V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media

The Alex Adriaansens Residency is open for applications 👾 This residency honours the legacy of Alex Adriaansens and invites emerging curators, organisers and cultural practitioners to reflect on the role of independent art institutions today. How can they remain spaces for experimentation, critical thinking and unexpected encounters? Residents are supported to develop their own research, with access to the V2_ archive and a network of artists and thinkers. – €7,500 grant – 3-month residency starting 1 September 2026 – Based in Rotterdam Deadline: 1 June 2026 Find more information and apply via the link in bio.

*for English see below » 𝗘𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗸 𝗼𝗽 𝗱𝗲 𝗞𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗫𝗟 🥳 Wat was het een feest! Tijdens Rotterdam Art Week openden @v2_unstable , @worm_rotterdam , @mamarotterdam en @kunstinstituutmelly hun deuren en konden we extra laaaang genieten van een avond vol hedendaagse kunst, experiment en ontmoeting op de Witte de Withstraat. Je kon kleine schatten met elkaar ruilen bij MaMA en je laten meevoeren door de filmische, virtuele landschappen bij V2. Gedurende de avond slingerde de Kunstavondtour door het Witte de Withkwartier, langs verborgen verhalen, feitjes en geheimpjes die de straat rijk is.✨ Wat is jouw leukste herinnering aan de Kunstavond XL? Laat het ons weten in de comments. Op 5 juni zijn we terug met een nieuw programma vol verrassingen om te ontdekken. Scoor alvast je ticket via de link in bio! 🎟️🔗 ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— 𝗔 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗫𝗟 🥳 What a celebration it was! During Rotterdam Art Week, @v2_unstable , @worm_rotterdam , @mamarotterdam and @kunstinstituutmelly opened their doors, allowing us to enjoy an extra looong evening filled with contemporary art, experimentation and encounters along Witte de Withstraat. You could trade little treasures at MaMA and immerse yourself in the cinematic virtual landscapes at V2. Throughout the evening, the Kunstavond Tour wound its way through the Witte de With Quarter, uncovering hidden stories, fun facts and secret corners the street has to offer. ✨ What’s your favourite memory of Kunstavond XL? Let us know in the comments. On June 5, we’ll be back with a new program for you to discover. Grab your ticket now via the link in bio! 🎟️🔗

Tomorrow at V2_ we explore The Other AI through Desiring Machines: Sex and Robots, the first chapter of our two-day programme on the emotional, sensual, and intimate dimensions of AI. 👾 Featuring talks and performances by: Misha Kavka, @ilkerbahar , Maaike van der Horst, Nor Akelei, @aliciaframis , @laura.a.dima From virtual desire and sex robots to glitching bodies and ghost affects, Day 1 brings together artists and academics working at the intersection of technology, intimacy, and affect. Day 2 continues on Saturday at het Nieuwe Instituut with Virtual Love and Companionship - for Real featuring performances, lectures, and workshops by: Misha Kavka, Delfina Martinez Pandiani Christos Tombras, Lancel/Maat, Otti Ferraris and @pulpapparatus How real does technologized love feel? Organised by the Queer Analysis research group and NICA, in partnership with V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media and @nieuweinstituut . Tickets available for both individual days or the full programme, see the link in our bio!

From effective AI to affective AI. From intelligence to intimacy. 👾 In The Other AI, V2_ and @nieuweinstituut bring together artists and scholars to explore how bots, avatars, and replicas are getting under our skin. As chatbots move from tools to companions, the focus shifts to their emotional and intimate impact. Over two days, the programme looks at automated intimacies as something we experience, not just analyse. Day one at V2_ centres on Desiring Machines: Sex and Robots, with contributions by Misha Kavka, @ilkerbahar , Maaike van der Horst, Nor Akelei, @laura.a.dima and @aliciaframis Alicia Framis. Day two at Nieuwe Instituut focuses on Virtual Love and Companionship – for Real, featuring Misha Kavka, Delfina Martinez Pandiani, Christos Tombras, Lancel/Maat, Otti Ferraris @buonan_otti and @pulpapparatus . Day 1 takes place at V2_, day 2 takes place at Nieuwe Instituut. More info via link in bio.

Looking back at Sarah Oppenheimer’s TRYDAY at V2_ @foldingenterprises @v2_unstable 20/03/2026. RR. During this Tryday we were able to present and explore Sarah Oppenheimer’s work/research-in-progress on RR. RR as a tool, an object, a process — a responsive system of inputs and outputs that explores our perception of spatial agency. Creating an intertwined ecosystem connecting its machines, performers and audience. “By turning, tipping, and reorienting mobile output elements, performers control the direction and angle of projection. Cones of light expand and contract, sweeping across walls and ceiling. Pools of illumination overlap and interact, transforming architectural surfaces into dynamic, active fields. 
 RR produces an entangled relay of responsiveness across multiple timescales. Immediate mechanical feedback establishes a clear sense of causality, while digitally mediated delay introduces temporal offset, complicating the perception of linkage and change. Cause and effect are stretched across time and space. RR invites reconsideration of control itself: rather than seeking instant feedback, it expands a field of delayed reciprocity.” 
It was a pleasure welcoming the project as development residency and Tryday, as space for dialogue, feedback, and exchange between V2_’s team, artist, performers and visitors. Photos of Sarah Oppenheimer: RR, PT_G13, 2026, 
Human operator, capacitance sensor systems, copper, glass, PLA, LED, aluminum, electricity and existing architecture. - Installation view at V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, 20 March 2026. 📸 Photo Credit: Paul Swagerman @paulswagerman More on https://v2.nl/events/tryday-sarah-oppenheimer-rr

