Artistic Manoeuvres for the Digital Present

Residencies for the HAU Digital Lab

From September 11 to 13 2020, the first Online Hackathon took place at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, where utopias for the theater of the future and HAU4 were developed. A jury (consisting of dgtl fmnsm, explain, Nathan Fain, Katja Grawinkel-Claassen, Romily Alice Walden and HAU) selected three projects to receive a paid research residency at HAU:

“Bodies of Resistance” (Paola Eleonora Bascon, Ayelen Duniec, Margarete Rosenbohm, Yasmin Schönmann, Christoforos Verras)
“The presence of the breathing human body, its capability to create affective bounds with its surroundings and articulating a collective body, has been now reconfigured once more by the current pandemic. This is how the reliance and dependence on digital interfaces in our daily lives has deepened. Yet, it may also open the possibility of sharing information and strategies of body-resistance that transcend borders, which could not have been anticipated.
‘Bodies of Resistance’ aims to create a safe webspace that provides the user with knowledge and moves, where everyone should feel welcome. On the website the user can find stories about political movements and dance interventions that have used the body as a tool for resistance, as well as videos that waken the viewer’s awareness and engagement with their own body.
It’s a space that teaches you to resist and to rebel in your own way. You are invited to stay at the webspace as long as you like. You can decide for yourself what you like to do. Do you already feel the bubbly energy?”

“The Feeling is Mutual” (Anja Bothe, Ana Sofia Calixto, Sofia Insua, Elisabeth Ligonnet, Areli Moran Mayoral, Fabian Raith)
“‘The Feeling is Mutual’ is a physical and digital experience that explores four core emotions by playing with projections, the senses and the imagination of two kinds of audiences -online and onsite- to then connect them in real time. It opens up the possibility of worldwide interaction and accessibility. This immersive project reflects on the truth and fluidity of human feelings by looking for new ways to empathize. A reminder that you’re not the only one.”

Pixelrave” (Derin Cankaya, Saverio Cantoni)
“‘Pixelrave’ aims to build bridges between the underrepresented actors of underground dance subcultures from different geographies, by re-creating the radical inclusiveness of dancefloors in a virtual deterritorialized location. The construction process is part of the performative act, proposing an inclusive virtual community as a laboratory for confrontations, rewiring rituals that are prohibited due to the pandemic. In its digital dimension “Pixelrave” will gather non-normative aesthetics to de-construct conventionally extractive digital spaces.”

Over a three-week period during the respective months of October, November and December 2020, each selected team will continue their projects. The collective dgtl fmnsm accompanies the residencies as mentors.

A project by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Made possible with: The funding programme for digital development in the cultural sector of Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.