https://mlml.io/p/berlin/ Recent berlin on metaLAB (at) Harvard, Berlin & Basel en-US https://mlml.io/p/data-storytelling-a-century-of-olympic-history/ Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/data-storytelling-a-century-of-olympic-history/ project Curated by metaLAB (at) Harvard, Berlin, & Basel under the direction of Jeffrey Schnapp, the installation is part of Performance—the second of three exhibitions leading up to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, hosted at the Gallerie di Piedicastello in Trento. Supported by the Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino in collaboration with the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Performance reflects on a century of Olympic evolution through a visual and data-driven lens. https://mlml.io/p/panopticum-news/ Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/panopticum-news/ project In contrast to its past made of ink and paper, digital news is a volatile, lightweight, and ambiguous item. News has absorbed the characteristics and affordances of digital media. These affordances are remodeling the social and cultural role of news and journalism at large. For instance, news articles and snippets are published across platforms, copied, edited, and repurposed. Online news is shape-shifting. It is impossible to talk about the “news flow”, it is more appropriate to talk about “flows” – plural. https://mlml.io/p/showcases/ Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/showcases/ project Showcases is a data-driven investigation that visualizes police reports of politically motivated crimes to draw attention to a mounting normalization of xenophobic, trans- and homophobic violence and right-extremism in Germany. It roots in disturbing records of incidents such as: swastikas (Hakenkreuz) appearing on walls of mosques, synagogues and schools; people tearing off the Hidschāb from a 14-year-old and spitting in her hair; cashiers confronted with drunk customers that perform the Hitler salute. https://mlml.io/p/be-longings/ Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/be-longings/ project This project assembles practical and imaginative approaches in speculative spatial design, data visualisation, graphic experimentation, and—at its heart—experimental publishing. It gathers a diverse range of voices, including students, researchers, designers, and practitioners in interior architecture, each contributing from their own unique lived experiences and needs. The result is a collection of playful, poetic, and practice-based counter-strategies—tools for shaping micro-habitats, retooling economies of space, and imagining zones of be.longing within the constraints of small-unit housing. https://mlml.io/p/algorithmic-ecologies/ Sun, 02 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/algorithmic-ecologies/ project Environmental events such as increased rainfall and heat waves are becoming pressing issues for both human and nonhuman residents – globally, and in Berlin. In response, the two-day hack at the ZK/U Berlin - Center for Art and Urbanistics prototyped artistic installations that deepen an understanding of rainwater and rainfall patterns, and their impacts on urban life. From the droplet on the roof, through the rainwater downpipe, into the barrel, and from there into the garden – from abundance to absence: Three site-specific interventions were explored to help to build ecological literacy among participants and the wider public, proposing possible prototypes and pathways for near-future human-nonhuman companionship. https://mlml.io/p/records/ Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/records/ project The history of Olympic sport is written in records. Records tell the tale of individual athletes and national teams, of the rise and fall of ancient and modern sports, of changing approaches to athletic training and preparation. They also track the history of human achievements: firsts that are followed by new firsts in the pursuit of ever higher summits of excellence. Records are achieved by human bodies that compete both against their peers and against precedent, which is to say, against the “record book. https://mlml.io/p/prompting-flora-archives/ Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/prompting-flora-archives/ project Focusing specifically on World Flora Online and Global Genome Diversity Network, the project investigates the potential of these datasets to transcend categorical boundaries and conventional visual forms. In doing so, it generates new spatial constellations for collections that echo the historical logic of cabinets of curiosities. These so-called wonder-rooms were encyclopedic collections that aimed to present the universal connection of all things—fusing history, art, nature, and science into a unified worldview. https://mlml.io/p/arnold-arboretum/ Sun, 01 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/arnold-arboretum/ project What stories can an arboretum tell us? As ecological concerns become increasingly urgent, botanical collections have gained recognition as vital bioinformatic resources. It has even been argued that these collections are “uniquely placed to address several challenges to conserving the world’s plant diversity” (Westwood: 2021). From studying the behavior of bees to measuring the lifespan of trees, botanical collections offer much more than just peaceful surroundings. The Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University is a prime example. https://mlml.io/p/up-dates-on-weather/ Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/up-dates-on-weather/ project ClimArt, situated within ZK/U Berlin, focuses on raising awareness and mobilizing urban climate resilience through artistic interventions. The collaborative research between metaLAB and ClimArt investigates in/visibilities of climate change through case studies, prototypes, and strategic interventions. The project challenges the politics of truths and data representations from the perspectives of artistic and practice-based research. Project Context The current knowledge system about climate change predominantly relies on a planetary-scaled sensing system — a technological megastructure that abstracts nature into data, transforms data into analysis, and converts analysis into predictions. https://mlml.io/p/artificial-worldviews/ Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://mlml.io/p/artificial-worldviews/ project The advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) has revolutionized natural language processing and understanding. Over the past years, these models have achieved remarkable success in various language-related tasks, a feat that was unthinkable before. After its launch, ChatGPT quickly became the fastest-growing app in the history of web applications. But as these systems become common tools for generating content or finding information—from research and business to greeting cards—it is crucial to investigate the worldviews of these systems.