regine ehleiter

A little more than a month has passed since our hybrid event “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer.” As the political landscape darkens, seeing these photos by @heikekandalowski was a welcome reminder of a sunny afternoon spent listening and thinking together with brilliant colleagues from near and far. Warm thanks to all speakers, and to everyone who joined us on site and online for their presence and attention. If you missed the event, we’re currently cutting and editing the clips for a video documentation, and hope to share more news in the coming weeks. “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” brought together publications from the 1960s to today that critically engaged with computational thinking, or were shaped by computer technologies in their making. The event took place on Dec. 11, 2025, on site at @uni_wittenherdecke and on Zoom. The event was organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Research Associate at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at @wittenlab_stufu at @uni_wittenherdecke and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change, in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Key visual: @readingerrata 

Participants: Rodrigo Araya Yañez @raaraya , Andreas Bülhoff @andreasbuelhoff , Frank Fischer @umblaetterer , Constanze Fritzsch, Ursula Frohne, Antye Guenther @antye.guenther , Jonathan Harth, Gloria Hasnay @g_s_m_h , Hannah Higgins @hannahbhiggins , Margit Rosen @rosen_______ , Shinji Toya @shinjitoya . Photo credit: (c) PLZZO Photography @p_l_zzo / Heike Kandalowski
 #readingartistsbooks #artistsbooks #bookart #artandcomputation #criticaldigitalstudies #publishingasart #artistpublications #printedmatter #verlagdergebruederkoenig #mediaart #digitalculture #artresearch #lectureseries #wittenherdecke #alisonknowles #doroboehme #joanflaschartistsbookcollection

end of year full-circle moment: a week after “reading artists’ books: problems for computer,” this much-awaited book arrived today—echoing our discussions on how computer imaginaries surface in artists’ publications from the 1970s to the present. it’s a magnum opus by the late kasper koenig, an “autobiographical collage based on a highly personal glossary”: keywords, encounters, events, and projects—vividly mapping his life and work in texts and images. the journey that ends with this book for me began in february 2023, when i sat down in berlin for an interview with the brothers walther and kasper koenig to discuss their practice of making books. kasper had invited me—thanks to his former assistant andreas prinzing, who beautifully finished the job of editing this book posthumously (together with ulrich wilmes, and designed by yvonne quirmbach)—to contribute an essay on their artists’ books, published between 1968 and 1973 under “verlag der gebr. koenig, köln—new york”. an early example from their program is alison knowles’s “a house of dust”. it consists of computer-printed sheets with stanzas generated by a mainframe computer, which is listed on the cover as a non-human co-author (siemens system 4004), along with the artist and computer-music pioneer james tenney. at the time, as walther and kasper explained, only a few computers in europe could read the print data stored on the magnetic tape that alison sent from new york to germany where the publication was produced. both kasper koenig and alison knowles were still alive at the time of writing. i’m grateful this book is now out in the world—and for the repercussions it has had on my recent work around @readingartistsbooks . end of year wishlist: an english translation. thanks, @buchhandlungwaltherfranzkoenig !

We’re very excited to share the full program for READING ARTISTS’ BOOKS: PROBLEMS FOR COMPUTER – an afternoon of readings on artists’ publications and computing. 🗓 Thursday, 11 December 2025, 13:30–17:00 (CET) 📍 University Witten/Herdecke + online (Zoom) Swipe through to see who’s reading what, and when. We hope to see you there – on-site or on screen. Participants: Rodrigo Araya Yáñez @raaraya , Andreas Bülhoff @andreasbuelhoff , Frank Fischer @umblaetterer , Ursula Frohne, Constanze Fritzsch, Antye Guenther @antye.guenther , Jonathan Harth, Gloria Hasnay @g_s_m_h , Hannah Higgins, Jürg Lehni @juerglehni , Margit Rosen @rosen_______ , Shinji Toya @shinjitoya , UW/H students (Hebah Alsari, Prashant Kumar, Shaun Kutsanzira, Jannosch Sachse, Dogac Unsal, Pablo Vukusic) @uni_wittenherdecke The event was organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Postdoctoral Researcher at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at @wittenlab_stufu / @uni_wittenherdecke and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study "Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change", in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study "Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change" at @uni_muenster . Key visual: @readingerrata 
Venue: 
Witten/Herdecke University, New building, room E.022 a/b, Alfred-Herrhausen-Str. 48, 58455 Witten For online participation via Zoom, please register at the link in bio / @readingartistsbooks . 🔗 #ReadingArtistsBooks #ArtistsBooks #ComputingAndArt #WittenHerdecke #ProgramReveal #3DaysToGo

