𓏲ּ𝄢 As part of “Digital Materialities / KI-Lab – AI owned by No-One,” a multi-day program combined a research visit to the Max Planck Institute with a hands-on workshop led by Niels Gercama, linking explainable AI with artistic production. After gaining insight into how AI models are analyzed and applied in neuroscience, participants translated these concepts into experimental creative workflows using open-source tools, producing images, videos, and 3D models while documenting their processes in an open, accessible archive. Check out the results on this website: https://488819.cargo.site/ Thank you so much Niels Gercama, Dr. Simon Hoffmann, Prof. Mitra Wakil and Prof. Fabian Hesse! #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #costsofdisconnecting Artistic works: Clemens Koerner and Florence Kallenborn Photo Documentation: Michael Ehritt and Fabian Lehmann

👾Beyond the Meat – Avatars, NPCs, and Cyborg Bodies 👾 Module V of Game Lab explored how physical bodies can be translated into digital environments. Participating students created 3D scans of themselves and implemented them in Unity as avatars or NPCs, experimenting with animation, simple interactions, and motion capture tools to bring characters to life. Alongside the technical work, the workshop also encouraged reflection on how digital bodies reshape ideas of identity and presence in virtual spaces. #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #costsofdisconnecting Photos: Meghan Smith and Eliza Goldox

Presentations from the HGB Al Lab 2.0 Al owned by No One — Friday, April 17, 2026 - 5:00 PM - Room 2.10 - ***Artist presentation Niel Gercama *** Niels shows his Master project (Flat-Earth Elegy or: how I learned to stop worrying and love The Sphere) a short film about The Sphere in Las Vegas and its relation with tech and religion. ***Show and talk - with works and Al slop by Participants*** plus free beer free pizza Using local Al and open-source models, the artists develop flexible workflows for artistic and technical experiments. Between noise and latent space, they experiment with the generative capabilities of various Al models through deliberate prompting, specific input material, and custom-designed processing chains, while simultaneously examining the models’ operational conditions, embedded biases, and preconceptions. Join us for pizza and beer and a moment of exchange to explore the lab’s possibilities and learn more about future project developments. We look forward to seeing you - best regards, Fabian Lehmann, Prof. Mitra Wakil, Prof. Fabian Hesse Niels Gercama’s workshop is made possible by Digital Materialities and **(Un)Learning Digitalities, Program for Theory and Practice of the Digital / Program for Thinking & Practicing Digitalities**. The project is co-financed by the European Union and is funded in part by tax revenues based on the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament. @digitalmaterialities @unlearningdigitalities @fabianlehmann @niels_gercama @hgbleipzig

KI-Lab: „Ai owned by No-One“ Workshop with Niels Gercama and a Field Trip to the Max Planck Institute with Dr. Simon Hoffmann / Digital Materialities with Prof. Mitra Wakil, Prof. Fabian Hesse and Fabian Lehmann The workshop combines artistic practice with current AI research. After gaining insight into the Max Planck Institute (MPI CBS) and methods of explainable AI (XAI)—including practical analysis of models—we apply these insights to our own experiments. We work with open-source tools such as ComfyUI and develop flexible workflows for AI-assisted image, video, and 3D production. Our starting points include scientific visualizations, which we translate into new aesthetic forms. 🧩Monday, April 13, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., visit to the Max Planck Institute, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, with Dr. Simon M. Hofmann (Max Planck Institute, Department of Neurology) During the visit, participants will gain insight into explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). The session will demonstrate how predictions and decisions made by neural networks can be made visible and comprehensible. At the MPI CBS, AI is used to analyze brain images, research brain functions, and better understand human behavior. Two examples illustrate current research: estimating “brain age” using AI and the question of whether humans and AI evaluate facial similarity in the same way. Registration by April 8, 2026, at: [email protected] / maximum: 20 participants 🧩Wednesday, April 15 – Friday, April 17, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – hands-on workshop with Niels Gercama in the room Participants will work with the open-source tool ComfyUI and explore experimental workflows for the AI-assisted creation of images, videos, and 3D models. The focus is on local, flexible approaches and the creative combination of various AI tools. An accompanying website documents processes and results and makes them accessible as an open archive. Open to all – no prior knowledge required. Registration by April 8, 2026 at: [email protected] / maximum: 8 participants #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #becomingpublics Images: Niels Gercama Graphics: Marie Walser and Naomi Frank

