highlike

ALEXANDRA DEMENTIEVA

Drama House
File Festival

“Drama house” is a house when the simple ring at the doorbell can have unpredictable consequences; event, one is stranger then another and in the same time all, what happens with habitants belongs to everyday life. Sometimes these circumstances are a little bit exaggerated. Spectator stands in front of low fence with a door-gate. There are 8 doorbells on it. The act of ringing provokes an action in an apartment window. Based on chance and the choices that viewers make, the project explores the contemporary trends in the construction of a narrative and the interplay between diverse informative sub-layers effected through the impact of digital, non-linear media. It also questions the very process of story telling and at the same time considers the way of audience reading. It investigates the differences of individual and collective perception. In other words, the sequence and choices that each viewer selects reflect his own perspectives and behavioral patterns, thus makes the viewer much more than an active participant. By interacting with the installation the viewer is engaged in the creative process: re-telling the ever-changing story through the utilization of the primary capability of the digitization: reshaping the information. Therefore, each participant walks away with a unique, slightly different vision, each shaped according to his own choices and directions. Interactive media and the digital environment of the DH and its narrative function through a recognizable metaphor that makes access to the information meaningful: a house as a conceptual society model and an apartment as a private space. This reference transforms the objects and stories in the project into the metaphors and reminds us of the art cultural function: as a site of memory of the social collective imagination and as a site of representation and power.

THILO FRANK

Тило Франк
the phonenix is closer than it appears

 

Thilo Frank (* 1978) lives and works in Berlin. His installations, sculptures and photo series lead the viewer into situations creating interactive physical dialogues. Physical phenomena and environments of our daily life are interpreted in a new context emphasizing our perception of light, space and motion in a poetic and playful way.

His works ask of a visitor to question one‘s relation to action in space and the consequences of one‘s action – an intimate experience.

The viewer functions as a coproducer of the work, perceiving his or her relational aspect as a instrument of measurement. The cognitive aspect in its work is enacted by the viewer, who through his physical reaction to the work, reflects himself to it. Through his physical interaction – the viewer completes the work.

Through the use of everyday technologies Thilo Frank explores the conventions of sight and movement and their visualization. Examination produces a type of measuring standard through which even seemingly random events are viewed equally. Through his works, an attempt is made to illustrate the optical coefficient and with this to analyse the space.

MICHAŁ SOCHA

Chick

 

“Chick” is a humorous true-life story about male-female relations. Infatuation and its consequences are depicted in a ironic way: meeting a guy, dancing, having fun, a sexual act. A man, giddy with the charm of a femme fatale, leaves a room. He is followed by failure and doom.

FILE SÃO PAULO 2025: SYNTHETIKA – Frederik De Wilde

Hunter and Dog

Frederik De Wilde

FILE SÃO PAULO 2025: SYNTHETIKA – Art and Technology – Installations
Electronic Language International Festival

Hunter and Dog – Belgium

Genetic and evolutionary algorithms reinterpret an existing artwork. De Wilde uses digital scans and custom genetic and evolutionary algorithms as a deconstruction technique to reinterpret and update the nineteenth-century work Hunter and Dog from sculptor John Gibson R. A. (1790–1866).

Frederik De Wilde’s Hunter and Dog interrogates the intersections of human evolution, genetic engineering, and the hybridization of technology and biology. De Wilde reinterprets the historical sculpture through the lens of post-evolutionary theory, engaging with contemporary debates on CRISPR, synthetic biology, and the implications of human-directed genetic modification. CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing technology, has introduced an unprecedented rupture in the trajectory of evolution. No longer constrained by the slow mechanisms of natural selection, humans now possess the ability to intervene directly in their own genetic blueprint, marking a shift toward a post-Darwinian paradigm. This technological power, however, is not neutral; it emerges from a historical lineage of scientific inquiry deeply entangled with colonialism. The history of genetic manipulation is inseparable from colonial bioprospecting, eugenics, and exploitative medical experimentation on marginalized populations. Colonial regimes treated bodies—both human and non-human—as sites of intervention, control, and optimization, a logic that persists in contemporary biotechnological frameworks. Post-colonial discourse reveals how genetic engineering risks perpetuating these legacies, reinforcing power asymmetries between those who wield biotechnological control and those subjected to its consequences. CRISPR, while offering the promise of eradicating disease and expanding human potential, also raises ethical concerns about genetic stratification, bio-capitalism, and the commodification of life itself. De Wilde’s work visualizes these tensions, making visible the processes of cell division and morphogenesis—the very biological mechanisms now subject to human intervention. Hunter and Dog does not merely depict the transformation of a neoclassical form but speculates on the future of the human body as a site of engineered evolution. From a decolonial perspective, the artwork questions who has the authority to edit life and to what ends. It challenges the techno-utopian narratives that frame genetic modification as an inevitable progress while obscuring its social, ethical, and ecological implications. By hybridizing art, science, and technology, Hunter and Dog compels us to confront the uncertainties of a CRISPR-driven future: Will genetic editing reinforce existing inequalities, or can it be decolonized and democratized? How do we navigate this post-natural frontier without losing the human—and more-than-human—dimensions of our existence? De Wilde’s work invites us into this speculative space, where the hunter, the dog, and the algorithm coalesce into a vision of a world where biology is no longer destiny, but a site of contested agency.

