Panel Discussion | With Helena Nikonole, Álvaro Rodríguez, Julius Holtz, Ludmila Litvin, Margherita Pevere, Germán Joosten, Regine Rapp, and Christian de Lutz
Berlin Science Week
Sat, 8 November 2024, 13:00 – 14:30
BSW / Säälchen, Holzmarkt 25, 10243 Berlin
Join the presentation of our current research project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS at the Berlin Science Week 2025 on 8 November 2025. We will give an insight into Berlin-based artists researching in Berlin science labs – with topics on neuroscience, artificial intelligence, biodiversity, and ecology!
During 2025 and 2026, Art Laboratory Berlin is unfolding the new innovative project CHRYSALIS. ARTISTS IN LABS with an interdisciplinary exchange between art and science in Berlin science laboratories. Building on Berlin’s unique status as a global centre for arts and sciences, we aim to create new synergies based on topics of current research.
Art Laboratory Berlin is working with a consortium of scientists from all three Berlin universities, the Charité, and the University of the Arts Berlin. They are initiating artist-in-lab residencies for four internationally recognized, Berlin-based artists: Helena Nikonole, Julius Holtz, Sybille Neumeyer, and Margherita Pevere.
We expect strong outcomes in transdisciplinary knowledge transfer, artistic research, art science communication, and some new artworks highlighting 21st-century innovations. In this year’s BSW panel discussion we present three artists of the project CHRYSALIS together with their scientific partners of the respective Berlin science laboratories.
A Conversation with
- Helena Nikonole, new media artist, independent curator, Berlin/ Istanbul
- Álvaro Rodríguez, biologist, Rillig Lab | Ecology of Plants, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin
- Julius Holtz, composer and sound researcher, Berlin
- Ludmila Litvin, Research Associate, Sleep Research & Clinical Chronobiology, Institute of Physiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Margherita Pevere, artist and researcher, Berlin
- Germán Joosten, Environmental researcher, Jeschke Lab | Ecological Novelty, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin
- Regine Rapp, art historian and curator, Art Laboratory Berlin
- Christian de Lutz, curator and researcher, Art Laboratory Berlin
Helena Nikonole
For the CHRYSALIS project, Helena Nikonole will continue her work at the intersection of machine learning and biosemiotics. During her residency at the Rillig Lab, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin, she will incorporate her machine-learning–related practice into metagenomic soil-ecology research. This will align with the lab’s ongoing Global Change project.
Álvaro Rodríguez
Post-doc researcher Álvaro Rodríguez from the Global Change research project at the Rillig Lab studies global change. His research focuses on understanding how microbial populations respond to many global change factors. These populations range from viruses to fungi. He will elaborate on his current research, especially the field of metagenomics.
At its starting point, Helena’s project poses a central research question: In what alternative forms might life emerge and develop under different conditions? The collaboration invites a dialogue where speculation meets observation. It approaches evolution not as a fixed trajectory but as a continuous unfolding. This unfolding is a field of potential transformations that may be real, imaginary, or both at once.
Julius Holtz
In context of the CHRYSALIS project, composer and sound researcher Julius Holtz is collaborating with scientists from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, HU Berlin. He is also working with the Institute of Physiology about Sleep Research & Clinical Chronobiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin. At the core of his investigations are the interactions between participants and sound environments. They include the formation of (self-)consciousness and the creation of spaces that invite active listening. Mindfulness and the practice of active listening are closely connected: What new perspectives emerge from the act of listening to oneself as well as listening to others?
How can new technologies be used sustainably in this context? What role does conscious and mindful action play for our society and environment? How can technological innovations contribute to fostering or transforming these qualities?
Ludmila Litvin
Ludmila Litvin is a research associate on Sleep Research & Clinical Chronobiology at the Institute of Physiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In the panel discussion she will elaborate on her research field and come into dialogue with Julius’ artistic research.
Margherita Pevere
Artist and researcher Margherita Pevere’s project (untitled) in context of the CHRYSALIS project will look at death as an ecological driver in ponds of the Berlin urban area. Her artistic research is looking at what chemicals (nicotine, drugs, among others) enter ponds, and how they affect biotic activity.
Germán Joosten
Environmental researcher Germán Joosten from the Jeschke Group for Ecological Novelty, FU Berlin, will join the panel discussion. The event includes experts from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). He will come into dialog with Margherita at this year’s BSW panel discussion. (untitled) belongs to Margherita’s current art series untaming death, which understands death as an ecological process rather than the end of life.
Previous projects in the series engaged with complex phenomena inside the human body. These included autoimmune conditions in Hlymia, 2024. They also engaged with damaged ecosystems like wildfires and soil in Lament, 2024. This project was awarded the COAL Transformative Territories Mention 2024.
The series reflect on death as a constitutive part of life processes, but frames in it a time of anthropogenic disruption of ecologies and species extinction. How to (not) come to terms with this?
About Art Laboratory Berlin
The Art Laboratory Berlin is a multiple award-winning art and research platform. It has over 15 years’ experience in art-science research. The platform is known for its curatorial expertise, mediating talents, and discursive portfolio. It benefits from longstanding collaborations with numerous Berlin university research institutes and a strong network in the “art-science” field.
In the CHRYSALIS project, the role of Regine Rapp and Christian de Lutz is to closely mentor, creatively mediate, and constantly foster the chrysalis – the transitional state – of these critical transdisciplinary research paths.
More information about the speakers & the research project CHRYSALIS:
https://berlinscienceweek.com/de/programme/chrysalis-artists-labs
https://artlaboratory-berlin.org/research/chrysalis-artists-in-labs/
Cooperation Partners:
- Sleep Research & Clinical Chronobiology, Institute of Physiology, Charité Berlin
- Rillig Lab | Ecology of Plants, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin
Jeschke Lab | Ecological Novelty, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin - The Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB)
ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Hannover
other Chrysalis partners:
- Weizenbaum Institute, UdK Berlin
Einstein Center Digital Future, TU Berlin - Berlin Open Lab, TU Berlin, UdK Berlin
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, HU Berlin
CLOT Magazine London
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