London-based digital artist Shinji Toya @shinjitoya joins us online for “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” on 11 Dec ✨💿 Toya will “read” a CD-R publication that accompanied his project “3 Years and 6 Months of Digital Decay” (2016–2019). In our ongoing series @readingartistsbooks , we understand reading and artists’ publishing in an expanded way: not just reading printed pages but also interfaces, code, and the infrastructures that shape how a work becomes publicly accessible (or inaccessible). 🔐💻 Toya’s work stages the slow disappearance of a video piece, “Is There Beauty in Forgetting?” (2015) via an online screening platform built with @arebyte Gallery. From April 2016 to October 2019, his video gradually fragmented, its code drifted out of compatibility⏳, and eventually the work became unplayable in many browsers – a carefully scripted process of digital decay that mirrors the average lifespan of burned CD-Rs (three and a half years). The discs, containing narrated instructions that send listeners to the website, become offline indexes and physical reminders of the work’s finite online life. “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” presents publications from the 1960s to today that critically reflect on computational thinking or rely on computer technologies in their making. It takes place both on site at @uni_wittenherdecke and online. 📅 Event info and Zoom registration via @readingartistsbooks / link in bio 🔗 Organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Research Associate at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at the @wittenlab_stufu at @uni_wittenherdecke and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change, in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Key visual: @readingerrata . #ShinjiToya #DigitalDecay #ArtistsBooks #MediaArt #DigitalObsolescence #pagenotfound #readingartistsbooks #artistspublications #digitalmemorykeeping

Sound on! 🎧 Artist and researcher Andreas Bülhoff @andreasbuelhoff joins us for “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” on Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 1:30–5:00 pm CET. He will present “Reading Writing Interfaces”– a series of “bookifications” of the interfaces of Apple TextEdit, Microsoft Word, and Adobe InDesign. Interfaces are designed spaces of interaction. They not only represent and optimize workflows, but also control which forms of interaction are possible. By representing all possible ways of writing, designing, reviewing, and interacting with text in visible buttons and menus, text editors, word processors, and layout software impose ideas and definitions of writing and text on their users. His set of bookworks dissects the graphic representation of these assumptions by “demediating” them into the format of hardcover books as stable, well-practiced media.🔍 RAB#4 presents publications from the 1960s to today that critically reflect on computational thinking and computer-based production. Link in bio / @readingartistsbooks . 🔗 Organized by @reginee @wittenlab_stufu in coop. with @medienwerk.nrw & Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change @uni_muenster .

Excited to welcome Rodrigo Araya Yáñez @raaraya to “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” on Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 1:30–5:00 pm CET 📅💻 Based in Santiago de Chile, he co-runs the publishing platform @otrasinceridad with Gracia Fernández @yolagracia . In his reading, Rodrigo will focus on "Entreactos: Ordenadores y Sirvientes" (2014–2019, published by Otra Sinceridad). It compiles research and production context from three exhibitions presented between 2014 and 2019. Bringing together documents, quotes, open-ended exercises, images, and other digital “detritus” from hard drives, clouds, and email, 💾📂 it uses this everyday screen-based debris to explore how our habits of work, distraction, and attention are formed at the interface with computers and algorithms. Rodrigo Araya Yáñez (b. 1983, Chile) is an artist with a degree in Art from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His practice moves between visual art, sound, and performance, often taking the form of installations, readings, and live pieces. 🎧📡 He recently co-organized the exhibition “Máquinas de aprendizaje, aprendizaje de máquinas” at @galeriamacchina (Escuela de Arte UC) in Providencia, Santiago, Chile. “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” presents publications from the 1960s to today that have critically reflected on computational thinking or relied on computer technologies in their making. The session takes place on site at @uni_wittenherdecke and online. Full program & Zoom registration: link in bio. 🔗 Organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at the @wittenlab_stufu at @uni_wittenherdecke , in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Key visual: @readingerrata . Photos: Rodrigo Araya Yáñez, “Entreactos. Ordenadores y Sirvientes”, Santiago de Chile: Otra Sinceridad, 2014–19. Edition of 20 (includes 140 letter-size printed pages, 12 postcards, 1 key and 1 ID card). Digital print. 22 × 28 cm. © Rodrigo Araya Yáñez (CC0 / No Rights Reserved).

Antye Guenther’s @antye.guenther artist publication “The Beheading of the Fruit Fly: How will I know if you are truly a sentient being?” — a vinyl record — has landed at the UW/H University Library! We can’t wait for 11 December 2025 to finally drop the needle at the event “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” and listen to the electromagnetic sound emissions of JUQUEEN, once among the world’s most powerful supercomputers, located at the @forschungszentrum_juelich in Germany. The work probes seductive yet problematic brain–computer analogies, lets the “machine” talk back, and upends our binary habits of perception. It nudges us to think of computers not as sealed black boxes, but as entities entangled with environments, infrastructures, and people. Pressed as a 12" single-sided record with a poster + booklet, published by @fw.books , co-produced with @de_player_rotterdam . “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” presents publications from the 1960s to today that have critically reflected on computational thinking or relied on computer technologies in their making. The event takes place on site at UW/H and simultaneously on Zoom on Thursday, 11 December 2025, 1:30 am–5:00 pm CET (event info & Zoom registration: link in bio). The event was organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Research Associate at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at the @wittenlab_stufu at @uni_wittenherdecke and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change, in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Key visual: Tabea Nixdorff @readingerrata . Video: Andreas Czwodzinski @ginskyoner . #AntyeGuenther #ReadingArtistsBooks #ArtistsBooks #Vinyl #SoundPublication #ArtAndTechnology #DigitalCulture #EarlyComputing #UWH #UniversityWittenHerdecke #11December2025

This is the first post in a short series previewing our upcoming event “Reading Artists’ Books: Problems for Computer” on December 11, 2025 (on Zoom and on-site at @uni_wittenherdecke ). We’re thrilled to share that Gloria Hasnay @g_s_m_h (director, @kunstverein_duesseldorf ) will join us to present “Key Operators. Weaving and Coding as Languages of Feminist Historiography”. Packed neatly in a box, the bound pages, along with nineteen unbound brochures, offer a reflection on the group exhibition of the same title at @kunstvereinmuenchen .
 “Key Operators” focuses on the links between feminized labor, technological advancements, and their associated languages. The systems inscribed in weaving and coding serve as a point of departure for devising alternative ways of looking at gender and work. The project brings together an intergenerational group of artists and theorists, encompassing commissioned as well as historical contributions, that engage with the concept of weaving and its significance for technological developments, both metaphorically and structurally. The book is not an aside to the exhibition, but rather a translation of its concerns, questions, and structure into the printed form(at). Key Operators (2025): Weaving and coding as languages of feminist historiography. 
Edited by Gloria Hasnay; published by Kunstverein München e.V. & @bierkebooks ; designed by Max Schropp.
Texts: Gloria Hasnay, Lucie Pia, Chris Reitz, Lea Vajda.
Contributors: Claire L. Evans, Elsi Giauque, Johanna Gonschorek, Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter, Pati Hill, Charlotte Johannesson, Lotus L. Kang, Alison Knowles, Beryl Korot, Lynn Hershman Leeson, James Tilly Matthews, Katrin Mayer, Sadie Plant, Johannes Porsch, Radical Software, Bea Schlingelhoff, Marilou Schultz, Johanna Schütz-Wolff, Iris Touliatou. The event was organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee (Research Associate, Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication, @wittenlab_stufu ) in cooperation with @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Event info & Zoom registration: link in bio. #ArtistsBooks #KeyOperators #ComputingHistory

The fourth edition of the series @readingartistsbooks presents publications that, since the 1960s, have critically reflected on computational thinking—that is, ways of thinking shaped by computer-based and algorithmic processes—or that have relied on computer technologies in their making. Publications such as Alison Knowles’s A House of Dust (1969), Stanley Brouwn’s 100 this-way-brouwn-problems for computer IBM 360 model 95 (1970), and Manfred Mohr’s Artificiata I (1969) demonstrate how concepts of chance, iteration, and algorithmic logic were translated into the analogue medium of the artist’s book—often coupled with a critical reflection on the promises and limits of digital technologies. The event takes place within the framework of the Studium Fundamentale at @uni_wittenherdecke and connects to ongoing discussions within the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . The full program will be announced shortly. The event was organized by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Research Associate at the Chair for Digital Arts and Cultural Communication at the @wittenlab_stufu at @uni_wittenherdecke and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change, in cooperation with the Office & Network for Media Art and Digital Culture @medienwerk.nrw and the Centre for Advanced Study Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change at @uni_muenster . Key visual by Tabea Nixdorff @readingerrata . The reading event will take place both on site at the university and online via Zoom. Registration is now open, please see link in bio. @andreasbuelhoff @antye.guenther @umblaetterer @g_s_m_h @hannah.higgins.b @juerglehni @rosen_______ @raaraya @shinjitoya #ursulafrohne @reginee #artistsbooks #artistbooks #artistspublications #publishingasartisticpractice #computerart #computationalart #computertechnology #computergeneratedart #digitalaccess #digitalobsolescence #feministhistory #weavingandcoding