Where are we going from here? 

BIO

Frederik De Wilde fuses art, science, and tech. Known for his Blackest-Black works that inspired Kapoor’s Vantablack, he has shown at Venice Biennale, BOZAR, MAAT, Pompidou, and ZKM, winning awards like Ars Electronica.

SETUP

COIL
The COIL installation is a space for reflection and a feeling of connection between people. COIL resembles a teleport and with this meaning it carries the phenomenon of teleportation. It is something impossible, but the consequences of escaping into it are instantaneous movement and farewell to eternal time. Any venue with art or raves is already an attempt to escape. So COIL pulls the viewer out of chronos and opens access to the eternal.

Marcos Mauro

Pasionaria

Pasionaria represents the consequences of our current way of life, as conceived by choreographer Marcos Morau. A future where human beings would have lost their vitality through individualism and transhumanism. The gloomy universe of the spectacle thus seems sanitized of all affect, all passion, and consequently, humanity. All that remains is the labor force that is tirelessly busy vacuuming or handling packages of products. Ringing phones, doors or other objects constantly capture the attention of the protagonists who have become puppets. Manipulated by outside forces, instead of being driven by their deep desires, the humans of this dystopia merge into simple working robots.

Maotik

Erratic Weather
Despite some world leaders skepticism, climate change is a reality and the world isn’t just warming, in some parts of the planet the weather is becoming more erratic. During the last years, our generation has started to observe the effects and consequences of this shift, witnessing violent and unexpected climate phenomenons. Erratic Weather is a digital art project aiming to represent changing atmospheric conditions into an immersive multimedia experience. During the performance, the system uses various source of weather information retrieved from an online database and processed on real time to generate a visual and a surround sound composition. During 30 minutes the audience will experience the life cycle of swirling phenomenons such typhoon, hurricane and tropical cyclone , demonstrating the devastating power of the nature and the emergency to preserve it.

Joaquin Fargas

Glaciator
Glaciator is an installation composed by one to four solar robots that help to compress and crystallize the snow, this process turns snow into ice that is fixed to the glacier mass. The mission of these robots is to help to accelerate the ice formation process on glaciers, allowing them to grow with the addition of snow, regaining the mass they lost as a result of the melting of ice. Its final mission is to raise awareness about the climate change, the melting of the ices and its consequences on the planet.

Du Zhenjun

Babel
Le premier synonyme de trouble qui apparaît dans le dictionnaire est babel, avec une lettre minuscule
Du Zhenjun transforme le monde en une nouvelle tour de Babel, mais ne pensez-vous pas que cette Terre l’est déjà? N’y a-t-il pas déjà trop de désordre, d’injustice et d’incompréhension?
Le premier synonyme de trouble qui apparaît dans le dictionnaire est babel, avec une lettre minuscule. Toutes les conséquences de la confusion voulues par Dieu ne sont pas non plus ici, comme pour justifier cet adjectif. Nous incarnons la fierté et la suprématie sur le monde, la même qu’Il voulait que nous habitions.
Dans les images proposées par Du Zhenjun on observe une composition standard: au centre il y a toujours une interprétation de la Tour, des formes variées, des structures variées, des visions variées. Puis une atmosphère grise plane tout autour, l’atmosphère de la réalité. Une masse de choses, de personnes et de bâtiments. Ce sont des parties de photographies, ou plutôt de reportages journalistiques, de guerre et plus encore.
On n’identifie pas l’origine de la source lumineuse, elle est dans l’air: tout est éclairé, comme dans les estampes composites de la fin du XIXe siècle, ancêtres du photomontage.

