Diploma Johannes Kiel

AdBK München, room A.U1.12 (cel­lar)
Opening: 6.2.2025 7 pm
Open: Fri, Mon, Tue 2 — 8 pm; Sat, Sun 12am — 8pm
URL: https://virus.johanneskiel.de

Viral Infection: Lysogenic Data Cycle

Viral Infection, a web-con­nect­ed inter­ac­tive robot­ics instal­la­tion, exam­ines the repro­duc­tive behav­iour of dig­i­tal frag­ments on the verge of embod­i­ment. Johannes Kiel explores how tech­nol­o­gy and auto­mat­ed algo­rithms affect the trans­mis­sion of knowl­edge.

In an age of algo­rith­mic influ­ence on con­sumer behav­iour and demo­c­ra­t­ic process­es, the work ques­tions con­trol, auton­o­my and the risks of tech­no­log­i­cal avail­abil­i­ty. The instal­la­tion is the result of viral data (e.g. videos, social media posts) that have auto­mat­ed affect­ed Kiel in recent years. Based on bio­log­i­cal process­es, craft tra­di­tions and online tuto­ri­als, the artist builds machines that evolve and repro­duce through him as the host. Traditional tech­niques, open source tech­nolo­gies and self-pro­grammed algo­rithms cre­ate ten­sion between mate­r­i­al and imma­te­r­i­al emer­gence.

Using lac­tic acid fer­men­ta­tion and ther­mal sen­sor tech­nol­o­gy, the instal­la­tion forms a sym­bio­sis of tech­ni­cal and organ­ic mat­ter: Machine nests pro­duce the bio­plas­tic of which they are made and cal­cu­late their own mate­r­i­al require­ments. The virus machine observes the pro­duc­tion process and trans­fers tasks to the host. Visitors can inter­fere with the robot’s sens­ing and become anti­bod­ies that pro­tect the host. The robot begins to observe vis­i­tors by sens­ing their body heat.

Through an online archive at https://virus.johanneskiel.de, the work attempts to infect oth­er hosts and empow­er them for repro­duc­tion and machine pro­duc­tion. It expands autonomous­ly based on Kiel’s con­tent con­sump­tion dur­ing devel­op­ment.

Casual media con­sump­tion has become a self-rein­forc­ing cycle. Algorithms sug­gest, the artist selects and the machine trans­forms. Is knowl­edge fil­tered in this way uni­ver­sal? Or are we pris­on­ers of a process that shapes our per­cep­tion of real­i­ty? Complex actions are now acces­si­ble to a broad mass of peo­ple. However, this access comes with risks that need to be dis­cussed.

Photos: (c) Pablo Lauf