We invite you to celebrate the launch of two new publications on Argentinian conceptual artist Mirtha Dermisache (1940–2012) at @missreadberlin 2025 / @conceptualpoetics Day. The event on Saturday, 14 June, 1.30 p.m., brings together editors and contributors of “con·stel·la·tions 02: Reading Mirtha Dermisache” (@textem Verlag) – a new anthology examining Dermisache’s work within the history of artists’ publications and asemic writing, following the first solo exhibition of her work in Germany, curated by Regine Ehleiter for the @exc2020 “Temporal Communities” (@fu_berlin ) – and “The Month of the Flies” (@uglyducklingpresse ) – a poetic response by Sergio Chejfec to her “Libro N° 8: 1970,” translated by Rebekah Smith and Silvina López Medin. Regine Ehleiter @reginee and Rebekah Smith will join Mela Dávila Freire @mela_artfile in a conversation about Dermisache’s radical approach to writing, publication, and circulation, the publishing practices of women artists in 1970s Latin America, and the ways in which Dermisache’s work continues to challenge conventional notions of reading. — Mirtha Dermisache’s Estate @legadomirthadermisache protects the memory and production of the artist; continuous working in the diffusion of her biography and extensive oeuvre; collaborates with loans to institutions and in the curatorial and academic research. — @naranjapublicaciones are distributing ‘Reading Mirtha Dermisache’ in South America. It features an artist’s tribute by Sebastian Barrante @sebarrante and academic essays by @reginee , @megumiandradekobayashi and @ara_bausch and is the outcome of the event @readingartistsbooks : ‘asemic writing‘. — /event/rereading-mirtha-dermisache/ (Link in Bio) — #mirthadermisache #asemicwriting #artistsbooks #artistspublishing #sergiochefec #textemverlag #latinamericanart #conceptualism #literatureandart #conceptualpoetics #poetry #writingasartisticpractice

Beginning in the late 1960s, the Argentinian conceptual artist Mirtha Dermisache (1940–2012) produced publications that consist of asemic writing: marks that resemble language but lack semantic content. Her artist's books, letters and postcards challenge habitual responses to both art and literature, leading us to re-evaluate how language works, how we perceive it, and how it might be distinguished from drawing. The second volume of 'con·stel·la·tions', the joint series by @exc2020 and @textem , brings together academic essays by Regine Ehleiter @reginee , Barbara Bausch @ara_bausch and Megumi Andrade Kobayashi @medumiandradekobayashi and an artist's tribute by Sebastián Barrante @sebarrante , each offering a distinct approach to "reading" Mirtha Dermisache. The publication is an outcome of the event "Reading Artists' Books: Asemic Writing", which was conceived in collaboration with @readingartistsbooks and curated by @reginee . It was part of the exhibition "Mirtha Dermisache: To Be Read" (2024), produced in collaboration with the Legado Mirtha Dermisache @legadomirthadermisache as well as the Berlin exhibition venues @a.to.z.presents and @oxfordberlin . We sincerely thank the Legado Mirtha Dermisache, which preserves the memory and work of the artist, for generously providing reproduction rights. @naranjapublicaciones are distributing the publication in South America. (Spanish version in comments) #mirthadermisache #asemicwriting #artistsbooks #temporalcommunities #textem #naranjapublicaciones #literarystudies #doingliterature #constellations #megumiandradekobayashi #barbarabausch #sebastianbarrante #reginehleiter

starting the new year with a berlin-wide water pipe burst and cars drifting through flooded streets feels surreal—especially when, just a week ago, i was watching geysers erupt in the atacama, one of the oldest and driest deserts on earth. looking now at the images from that trip, i still struggle to comprehend the otherworldly nature of this landscape: colourful, martian rock formations, ancient layers of salts and sediments, and 1,000-year-old cactus plants set against a moony sky, as if from another planet. at 4,000 meters altitude, where the air holds a noticeably lower concentration of oxygen, my heart raced with every breath. i felt acutely how alien and inhospitable this environment was. the atacama’s ancient geological history, its aridity dating back 150 million years, and the sense of cosmic deep time inscribed in its clear, star-filled skies made human life feel like a brief and fragile anomaly in the vastness of earth’s history. in 2025, while conversations around asemic writing and (digital) publishing practices will continue, i want to take my research in a new direction—exploring how artists have engaged with ‘the planetary’ in their work. stay tuned ✨🪐🗿📡🛰️☄️