As part of the Correlations Forum, we were pleased to present a talk by Varvara Guljajeva (she/her). She is an artist and researcher, currently a substitute professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. As part of the artist duo Varvara & Mar, she has been exploring the creative potential of AI through practice-based research, focusing on the intersection of art, technology, and society. Their collaborative work, showcased at renowned venues like Ars Electronica, ZKM, and the Barbican, pushes the boundaries of art and technology. Varvara has presented her research at major conferences such as SIGGRAPH, CVPR, and ISEA. She has held positions at HKUST (GZ), the Estonian Academy of Arts, and Elisava Design School in Barcelona. 

In her opening lecture Artistic Strategies to Guide Neural Networks, Guljajeva discussed how neural networks were being shaped by artists as tools for expression and experimentation. Drawing on her own collaborative work—exhibited internationally at institutions such as Ars Electronica, ZKM, and the Barbican—she explored the creative use of deep learning to generate images, text, and 3D forms. Her talk reflected on how AI could serve artistic innovation while still requiring critical expertise in dataset design and algorithmic adaptation. 

The talk was held in English on December 11, 2024, at 4:30 PM in the University of Arts and Design Offenbach. 

Correlations 2024: Prof. Dr. Varvara Guljajeva (Varvara & Mar)

As part of the Correlations Forum, we welcomed Tereza Ruller (The Rodina) for a talk on The Synthesized Self – Crafting Personal Narratives through AI and Sound. Tereza Ruller (she/her) is a mother, communication designer, and educator. Through her practice – The Rodina – she explores a performative and critical approach to communication design. Her transdisciplinary work emphasizes the power of situation, playfulness, active spectatorship, and the relationships between human and nonhuman actors. 

Ruller’s work thrives in the cultural context, weaving together participatory events, spatial installations, virtual environments, and visual identities. Addressing critical ecological and social issues of our time, she seeks to foster collective shifts in perspective, embracing the interdependence that defines our shared world. Tereza Ruller is a professor of Communication Design and Digital Practices at HfG Karlsruhe. She also lectures and leads workshops internationally at institutions like ZHdK, CalArts, RCA, and Design Academy Eindhoven, and collaborates with cultural institutions such as CARA New York, Harvard GSD, and ZKM Karlsruhe. In her presentation, Ruller explored how artificial intelligence and generative sound technologies can be used to tell deeply personal stories. Drawing from Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, she examined how dissolving the boundaries between human and machine opens up new possibilities for self-expression, identity, and authorship. The talk offered insights into Ruller’s transdisciplinary design practice, which blends communication design, critical theory, and performative strategies to challenge normative narratives and foster playful, collective engagement. 

The talk took place on Friday, 13 December 2024, at 10:00 AM in the Aula at the University of Arts and Design Offenbach. 

Correlations 2024: Tereza Ruller (The Rodina)

As part of the Correlations Forum, we hosted a lecture by Ariana Dongus, a Berlin-based critical media scholar and researcher. From 2018 to 2022, she worked at the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe, where she taught media theory and coordinated KIM, a research group focused on critical AI studies. Her work investigates the social dimensions of artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on digital labor, invisible infrastructures, and the critique of digital economies from below. 

In her talk Always in Beta? AI, Data, and Labor in Experimental Economies of Exclusion, Dongus explored the hidden processes behind AI—from dataset construction to implementation—challenging the narrative of AI as a purely Western innovation. She shed light on the global labor behind machine learning systems and emphasized the role of refugee camps and similar sites as testing grounds for unregulated technologies. These “experimental economies of exclusion” highlight how biometric registration and gig labor exploit the very populations that AI systems rely on, reframing AI as a product of global power relations rather than autonomous intelligence. 

The talk was held in German on December 11, 2024, at 6 PM in the Aula of the University of Arts and Design Offenbach. 

AIC

Correlations 2024: Ariana Dongus

talk

Correlations 2024: Prof. Dr. Varvara Guljajeva (Varvara & Mar)

talk

Correlations 2024: Tereza Ruller (The Rodina)