kennedy + swan: Das Analoge im Digitalen

Der Vortrag wird in englischer Sprache abgehalten / The lecture will be held in english

For thirteen years, the duo ‘kennedy+swan’ has been transforming reality into digital spheres. What initially emerges as hand-built sculptures, figures, spaces and landscapes finds its way into animated 3D scans: the basis for their VR experiences, films and apps. Everything revolves around intelligence – more precisely, non-human intelligence: the intelligence of plants, animals, fungi and now also machines.

The duo has thus created a ramified cosmos in which possible utopias and dystopias are negotiated. They take a look inside the minds of protesting insects, have viewers stretched on the rack by mushrooms, listen to AI as it translates animal conversations, and, with The Red Queen Effect, explore the logic of medical AI systems in which adaptation, optimisation and care are inextricably intertwined.

In their lecture, the artists provide insights into their work to date and allow the audience to participate in the processes behind the scenes – from the physical work in the studio to the translation of bodies, organisms and social expectations into data, models and scenarios. The result is less a reassuring insight than an open question: who is actually adapting to whom – humans to machines or vice versa?

‘kennedy+swan’ (founded in 2013) comprises the works of the two artists Bianca Kennedy and Swan Collective. In their collaboration, they explore the future of non-human intelligence and its impact on plants, animals, machines and humans. These utopias are freed from human supremacy, highlight the ecological advantages of hybrid life forms and address the entangled relationship between humans and biotechnology.

For their videos, VR and AR installations, the duo uses a variety of animation techniques: drawings, stereoscopic film footage, 3D-scanned landscapes and self-made characters result in a dense network of analogue and digital image fragments. Recent works reflect on the exponential development of artificial intelligence and its implications for biological systems.

‘kennedy+swan’ exhibit internationally in galleries, museums and at festivals. Exhibitions include the Lyon Biennale, Gropius Bau Berlin, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, CCBB Rio de Janeiro, Loop Discover Award and Sundance Film Festival. They have been awarded the Goethe Institute’s Studio Quantum Residency in Ireland for 2023 and the BIFOLD/Schering Residency for 2025. They live in Berlin.