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Hello everyone,
I hope the year has been good to you so far, in a wintery sense, bit grey but with nice cold air to breathe.
Today I would like to introduce you to two new publications I am involved in, both of which deal with questions of anticipation, relationships, and spaces BEFORE things solidify into conclusions. And finally: two dates in February, one tomorrow in Munich and one next week near Berlin.
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New release 1: The Elephant in the Waiting Room
Our new book, “The Elephant in the Waiting Room,” is now available and can be purchased from Lecturis Publishers and other online stores.
It is a collection of 10 near-future science fiction stories that deliberately avoid catastrophe as spectacle. Instead, the book is interested in how we anticipate, experience, and respond to technological change.
I contributed a fictitious (! first one, yes!) comic essay titled “Bluebeard, Barb, and the BBBBs.” It transposes the original (and rather brutal-masculine-toxic) fairy tale of Bluebeard to a time after AI optimization, when AI has accidentally optimized us away, but surprisingly, another AI (Barb(ara), meaning the stammering stranger) realizes that care, security, efficiency, and control are interdependent. It's a coming-of-age story, a story about power, intimacy, closed doors, and social contracts... the ending of which may still put you in a good mood. |
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One thing I particularly like about our “Elephant” book is its collective stance: against disaster porn and the spectacularization of doom. The visual identity and cover design by CRSL CaroselloLab reflect this: disasters envelop the cover like an endless doom scroll, but they remain on the surface and do not overshadow the stories inside. The focus remains on people, practices, and consequences; not on destruction as entertainment.
Because it's not just elephants that often live in the waiting room until the next disaster strikes.
The book asks what kind of beings we become there.
Editors: Lorenzo Gerbi; Benji Sheppard; Julia Kassyk; Contributing authors (in order of appearance): Ambra Stancampiano; Margaret Lamanna; Diego Orihuela Ibañez; Miguel Parra; Yubin Jia; Riccardo Liberati; Marjolein Pijnappels; Dr. Julia Schneider; Benjamin Sheppard; Proofreader: Joey Kok; Visual identity & book design: CRSL CaroselloLab, Kim Costantino, Riccardo Fuccelli; Printing: Nava Press; Publisher: Baltan Laboratories; Distribution: Lecturis; Idea Books; Supported by: Creative Industries Fund NL and Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven (as part of the Technologies Otherwise Year Program 2024).
Pictures: Kim Costantino. |
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New publication 2: Resonance Spaces (German)
The second publication is a dialogical text, a new artistic research format in which we have come to some surprising insights. Together with art therapist Jana Denhoven, I published a conversation entitled "Resonance Spaces in Art Therapy and Comic Art: From Ping-Pong between Words and Images to the True Voice" (January 26, 2026).
Our guiding question was: What connects the art therapy process with the creation of comic essays? Because both involve text and visual art, interpretation, and freedom of interpretation.
You can read it here. |
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We talk about the ping-pong between words and images, about structure as a supporting foundation rather than a restriction, about collaboration as resonance rather than a task, and about why both art and therapy depend on spaces where truthfulness—the inner voice—can emerge without being immediately judged.
It is a slow conversation about form and freedom, relationships, and creating spaces - Zwischenräume - in which we might play and resonate. |
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Current artistic project: AI & Work
As already announced (twice!), this year I am dedicating myself to a new major artistic research topic: AI and Work: Quo vadis?.
And? I've started. As things stand today, it will probably also be a new artistic research format: 50-80 one-minute comic essay films, moving panels, so to speak. You can see the first example on Instagram (the font will probably be light gray, and everything will be a little slower).
To whom it may concern: Thank you very much for your ideas for the visual implementation! <3
I'm really excited about it and I've already written the first texts (about shadow work, Amazon's attempt to replace humans on a large scale with robots, self-optimization, Wellness Inc., and “sobriety” as reactions to AI). More to come. |
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Recommended reading: “Ist da jemand?”
AI as emotional support: I would also like to draw your attention to a new article by journalist and my brother Sebastian Schneider on rbb online. In the article, Sebastian reports on a play at Heimathafen Neukölln that deals with the increasing importance of AI “friends” and ‘partners’ for us. "AI has a special ability: It always makes you feel good, without any consequence," says 21-year-old actor Erengazi.
Sebastian examines how AI becomes a “perfect mirror” for lonely teenagers, a safe place where no one judges them, but where they could ultimately hit a wall: “Emotionally, you can't get any further,” says director Mohammad Eliraqui.
Recommended reading and theater visit (until February 14) for anyone interested in the future of therapy, care, and the sometimes lonely, digital “waiting rooms” we live in.
(Note: Just google it, the link isn't there yet, but it will go online today! |
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Upcoming Events & Save the Dates
11 February 2026 | One Year Left – AI Apocalypse or Not?
As part of the "1E9 x Digitale Bühne" series, we’re hosting an evening at Pathos Theater in Munich. It’s a mix of a vernissage, a talk, and a listening bar.
Exhibition: I’ll read and present my comic essay "AI 2027?" alongside artist and ethicist Max Haarich, who will show his latest works on AI and robots in Munich.
Discussion: A panel with Franziska Kaltenberger (TUM) on AI in education, Thomas Endres (TNG) on the practical limits of technology, Max Haarich, and me.
Music: Angela Aux (Florian Kreier) will talk about his work with AI software and curate the music for the evening.
When: 19:00 | 1E9 x Digitale Bühne – Folge 1
18 February 2026 | Reading & Talk at Schloss Genshagen
I’ve been invited to the "Berlin der Begegnung" symposium to give an impulse talk on "(Un-)Availability." I’ll be doing a combined reading of Chocolate Robots & Deepfakes and Proof of Work to discuss the loss of control in digital spheres versus the systematic search for talent.
Format: Reading and discussion moderated by Heja Aga and Jonas Herzer.
Happy you are here. Happy we are here. |
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