In her work “Beyond the Funky”, Ayça Tugran creates surreal visual worlds that bring home just how much animal life is reduced to mere function and exploitability within the capitalist system. She contrasts the trivialised portrayal of domestic pets with the diversity of wild species, and explores the idea of coexistence beyond control, categorisation and the logic of profit. In “Habitat”, Kevin Blackistone presents a floating terrarium as a metaphor for the Earth’s fragile ecosystems and finite resources – and deliberately juxtaposes these with fantasies of colonising space.

Both works explore how urban media façades can be used as tools for ecological and public storytelling to raise environmental awareness among the general public. The master’s programme, recently renamed from “MediaArchitecture” to “Digital Technologies in Architecture and Design”, reflects the growing importance of digital technologies in art, design and architecture, whilst also strengthening the profile of interdisciplinary study programmes at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Programme director Prof. Reinhard König emphasises: “Participation in Ars Electronica demonstrates how our students apply digital technologies in a way that is reflective not only technically but also socially.”

About »Ars Electronica«
“PANIC – yes/no” was the title of Ars Electronica 2025, which took place in Linz from 3 to 7 September. It explored the pervasive uncertainty cast by numerous crises and demonstrated how art can help us to perceive and cope with it. Ars Electronica is one of the world’s leading festivals for art, technology and society. The students’ digital works were created as part of a trilateral collaboration between the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the China Academy of Art and Nanyang Technological University, and were originally designed for monumental urban displays in Asia and Europe.  

The projects by Ayça Tugran and Kevin Blackistone were developed during the summer semester of 2024 as part of the ‘Beyond the Screen’ module of the MediaArchitecture Master’s programme, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Reinhard König (Chair of Computer Science in Architecture and Urban Planning), Susa Pop (Public Art Lab Berlin, Connecting Cities) and Carolina Garcia (MFA Media Art and Design).

Further Information: 
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Medieninformationen
Beyond the Funky | Ars Electronica Festival 2025: Panic
Ars Electronica Festival 2025: Panic