Shared Habitats - A Cultural Inquiry into Living Spaces and Their Inhabitants (Image)

The interactions between artistic, technical, scientific, living, and nonliving things have inspired new artistic approaches. The contributors to this volume either relate to theoretical discourses raised by artworks, show how young artists today approach cultural issues, or develop situations of living together with other species. All the contributions to this publication by writers, artists, technologies, and other organisms invite the reader into new experiences and new imaginaries. The reader is also invited to rethink the role of art and the role of the artist within umwelts, milieus, and habitats.

Ursula Damm, born in 1960, studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, followed by postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media arts in Cologne. Since 2008, she has held the chair for media environments at Bauhaus University, Weimar, where she established a DIY biolab and the performance platform at the Digital Bauhaus Lab. Ursula Damm has exhibited worldwide, including numerous installations on the relationship between nature, science, and civilization.

Mindaugas Gapsevicius, born in 1974, obtained his MA from Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1999, and his MPhil from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016. Since 2016, he has been conducting PhD research at Bauhaus University, Weimar, where he teaches media art. He has also initiated self-organized community labs in Berlin and Vilnius. His artworks question the creativity of machines, and do not presume humans are the only creative force.