Jahresthema 2021|22 – „Die Vermessung des Lebendigen“

The biennial theme seeks to make Hermann von Helmholtz’s and Rudolf Virchow’s ‘body and city measurements’ the starting point for scientific, artistic and literary approaches which explore, in different event formats, the ways of perceiving and representing the living and its measurability from then until today. How can simplifying debates on the subject of life be avoided when its measurability is constantly increasing? How do you deal with data about life that has been stored in millions? Isn’t artificial intelligence somehow also alive? How can culturally different views of life be preserved in an increasingly globalized world? To what extend do artistic methods contribute to the measurement of the living? Which new literary writing forms can be observed in the digital age with regard to writing about life (bio-graphy)?