Cybernetic Subjects at Ars Electronica

Since the 1930s, cybernetics has shaped our understanding of systems—mechanical, electrical, biological, and social. However, in the wake of computational dominance, the foundational ideas of cybernetics have largely faded from discourse.
For this year’s Campus Exhibition, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar revisits cybernetics through a contemporary lens, questioning the role of Artificial Intelligence in shaping our reality. In Cybernetic Subjects we draw from historical perspectives and contemporary thinkers to critically examine AI’s impact on our lives: How much trust can we place in AI-driven systems? Can computational models, rooted in reductionist frameworks, adequately represent the complexity of ecosystems?
Artistic contributions by faculty and students address these questions by attuning to the environment and critically examining the interplay between technological systems and ecological, political, and economic structures. Together, these works engage contemporary technologies not to reinforce the dominance of AI and computation, but to challenge their hegemony and advocate for a more nuanced understanding of living systems and environments.