Starting this Thursday: 𝒢𝒜𝑀𝐸 𝐿𝒜𝐵 𝑀𝒪𝒟𝒰𝐿𝐸 𝐼𝒱 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 22.& 23.1., 10:00a.m. – 4:00p.m., HGB room K49 (basement, opposite the 3D printing workshop) On Thursday and Friday, the final module of the Game Lab with @tkurpat will take place as part of (Un)Learning Digitalities and in cooperation with the Studio of Digital Materialities. This module focuses on the possibilities of creating interactive installations with Unity and provides a broader overview of tools and creative coding. You are warmly invited to join this open format - feel free to bring along your own workflows, projects, or sketches. #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #costsofdisconnecting Graphics: Marie Walser Images: Eliza Goldox, Naomi Frank and Meghan Smith

Juli Winterstein @i.ony__ & Tobias Kurpat @tkurpat / Rundgang 2025 Studio Digital Materialities, @digitalmaterialities Room 2.25 ..on/toward the works: Juli Winterstein The installation “Interior” refers to the body through a sculptural proxy, responding to the insufficiencies of depiction. The notion of a singular sculpture is broken into a fragmented, modular state. The graphite-coated clay- and plastic-prints blend the figurative and the abstract into one another. The same form is repeated in variations, forming relations between corporeal expression, the body as infrastructure, and its involvement in commodification processes. Installed within a carefully staged exhibition display that was built around the works, the ambiguity of theatrical display builds a formal framework: Mirrors, grids and serial arrangements twist the viewer’s perception as they juxtapose the dissolved character of the sculptures. The objects invite observation while simultaneously withdrawing from it, blurring expressions of desire and refusal. Tobias Kurpat Kurpat’s screen prints explore space as a psychological and perceptual construct, drawing on concepts from the philosophy of space and theories of the unconscious. The grid structures initially suggest order, yet their dissolution points to the fragile nature of perception and subjectivity. Like a network-like structure that resists fixed frameworks, these works oscillate between presence and absence. In the context of virtual immersion, this creates a state of suspension in which spatial coherence dissolves, pulling the viewer into a dynamic interplay of depth and surface. Photos: Vincent Wolff @vincent__wolff (slide 1 +3) & Albin Flieder (slide 2 ) @albinflieder

Module II – ๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°`°๑۩ ≋F≋r≋o≋m≋ ≋Z≋e≋r≋o≋ ≋t≋o≋ ≋G≋a≋m≋e≋ ≋S≋c≋e≋n≋e≋ ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°`°๑۞๑ - Introduction to Unity on Thursday & Friday, 13.11./14.11.2025 with @tkurpat . The students returned to the studio of @digitalmaterialities to continue transforming the HGB into an interactive, playable world. Using scans from Module I, including scans of the students themselves, the academy became a digital environment that players can now explore. The beginning was dedicated to hands-on Unity sessions, implementing features and developing the digitalized HGB, while the second day focused on reactive environments, creating immersive narratives and experimenting with worldbuilding with scanned bodies and architecture. A huge thank you to everyone for bringing their ideas to life and pushing the Game Lab further into uncharted digital territories! #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #costsofdisconnecting

˙𐃷˙Some impressions from the 👾 Game Lab – Module I: “The Academy as a Game World - Digital Archaeology with Polycam & Unity” led by @tkurpat and hosted by @digitalmaterialities . The first module invited participants to explore the HGB as a playable landscape. Over two days, the students practiced forms of digital archaeology, scanning the academy and surrounding spaces with Polycam, collecting fragments of spaces, textures, bodies, and landscape. Between photgrammety, point clouds and Gaussian splats, the building slowly transformed into a virtual terrain, a hybrid of physical and digital memory. In the Blender and Unity introductions, participants translated their scans into models, interactive prototypes, imagining new ways to navigate, inhabit, and recompose the architecture of the school and developing ideas. Thank you @mariecharlottelsner and @simonjaramillovallejo for showing their works and everyone else who joined and contributed to this inspiring and dynamic start of the Game Lab! We are looking forward Module II tomorrow! With @kimmmmaha @simonjaramillovallejo @gabrielcorredorfoto @_lea_hardock_ @mioalhashimy @zhengkesun

✮ GAME LAB ✮ Student Led Session with Tobias Kurpat (@tkurpat ) We warmly invite you to register for the Game Lab, consisting of four modules, happening with @digitalmaterialities !

