[ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES
Transmedia Exhibition - Connect and Play
“It's your fiction that interests me. Your studies of the interplay of human motives and emotion.” ― Isaac Asimov, I, Robot
Welcome to [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES
– our interactive transmedia exhibition at Das LOT. Here, art meets science and new media sparks playful curiosity. You’re invited to become part of 12 interactive media-artworks created by 23 artists, which explore the use of artificial intelligence as a creative tool – playing, shaping and subverting it while raising critical questions. Connect and play to shape the future!
BUILDING ON [LUDIC] TERRITORIES
"When visiting an exhibition, you're often told not to touch the artworks. However, at [LUDIC] TERRITORIES, we were encouraged to interact with everything." This concept was the driving force behind the success of our first edition - transforming Das LOT into an engaging, playful environment where visitors became active co-creators of their experiences. This year, we are taking the concept a step further: [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES retains its primary focus on playful engagement and participation. In addition, we are expanding the conversation to artworks that use AI at their core, critically exploring its implications and creative possibilities.
LET’S SHAPE AI
We recognize both the potential and the challenges posed by AI in art. While AI-generated works often draw on pre-existing artistic material, raising significant ethical and copyright concerns, we believe that AI can also democratize media art - making creative tools more accessible and empowering a broader range of voices. Alongside interactive artworks, we are extending our concept and inviting works that shape AI rather than letting AI shape art. We invite artists to reflect on these issues and present works that critique, embrace, or creatively misuse AI technologies.
EXPLORE INSTEAD OF VISIT
We invite you to step into Das LOT’s transformed space - a dark, immersive labyrinth resembling a motherboard, with hidden corners and shifting perspectives spread across two levels. In [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES, art becomes an active experience rather than passive observation, an antidote to the digital age's passive consumption. Wander through the exhibition, take a look behind the curtains and up on the balcony, explore the installations, and engage with works that invite you to connect and play.
![[ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES 2025_EFlyer.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6821a6_1800cccae4044855a4755b5d5d6d3056~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_805,h_505,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5BARTIFICIAL%5D%20TERRITORIES%202025_EFlyer.jpg)
WHO I AM PLAYING WITH
If you want to dive deeper into the themes of the exhibition, join our public live podcast LOTinContext. Together with artists , researchers and visitors, we’ll explore the role of AI in art and raise questions about creativity, ethics, and authorship.
Join us on May 16th at Das LOT for a live podcast and public discussion held inside the [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES exhibition. Together with artists, researchers, and critical voices from academia, we’ll explore the growing presence of AI in artistic practice—and the complex questions that come with it.
📅 Date: May 16, 2025
🕕 Time: Doors open at 15:00 | Event begins at 18:00 | Exhibition open till 20:00
📍 Location: Das LOT, Absberggasse 31, 1100 Wien
12 interactive media-artworks created by 23 artists
//Ceramic Skin (Wingel Mendoza, Ceramic object: Doris Bardong, Veronica Aguilera)
//Digital Narcissus (Yuseung Lee)
//Void && Form (Iñe & Bekkie (Mangshinsal)
//Fortune Robot (Liz Melchor)
//Dreamsync Pro (Alan Schiegl, Tim Ficht and Philip Emrich)
//Cuckcoo Calls (Xach Hill)
//PSY 000 T3 – Regulator of the Symbiocene ( Sofia Talanti)
//Surface Sensorium (Joerg Auzinger )
//The Deconvolution of Things (Marlene Mautner, Markus Goldgruber, //Sebastian Scholz)
//A Woman is Working ( Yvette Granata)
//Roomtour 2025 ( Ferdinand Doblhammer)
Project by ECHOLOT - Production Team
Lead Curator & Concept : Çağdaş Çeçen
Assistant Curator : Renia Korma
Light- & Stage Design: Hans-Christian Hasselmann
Grafik and Documentation: Jana Mack,
Media Technic: Laurus Edelbacher, Gianluca Barba
[...] TERRITORIES
Connect and Play
“It’s like a mini Ars Electronica,
just a little cozier and here in Vienna.”
- Visitor of Ludic Territories
THE FORMAT
//WHAT:
In contrast to our ARTWALK, a transdisciplinary project outside, we curate a transmedia group exhibition inside of Das LOT, featuring exclusively interactive artworks blending art and science.
[...] TERRITORIES retains its first editions concept of "ludic art," emphasizing playfulness, interactivity, and audience engagement. In this form, the lines between artist, artwork, and audience blur, encouraging participation and exploration. The next edition will focus on Artificial Intelligence.
//WHY:
As Big Tech and established mass media significantly control the aesthetic flow of information, we are increasingly moving away from the true emotional effect of the content we encounter. These “intermediaries”, driven by algorithms, marketing strategies, and commercial interests, often dictate what we see, hear, and experience. [...] TERRITORIES represents the bold attempt to bypass these intermediaries and restore a direct connection between the audience and the medium. In doing so, we encourage visitors to explore, experiment, and marvel - an effective antidote to the passive consumption of information and art characteristic of the digital age. Last but not least [...] TERRITORIES is one of the rare spaces showcasing new media works in Vienna.
//HOW:
Most of the exhibited pieces come to life only through active audience interaction. For the duration of the exhibition Das LOT completely transforms into a dark labyrinth to be explored: reminiscent of a computer's main board, creating as many differing corners, and angles and perspectives for experiencing the artworks.
"[...] TERRITORIES" is a transdisciplinary exhibition featuring exclusively interactive artworks of physical, performative, and digital nature - aiming to restore the emotional connection between audience and technology.
LUDIC & ARTIFICIAL:
Each edition has its own focus. Last years edition focused on ludic art: "[LUDIC] TERRITORIES", this years will focus on Artificial Intelligence and will be called: "[ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES".
[LUDIC] TERRITORIES
2024 Edition:
