WittenLab. Media Lab: Opening and Exhibition
On Thursday 30 July, the WittenLab. Media Lab invites you to the opening ceremony for its new premises in U.003 in the Holzgebäude, followed by an art exhibition.
What is the WittenLab. Media Lab?
The WittenLab. Media Lab provides the technical infrastructure for media-supported teaching, research and artistic project work within the Studium fundamentale programme. It is run by the Chair of Digital Arts and Cultural Mediation.
The programme
The opening begins at 5 pm with a welcome address by Prof. Dr Renate Buschmann, who will introduce the WittenLab. Media Lab, which is based at her department. This will be followed by a welcome address from Alissa Krusch (Kulturforum Witten) on the ‘No End to the Road’ fellowship programme, which supports artists from North Rhine-Westphalia for one year to work in Witten and carry out digitisation-related projects. The current fellows are Nicolas Berge, Lenia Friedrich, Meret König, Lennart Miketta, Lex Rütten and Darius Tödtmann.
A selection of their media-based works, created in collaboration between the university and their cohort of the “No End to the Road” fellowship programme run by the Kulturforum Witten, will be displayed on the new equipment at the WittenLab. Medienlabor. Dr Regine Ehleiter, a research assistant at the Chair of Digital Arts and Cultural Mediation, will introduce the exhibition.
The exhibition
The exhibition is entitled “Ideal Habitat” and explores the conditions of digital work in the face of multiple crises and transformations of the present day. What kind of environment, premises and equipment does digital teaching in the Studium fundamentale require to prepare students for a rapidly changing, digitalised world of work? For the fellowship itself, too, the question arises as to the ideal environment and the conditions that enable artists to productively develop their artistic work through exchange with Witten’s cultural scene and academics at Witten/Herdecke University.
Furthermore, the concept of ‘habitat’ – a term used in biology to refer to a specific area of residence or living space – raises questions about coexistence in an era of planetary crises and the threat of ecological collapse. The fellows’ artistic works invite us to adopt unfamiliar perspectives and to reflect on intergenerational alliances and new forms of coexistence that no longer focus solely on human needs.
The event is organised by Prof. Dr Renate Buschmann and Dr Regine Ehleiter. It is open to the public and free of charge; all interested parties are warmly invited.
Further information
From the 2026/27 winter semester onwards, the WittenLab Media Lab will be available to WittenLab staff as well as internal and external lecturers on the Studium fundamentale programme. Further information can be found online.
The “No End to the Road” fellowship programme is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Cologne Game Lab is a cooperation partner.