Witten/Herdecke University opens media lab with a digital art exhibition

The WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale at Witten/Herdecke University is opening a new media lab, thereby creating the technical infrastructure for media-based teaching and learning formats. Audio and video editing stations, graphic design software and virtual reality technology provide the space to further develop creative projects within the Studium fundamentale programme.

“The Studium fundamentale is about discovering new perspectives and questioning one’s own ways of thinking. The media lab expands on this aim by providing contemporary digital tools and opens up new opportunities for collaboration with artists,” says Prof. Dr Renate Buschmann, academic director of the WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale and holder of the Chair of Digital Arts and Cultural Mediation at UW/H.

Creativity at the intersection of art and digital technologies

To mark the opening of the Media Lab, WittenLab, in collaboration with the Kulturforum Witten, is presenting the exclusive pop-up exhibition ‘Ideal Habitat’, featuring works by the current fellows of the ‘No End to the Road’ programme. The six artists – Nicolas Berge, Lenia Friedrich, Meret König, Lennart Miketta, Lex Rütten and Darius Tödtmann – turn their attention to the living spaces, relationships and social conditions that shape the way we live together. The exhibition invites visitors to question familiar perspectives in times of planetary crises and to reflect on new forms of coexistence that do not focus solely on human needs. The formats on display range from documentary animations and video projects to virtual reality works.

“The idea behind the exhibition was to showcase the media lab’s new technical equipment in action and, at the same time, to get to know the current cohort of fellows better during the preparatory phase,” explains Dr Regine Ehleiter, research assistant at the Chair of Digital Arts and Cultural Mediation at UW/H and initiator of the exhibition. “In this way, we aim to facilitate encounters and, ideally, spark collaborations between artists and researchers at UW/H.”

‘Ideal Habitat’ exhibition

• When: Thursday, 30 July 2026, 5 pm to 8 pm
• Where: Witten/Herdecke University, Holzgebäude, Room U.003, WittenLab Media Lab, Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 48, 58455 Witten
• Admission: free
• Access: open to the public, no registration required
• Special feature: The exhibition is open to the public exclusively on the opening night.

About WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale

The WittenLab sees itself as an interface between the university and the wider community. Through cultural events, it opens up the UW/H to the public whilst also bringing university projects into the city. Furthermore, the WittenLab regularly collaborates with external artists who integrate their artistic practice into teaching and develop new perspectives together with students. The long-standing collaboration with the Kulturforum Witten is a prime example of this exchange and identifies synergies between artists and academic research groups at the UW/H.