Selection 2023 completed — the following seven projects were selected for 2024:

1. Defensive Images: Considering and re-considering AI, Large Language Models, and Legacies of Conceptual Art (Prof. Josephine Pryde, Devin Kenny)

The project team of Prof. Josephine Pryde, Devin Kenny, and students is working on artificial intelligence, steganography, and new forms of image generation: 'Defensive Images: Considering and Re-considering AI, Large Language Models, and Conceptual Art.' A field trip to the exhibition 'Artificial Intelligence' by the artist Morag Keil at the Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery took place on May 31, 2024. In her work, as well as in that of artist Nancy Holt, the role of mediation and new media is very pronounced for their respective times.

2. Anticipation and Belatedness (Prof. Dr. Barbara Wittmann, Prof. Dr. Karen Leeder)

As part of a first workshop on 18-19 March at Queen's College, University of Oxford, researchers and teachers, including Prof. Dr. Anthony Gardner (Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford), Dr. Aurea Klarskov (visiting researcher at the UdK Berlin), Dr. Robert Kehl (UdK Berlin), Prof. Dr. Karen Leeder (University of Oxford), Prof. Dr. Stefan Neuner (UdK Berlin), Dr. Luke O'Sullivan (University of Oxford), Prof. Dr. Helen Small (University of Oxford), Prof. Dr. Dörte Schmidt (UdK Berlin), and Prof. Dr. Barbara Wittmann (UdK Berlin). The academics discussed the phenomenon of anachronism as a musical, visual, and literary strategy. On 18 and 19 October 2024, a conference will be held at the UdK Berlin to explore the theme in greater depth. The Institute for Art Studies and Aesthetics cordially invites you to attend.
See Conference-Poster

3. Everyday objects of musical improvisation (Prof. Dr. Berit Greinke/ Dr. Federico Visi, Dr. Robert Laidlow) 

In March 2023, a project between Federico Visi (performer and scientist) and Robert Laidlow (composer) took place at the University of Oxford, using everyday objects and everyday tasks for musical improvisation. The idea is to develop interactive sound vessels using machine learning and rapid prototyping techniques. The project is supported by Berit Greinke, Professor of Wearable Computing at the Berlin University of the Arts. Another workshop took place at the Berlin Open Lab. Federico's work with Robert Laidlow could also be seen in a performance at the Humboldt Forum on July 3. Have a look at the performance Sound Vessels at "An Experimental Ecology. Art practice in the dialogue of disciplines at the UdK Berlin," a special event on Sat 08 February 2025 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universität der Künste Berlin.

4. Shitsukan: Interrogating non-visual sensory expertise of bread and bread-making (Prof. Gesche Joost, Maciej Chmara/ Berlin Open Lab, Prof. Charles Spence)

Designer Maciej Chmara is working with Professor Charles Spence at the Institute of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxfordon a research collaboration into the multi-sensory perception of bread. The project explores the therapeutic potential of manual dough processing, focusing on the thousands of species of lactic acid bacteria and the many different yeast fungi.

See Project-Report

5. Displaced and disremembered? Sounding out the legacies of émigré musicians from Nazi Berlin and Vienna (Prof. Gottlieb Wallisch, Prof. Leitmeir, Oxford Lieder Festival)

On 12 November, a concert by Prof. Gottlieb Wallisch took place in the Jacqueline du Pré Hall in Oxford. He is working with the musicologist Prof. Christian Leitmeier from the University of Oxford on the biographies of migrant musicians who emigrated from National Socialist Berlin and Vienna to England. Lecture-Recital

6. Chamber music topographies (Prof. Dörte Schmidt, Prof. Laura Tunbridge)

7. Living Soils - new approaches to soil (Prof. Timothee Ingen-Housz, Paola Perrin de Brichambaut, Prof. Alan Grafen, Dr. Katja Lehmann)

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For the past four years, projects funded by the universities have been taking place in Oxford and Berlin, offering exciting perspectives on the arts and sciences. In 2024, a total of seven projects will be realised through the joint seed-funding programme of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) and the University of Oxford.