Anna Kraher

Looking forward to one of the best festivals out there: AMRO-festival in Linz, organized by @servus_at , 13-16 May 💙💚 I’ll be talking about how “digital sovereignty” is used to consolidate corporate power over AI infrastructure in Germany; how this taps into longstanding national fantasies; why US-centric critiques of Big Tech don’t quite fit; and what local political practices might look like that stay connected to international struggles. I’ll also be showing my work „Road to Futures Past“ at SPLACE. See you there! radical-openness.org

New Year, new beginnings 💫 Happy to share that I’ve started my PhD position at the @uni.oldenburg in the field of Ethics of Digitalization. Looking forward to the upcoming years, especially to working with @anna__in_hyperreality and many others at the University and the Critical Data Lab.

Thank you for the invitation to talk about the "Politics of Isolation" at @mfru.ifca International Festival of Computer Arts: “Esoteric Ecotechnics. Irrational Computation and Conspirational Networking” in Maribor.⁣ ⁣ Special thanks to Davide Bevilacqua @laramejac and @reavogrincic for curating and organizing, and to everyone who contributed. It was a blast 💥⁣ ⁣ --⁣ ⁣ 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧⁣ ⁣ This talk explores how Big Tech’s vision of the future – from privatized cities and space colonization to doomsday bunkers – reflects a growing ‘Politics of Isolation’. These projects signal the tech elite’s departure from a shared common ground: corporate-run territories as retreat from legal and regulatory frameworks, bunkers as escape from ecological limits, and space colonization as detachment from Earth itself. In this worldview, freedom is imagined as an escape from responsibility and the collective. Yet, these isolationist strategies rely on global systems of labor and environmental extraction. What appears as isolation is, in fact, an exploitative relationship. For tech elites, this suggests an escape route from a world in crisis, while the majority are left to confront a collapsing planet. In contrast, the ‘freedom to stay’ requires the preservation of a collectively habitable world, where we have the right to remain present.⁣ ⁣ 📸 MFRU31 archive

„Road to Futures Past“ (2024) is running in the @screensavergallery . Dec 20th, 2025 – Feb 20th, 2026 Download at https://screensaver.gallery/get to have the exhibition running on your screensaver! --- Road to Futures Past (2024) Video, 13 min The video work explores how predictive power operates through different temporalities – how imagined futures and constructed pasts are used to justify actions in the present. Both obscure the present as a site where the distribution of power occurs. The first chapter focuses on a decade of Elon Musk’s repeated predictions that self-driving cars will arrive “next year,” showing how future promises are used to legitimize present actions and sustain corporate momentum. The second chapter examines predictive policing, where historical crime data is used to predict criminal activity. Here, the past serves to justify police practices in the present, targeting poor and racialized communities. In the final chapter, these narratives converge: the increasing use of Tesla vehicles in police fleets signals a growing alliance between tech elites and state power—where prediction becomes a tool for repressive actions. --- The exhibition has been curated by Tomas Zato and is part of @screensavergallery ’s ongoing series exploring the theme ‘Informatics of Domination’. Marking 40 years since Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, it rethinks her legacy through artworks designed specifically as screensavers – reclaiming a ubiquitous digital form for feminist and posthuman reflection. The exhibition is produced in cooperation with @servus_at – Kunst und Kultur im Netz and its Art Meets Radical Openness Research Lab – of which Anna Kraher is currently artist in residence. Music editing: @lars.pinkwart 📸 4 -7 stills

Road to Futures Past (2024) was exhibited at this year’s STWST84x11 „FOG MANIFESTO: FLOODING THE ZONE WITH FOG“. Thanks to the whole team at @stwst_linz for an amazing time! Music Editing: @lars.pinkwart 📸 1, 3-8, 10: Westley Hennigh-Palermo @distrustful_dinos

During my residency at this year’s AMRO Research Lab, I spoke with Davide Bevilacqua about Big Tech’s escape fantasies, private territories and libertarian networks as well as AI in Germany: from financing of AI infrastructures and education to the narratives around digital sovereignty. Full interview in the current edition of VERSORGERIN #147. ~ Link in bio ~ https://versorgerin.stwst.at/artikel/08-2025/a-meta-level-up-into-isolation Thank you @servus_at for inviting me and @stwst_linz for hosting. More outcomes from the AMRO Research Lab soon.

𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐬⁣⁣⁣⁣ | Performance, 35 min⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ During the summer of 2025, the art project „Secret Garden” by Jaume Plensa was installed on Salzburg’s Residenzplatz: five monumental metal busts of "timelessly beautiful women," each standing silently and symbolically for one of the five continents – an aesthetic staging of “international understanding”. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ The performance 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘴 challenges the passive silence of these female-coded sculptures and the depoliticized portrayal of diversity. In animated video form, the figures break out of their quiet roles and raise their voices against the very system that placed them there. At the center of this critique is cultural manager Walter Smerling, whose institutional ties to actors such as Putin, the surveillance company Palantir, and real estate developer Christoph Gröner were not addressed by Salzburg’s cultural committee that approved the project*.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘴 combines documentary material from the committee with fictional animation. The performance raises questions about the political responsibility of art in public spaces and examines how cities are instrumentalized as backdrops for the logics of capital.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ (* The cultural committee approved the project against the votes of @kpoeplussalzburg .)
⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ --⁣⁣⁣⁣ Thank you to @ofricnaani and @lochnesi for pushing me in such a caring way and to all the students of the class "Embodied Futures: Political Imagination for Shared Spaces" for truly going above and beyond 💕

⁣⁣⁣⁣Produced during the Salzburg International Academy of Fine Arts @summeracademy.at 
⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣📸 1,3-5,7-10 Mira Turba

Kako vizije tehnoloških velikanov – od privatiziranih mest in vesoljske kolonizacije do luksuznih bunkerjev – utelešajo »politiko izolacije«? Njihova svoboda je predstavljena kot beg od odgovornosti in skupnosti, a hkrati temelji na globalnem izkoriščanju ljudi in okolja. Pogovor 🌺 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐕 𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐦𝐨 𝐬𝐤𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐣 (𝐓𝐞𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐬̌𝐤𝐚 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐯𝐞) 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 raziskuje družbene posledice umetne inteligence ter deluje v raziskovalnih skupinah za etiko in kritično teorijo UI na Univerzi v Osnabrücku. Talk 🌺 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 (𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) The visions of tech giants – from privatized cities and space colonization to luxury bunkers – embody a “politics of isolation.” Here, freedom is framed as an escape from responsibility and community, yet it relies on global exploitation of people and the environment. 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 researches the social consequences of AI and works with the Ethics & Critical Theories of AI group at the University of Osnabrück. #talk #lecture #mfru31 #ifca #newmedia #mkc #mkcmaribor

Earlier this summer I gave a talk at the FMR Festival on privatized cities, space colonization, and doomsday bunkers. These projects reflect a ‚Politics of (supposed) Isolation‘ which seek freedom by withdrawing from collective responsibility, legal oversight, and environmental limits. Yet, these isolationist strategies rely on global relations of labor and environmental extraction. What appears as isolation is, in fact, deeply embedded with the structures they claim to transcend. This echoes right-wing ideologies, that promise belonging by drawing borders and claim common ground where there is exploitation. Thank you to the @linzfmr team, and special thanks to @servus_at and Davide Bevilacqua for inviting me and curating all the wonderful talks 💫

Im Juni haben wir ein Event zu „Künstliche Intelligenz und die Zukunft der Demokratie“ im @theaterosna veranstaltet, bei dem ich meine Videoarbeit „Road to Futures Past“ zeigen durfte 🛣️ 🌅 -- Was passiert, wenn künstliche Intelligenz zur Steuerung staatlicher Prozesse eingesetzt wird – und zunehmend demokratische Prinzipien untergräbt? In den USA sehen wir bereits den radikalen Umbau des Rechtsstaats: Zehntausende Staatsangestellte wurden entlassen, während nicht gewählte Tech-Milliardäre wie Elon Musk die Kontrolle über politische und administrative Prozesse übernehmen. Beiträge aus Wissenschaft und Kunst beleuchten den Zusammenhang von KI und ultra-rechten Bewegungen. Veranstaltet von der Arbeitsgruppe "Ethik und kritische Theorien der Künstlichen Intelligenz" der @uniosnabrueck , in Kollaboration mit dem @theaterosna , der @kunsthalleosnabrueck und dem @rainbow.pill.collective

Winter lately. Had a great time at the “In Time? Encountering Temporalities” conference @zhdkcampus @shared_campus last year – and in and above Zürich ✨ 📸 1, 3, 6-8 @lars.pinkwart 💕

Almost a month before the next Ars Electronica, I manage to share some throwbacks to last year. Thank you to @fiftitu.52 for inviting me to talk about Big Tech's escape fantasies as part of the queer-feminist-art-festival "entangled homes" and WHA Galerie for hosting 💕 And thanks @arselectronica and @kunstunilinz for the opportunity to show my work “Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow” 📸 1, 3-6 Jürgen Grünwald