The Evening of the Alex Adriaansens Residency brought together two different approaches to research, practice and publishing. @kat.jankovska presented Off-Grid, moving through autonomous infrastructures, DIY systems and fragile networks. Earlier that day, she and @marie_verdeil reflected on Comp-Host-ing our Phones. The evening continued with @agustina.andreoletti , whose research on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) formed the starting point for a round table on tracing colonial heritage beyond institutional frameworks, together with Asawari Luthra, @scarlett.ambrose_ and Tobechukwu Onwukeme. Thanks to everyone who joined and stayed with the conversation. Photos by @flo__verhulst

@nernada joined on @operator.radio to reflect on her Summer Sessions residency in 2024 at Schmiede Hallein. In this conversation, she shares her experience of working at @schmiedehallein and collaborating with artist and product designer @ootori_t . you still have two more days to apply for Summer Sessions 2026! Visit the link in our bio to listen to the full operator show or apply to the residency!

Join us tonight for a live coding meetup in the space from @v2_unstable in Rotterdam! Live coding meetup tonight in V2 Rotterdam! With @eerieear @designpartyprogram @n1k1l1a @rikkiemm @den_ree and more! Subscribe to our calendar to stay up-to-date (link in bio): https://netherlands-coding-live.github.io/ We will be showing our audiovisual work on a big screen, open for dialogue, and hoping to see yours. As is frequent in Netherlands coding live meetups, if time allows, we will have a brief “from scratch” jam session. Doors: 19h Start: 19h30 End: 22h00 Entrance: Free

The Summer Sessions 2026 open call has been extended. You now have until April 19, 23:59 CET to apply. Summer Sessions is an international residency programme for emerging artists and designers working at the intersection of art and technology. Over eight weeks (July–September), participants develop a project from concept to a presentable work. Selected artists receive access to the facilities of the host institution, expert support, and the opportunity to present their work publicly. Travel, accommodation, materials and a stipend are covered. The programme is organised with partners across Europe: V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media (NL), Sardegna Teatro (IT) @sardegnateatro , Metamedia (HR) @udruga.metamedij , Academy for Theatre and Digitality (DE) @theater.digital , PiNA (SI) @pinakoper , Schmiede Hallein (AT) @schmiedehallein and Marginal (RO) @marginal.ro

Tomorrow from 13:00–14:00, @nernada a media artist and researcher based in Rotterdam and Summer Sessions 2024 alumni, will join us on @operator.radio talking about her Summer Sessions project and more! What happens when belief, technology and finance start to operate in the same system? In ‘The susuk ATM’ @nernada imagines a speculative machine that translates Indonesian black magic rituals into digital transactions. The work connects systems that are often seen as opposites, revealing how both mysticism and modern finance rely on ideas of control, debt and submission. By reframing ritual offerings as financial exchanges, the project questions how power operates in systems we consider rational, and what forms of agency remain within them. Tune in tomorrow via @operator.radio Applications for Summer Sessions 2026 are now open.

Other Paths Inside: On Tracing Colonial Heritage Without Institutional Support When objects, colonial records, and data sit in European museums with no clear path back to the people they belong to, what tools do those communities have? Open Source Intelligence (the kind used to track corruption and document human rights abuses) is being turned toward a different set of questions: tracing stolen objects, restitution claims, building archives that communities control themselves. Join us for a round table with: 🔹 Asawari Luthra. Anthropologist and tutor at Design Academy Eindhoven @designacademyeindhoven , working on how to make colonial archives more accessible and responsibly used 🔹 Laura Osorio Sunnucks @lauraosoriosunnucks . Head of Research and Collections at Wereldmuseum @wereldmuseum.amsterdam , with a long focus on provenance and Indigenous heritage 🔹 Tobechukwu Onwukeme @ebony_____blade . Researcher at Forensic Architecture @forensicarchitecture , using mapping and data tools to investigate colonial systems In conversation with moderator Agustina Andreoletti @agustina.andreoletti . Research Associate at Leuphana University and V2_ AA Fellow 2025. 📅 Thursday 16 Apr 2026. 19:30-22:00 📍 V2_Groundfloor, V2_Lab for the Unstable Media 🔗 Link in bio @v2_unstable The Evening of The Alex Adriaansens Residency also features the presentation of the book ‘Off-Grid’ by Katažyna Jankovska @kat.jankovska and a reflection on the workshop 'Comp-Hosting Our Phones' by Marie Verdeil @marie_verdeil & Katažyna Jankovska @kat.jankovska .

Off–Grid, Katažyna Jankovska, 2026 Available from 16th of April at @v2_unstable (on–site & online) We rely on systems we hardly notice, until the lights go out or the network fails. But in those moments, another kind of knowledge arises: DIY solutions, forgotten analog technologies, and collective ways of making and being. With contributions from: Andreas Broeckmann, Lizaveta German @giza_lerman , Garnet Hertz @garnethertz , Adelina Luft @adelina.luft , @statia.de.cercetare , Mari-Liis Rebane @vulvulpes (@maajaam.ee ), Antonina Stebur @a.stebur , Timo Toots @timo.toots (@maajaam.ee ), Helen Turner @helsxturner (@ewerk_luckenwalde ), Raluca Voinea @raluca.voinea , (@statia.de.cercetare ). With artworks from:�Tekla Aslanishvili @tekelson , Cristina Cochior, Marko Peljhan @systemics.mix , Thomas Thwaites @themassoftoe Graphic design: Ringailė Demšytė @ringailedemsyte This publication is the outcome of the Alex Adriaansens Residency 2025 at V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media.