Du Zhenjun

Babel

The first synonym for disorder that appears in the dictionary is babel, with a lowercase letter
Du Zhenjun transforms the world into a new tower of Babel, but don’t you think this Earth already is? Isn’t there already too much disorder, injustice and misunderstanding?
The first synonym for disorder that appears in the dictionary is babel, with a lowercase letter. Nor are all the consequences of the confusion wanted by God here, as if to justify this adjective. We embody pride and supremacy over the world, the same one that He wanted us to inhabit.
In the images proposed by Du Zhenjun we observe a standard composition: in the center there is always an interpretation of the Tower, various shapes, various structures, various visions. Then a gray atmosphere hovers all around, the atmosphere of reality. A mass of things, people and buildings. They are parts of photographs, or rather of journalistic reports, of war and more.
We do not identify the origin of the light source, it is in the air: everything is illuminated, as in the composite prints of the late nineteenth century, ancestors of photomontage.

Paula Perissinotto

As We May Feel
file festival

“As We May Feel” A parody of the 1945 text “As We May Think”, by Vannevar Bush What enduring benefits did science and technology bring to human beings? First of all, science and technology have extended the humans’ control on their material environment, helping them to perfect their food, their clothes, their dwelling, and gave them more security, allowing to live above the level of mere subsistence. Later on, they have permitted a wider knowledge of the biological processes that occur within our bodies, allowing the control of a more healthy and lasting life, always promising an enhancement of mental health. Finally, they contribute to the effectiveness of our communication. We have therefore a reason to live beyond survival — abundant health and efficient communication. And how do we deal with our existential feelings and conflicts? We don’t have time for our feelings, we can no longer ruminate them. We bury them in secret wishes without bigger consequences. Should we care more for our feelings? Negligence has been our way of cleaning our lives of sentimental values. When we cannot sweep them, we zip them and eventually access them to solve conflicts and/or to organize our thoughts. This project offers the access, through a click, to a central that points to a series of paths toward “As we may feel”. The content of this simulation of a phone center has as its aim to create an encyclopedia of existential feelings and conflicts that represent human life in contemporary society. Welcome to our call center!

julien berthier

L’Horloge d’une vie de travail

L’horloge d’une vie de travail (2008) est un simple horloge, quoique très précis et de taille imposante, révèle sa nature de dispositif logique lorsqu’on découvre qu’il s’agit du décompte quotidien de toute un vie de travail. La vie et le travail de qui ? Quel est le rapport entre la vie et le travail ? Les heures, les minutes, les secondes sont-elles des unités nécessaires et suffisantes pour résumer l’activité d’un homme ? Cette mesure indifférente, distante, ne serait-elle pas le portrait le plus lucide des conséquences possibles d’un idéal où vie et production se confondent ?

HAUS-RUCKER-CO

하우스-루커-코
是由豪斯拉克科
“Climate Capsules: Means of Surviving Disaster”

In view of the advancing climate change, the exhibition “Climate Capsules: Means of Surviving Disaster” at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg poses the question: “How do we want to live in the future?” and draws attention to the socio-political consequences of coexistence under new climatic conditions. In view of the fact that the politicians are hesitant to enforce strict measures for climate protection and the citizens very sluggish about changing their habits, the change appears inevitable. The world community is accordingly confronted with the challenge of investigating various possible means of adapting to the climate change. This exhibition is the first to bring together historical and current climate-related models, concepts, strategies, experiments and utopias from the areas of design, art, architecture and urban development – pursuing not the aim of stopping the climate change, but envisioning means of surviving after disaster has struck. More than twenty-five mobile, temporary and urban capsules intended to make human life possible independently of the surrounding climatic conditions will be on view – from floating cities and body capsules to concepts for fertilizing sea water or injecting the stratosphere with sulphur. A symposium, film programme, readings, performances and workshops will revolve around the interplay between design processes and political factors such as migration, border politics and resource conflicts, and investigate the consequences for social and cultural partitioning and exclusion.