead of information. Note that philosophers don't use SSL.

RIFL

Games, AI, and Systems

A speculative piece (2020) that also takes aim at bad speculation, especially the Californian Ideology style AGI / singularity bubble.

eludamos

Do Machines Produce Art? No. (A Systems-Theoretic Answer.)

Jab, cross, hook. Abstract for a talk (2019) delivered at Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art in Hong Kong.

Researchgate

(How) Does Play Matter? A Transdisciplinary Approach to Play and its Relation to Neurobiology, Creativity and Deception.

A transdisciplinary look at play (2016).

UoP

Playful Locative Ensembles in the Urban Soundscape

Collaboration with Sebastian Quack (Invisible Playground). We discuss three locative sound projects by Circumstance, Sebastian and me (2016).

Uni Siegen

Get in touch

If you would like to get in touch about a project, offer, opportunity or introduction please use the e-Mail link below. I will respond to interesting proposals that match my schedule. Thank you.

Free Hugs