The Game Lab offers a hands-on introduction to the creation of immersive worlds. Over the course of four two-day modules, students will learn to use tools such as Polycam (a 3D scanning app) and the Unity development platform, exploring how these can be integrated into their own artistic practice. The focus lies on the conceptualization and realization of narrative environments and on examining interactivity as a form of artistic expression. Deadline registration for one or more modules till 08.11.: please via email to Tobias Kurpat [email protected]

Module I – The Academy as a Game World - Digital Archaeology with Polycam & Unity
November 10 – November 11/ 10am-4pm
Location: HGB Lichthof

Module II – From Zero to Game Scene – Introduction to Unity
November 13 – November 14/ 10am-4pm
Location: VR Lab 2.10 (previous 2.25)

Module III – Game Worlds as a Means of Expression – Worldbuilding for Artists
November 20 – November 21/ 10am-4pm
Location: VR Lab 2.10 (previous 2.25)

Module IV – How to Build: Exporting Executable ‘Final Products’ from Unity
January 21 – January 22/ 10am-4pm
Location: VR Lab 2.10 (previous 2.25) #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig #costsofdisconnecting Graphics: Marie Walser Image: Tobias Kurpat

𝓐𝓘 𝓸𝔀𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓷𝓸-𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓗𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼-𝓸𝓷 𝓞𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓬𝓮 𝓐𝓘 – 𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓴𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓹 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓝𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓼 𝓖𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓪 @niels_gercama June 27, 2025 | 10:00–17:00 Studio Digital Materialities, Room 2.25 This workshop offers a practical introduction to creating images and videos using ComfyUI and AnimateDiff, and explores how to flexibly combine open-source AI tools. Comparing creative workflows: local tools vs. online services Combining tools for media pipelines (image, video, audio, text, etc.) How can open-source AI tools be combined creatively and flexibly? The workshop is aimed at anyone curious about AI-based media production — whether you have prior experience or not. The goal is to build a foundational understanding of open-source AI and gain the skills to develop simple workflows independently. Together, we’ll explore the topic in an accessible and playful way. Niels Gercama is a new media artist and author between Amsterdam and Berlin. His work investigates fluidity and mutability as insurgent strategies for narrative building and artistic practice. He combines simulation methods, plastic materials and textual media to create a nuanced emotional and creative sensitivity. In his work, people and overheard conversations are translated into landscapes of skin, plastic and gelatinous materials. Themes of labor, sexuality and algorithmic control are investigated, mixed and destroy-destroyed. Register by June 19, 2025: /4premye9 The workshop is open to students from all disciplines and levels of study (undergraduate and graduate). The workshop will be held in English. Hosted by the Audiovisual Workshops, Prof. Fabian Hesse and Prof. Mitra Wakil.

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ An echo of **Clay Printing Week** Some documentation from Enorê’s workshop @capirotices who came to share insights into their practice, which involves working with scans of their own body, glitches and 3D-printed clay. Together, we explored how digital tools can transform the human body and how clay, one of the oldest cultural materials, can be used to speculate, transform and resist. From Blender to Cura and from scan to print, traces of the week remain in the sculptural forms and the conversations surrounding form, responsibility and the permeable boundaries between the digital and the physical. Photos: Fabian Lehmann

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ A thank you to Enoré @capirotices for spending last week with us at HGB @hgbleipzig during Clay Printing Week @digitalmaterialities . Through their experimental 3D-printed ceramics, Enoré invited us to think differently about the roles of material, glitches and transformation. Their presence left traces not only in clay, but in thought too. We’re grateful for the insights, conversations and poetic disruptions you brought to the space. 
#worldsthatbuildtheyself #unlearningdigitalities #hgbleipzig