Artificial Territories

[FUTURE] TERRITORIES

Connect and Play - Transmedia Exhibition

— Das LOT × NODE Media Lab 7–10 May 2026

Welcome to [FUTURE] TERRITORIES – the third edition of Das LOT's annual transmedia exhibition, dedicated to interactive, performative and digital artistic practices. Following [LUDIC] TERRITORIES (2024) and [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES (2025), this edition does not attempt to predict the future. Instead, it investigates how the future is already being imagined, constructed and negotiated in the present.

BUILDING ON [...] TERRITORIES Each edition of [...] TERRITORIES transforms Das LOT into an immersive environment where visitors become active participants rather than passive observers. [LUDIC] TERRITORIES invited us to play. [ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES invited us to question AI as a creative tool. [FUTURE] TERRITORIES now asks something more fundamental: what kind of future are we already living inside – and who gets to shape it?

TERRITORIES BEYOND BORDERS Co-curated with NODE Media Lab, the exhibition approaches the future not as a distant horizon but as something embedded in our present – encoded in technologies, rehearsed through bodies and continuously negotiated through environments and emotions. Territory, here, extends far beyond land or borders. It emerges through data flows, virtual commons, algorithmic governance, ecological thresholds and human–non-human entanglements: unstable, porous, often invisible – yet shaping how we act, relate and imagine.

Rather than presenting interaction as a neutral feature, [FUTURE] TERRITORIES frames it as a political and emancipatory act. Interaction becomes a way of entering and negotiating territory – of crossing thresholds, confronting systems and reclaiming agency in an age of passive consumption.

EXPLORE INSTEAD OF VISIT Step into Das LOT transformed once again into a dark, labyrinthine space – a living circuit board of immersive installations, performances and digital experiments spread across two levels. The exhibition operates as a living system, continuously reshaped by its visitors. Wander, touch, listen, reflect. The future is not something that awaits you. It is already unfolding – and you are part of it.

The Artists

Ahmed Jamal / Till Schönwetter / Emma Silvana Tripaldi -Dream Atlas

Zachary Furste / Diego Gómez-Venegas - https://compost.cc

Inferstudio (collective) (Bethany Edgoose and Nathan Su) -Ocean Futurism

Lisa Kaschubat - Phygital Intimancy

Simon Braissant / Joachim Clematide - Answer the Call

the Futile Corporation (collective) - local mean time

Time’s up (collective) - Turnton Gazette

Artificial Museum / Das LOT (Alina Zubi / Linya Shi / Litto / Hans-Christian Hasselmann) - Remembering the Future

Ilkan Sücüllü - Su(o)nificated

Sunggu Hong - Uncanny Habitat; under the unmoving Moon → Opening Performance

Eugénie Desmedt, Paul Kloker, Christine Haupt, Marton Zalka - Syntactic Synthesizer

[FUTURE] GUIDES (School Class 1Be of Bafep10 Ettenreichgasse Vienna)

Jump to the [FUTURE] Guides

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TIMETABLE

THURSDAY 07.05 - Vernissage

19:00 Vernissage

20:00 Opening Performance by Sunggu Hong

FRIDAY, 08.05 :
14:00 - 19:00 Open

SATURDAY 09.05 - Workshop

14:00 - 19:00 Open

15:00 - 17:00 Open Workshop

SUNDAY 10.05. - Finissage

12:00 - 16:00 Open
13:00 - 14:00 Artist Brunch

14:00 - 15:00 Open Tour with the Curators

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[Future] Guides

[FUTURE] GUIDES is a project accompanying the exhibition [FUTURE] TERRITORIES at Das LOT, created in collaboration with the students of class 1b from Bafep10 Ettenreichgasse. The Guides consist of audio interviews that were planned, recorded, and edited by the students. They were supported by educators from the g.o.l.f. Klub association.

In the interviews, five different participants (curator, artists, producer) of the exhibition answer questions—some personal—about their artistic practice, as well as questions about the exhibition’s development process. The students took the opportunity to share their experiences with media and/or media art, and—beyond their prepared questions—to share their ideas, thoughts, and impressions about the entire process. These sequences in particular form the guide. The audio pieces as a whole are presented as a distinct artistic position within the exhibition.
On Friday, May 8, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., there will be a public guided tour of the exhibition led by the [Future]Guides.

Funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung.

Ein Gespräch mit Kuratorin Burcu - geführt von Julia Afchar-Negad, Havin Koçlu, Merjem Smajić

Gemeinsames Gespräch über Dream Atlas - geführt von Emily Buchberger, Anna-Sophia Kuba

Ein Gespräch mit Hans-Christian Hasselmann - geführt von Larissa Brunner, Angelina Lapadatović, Joanne Sta. Maria

Ein Gespräch mit Künstlerin Litto - geführt von Elisabeth Balatoni, Naomi Gajtani, Larissa Pöll

Ein Gespräch mit Kurator Ozan - geführt von Halime Yilmaz

Ein Gespräch mit Sarah Zelt - geführt von Anastasiia Barsh, Florian Hutter, Franziska Zonsits

THE FORMAT

[FUTURE] TERRITORIES

Connect and Play

“It’s like a mini Ars Electronica,
just a little cozier and here in Vienna.”

- Visitor of Ludic Territories

//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 last edition focused 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.

//LUDIC, ARTIFICIAL & FUTURE:
Each issue has its own focus. Last year's issues concentrated on ludic art: “[LUDIC] TERRITORIES,” and artificial intelligence: “[ARTIFICIAL] TERRITORIES.” This year's issue focuses on the future with “[FUTURE] TERRITORIES.”

THE FORMAT

[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