In the context of Goshka Macuga’s exhibition “Now this, is this the end… the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?” at Schinkel Pavillon, the humanoid robot, playing the central narrative role in Macuga’s work, will guide Manfred Hild, professor of digital systems, and Paul Feigelfeld, media theorist, in a round-table discussion. Based on the android’s narrative and discursive repertoire of quotes, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Donna Haraway, Charlie Chaplin, Ayn Rand or Ray Kurzweil, the conversation will probe current and future topics surrounding robotics and artificial intelligence, and their cultural, social, political and artistic implications. An open discussion with the audience will take place using concrete examples from Hild’s research and technological developments concerning dynamic systems, robotics and neural networks.

Manfred Hild is Professor of Digital Systems at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany. Paul Feigelfeld is the academic coordinator of the Digital Cultures Research Lab at the Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University Lüneburg.