PiB Guide Nº50 SEP/OCT 2023

We are witnessing the greatest upheavals of modern times: Artificial Intelligence and Global Change are altering fundamentally what we took for granted. Biosphere X is the attempt to document and reflect on these developments artistically.

As an artist and researcher, Claudius Schulze has always strived to find the world that lies below the surfaces of the ordinary. His work series Biosphere X documents the extinction of species, depicts the development of bionic robots, protocols animals and their behavior, visualizes urban retreats of wild nature from the perspective of autonomous machines, and creates new species with its own artificial intelligence.

Today up to 50 percent of all animal species are threatened with extinction. At the same time, leading developers and philosophers are already sketching a bio- and geotechnical future in which machines will develop their own consciousness. What may seem to be two distinct developments – of nature and IT – are in fact the consequences of the actions of the one species that has come to dominate the planet: homo sapiens.

For his site-specific installation Biosphere X at the Alfred Erhard Stiftung, Claudius Schulze conflates these two epoch-defining trends: the loss of biodiversity on the one hand and the creation of new life forms through artificial intelligence and bionics on the other. Could miniature drones soon be used to pollinate crop plants at a time when, concurrently, the basis of life for millions of living creatures is being lost? As part of an intensive research process Claudius Schulze uses the medium of photography and other imaging methods to work on the representation of these two abstract and complex phenomena, in an attempt to make them more tangible.

Using large-format photographs, 3D scans, animations, animal preparations, microscope images and artificial intelligence of his own design, Claudius Schulze challenges visitors to reflect on the future of our biosphere.

Exhibition Events

(The events will be taking place with reservation, according to the official requirements. Registration for each event is required by email.)

Thursday, October 8, 2020, 7 pm > CANCELLED!
Art & Science in Dialogue
Panel discussion on the themes of species extinction and artificial intelligence, with the artist Claudius Schulze, PD Dr. rer. nat. Sandra Junglen (virologist, Charité), Prof. Dr. Ralph Hertwig (cognitive psychologist, director of the Adaptive Rationality research department at the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research Berlin). Held in German.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 7 pm
Lecture Performance with Claudius Schulze − a unique artist talk. Held in German.

Saturday, October 31, 2020, 10 am – 5 pm
Symposium »Bilder für die Zukunft – Positionen der Umweltfotografie« at Neue Schule für Fotografie Berlin, with Claudius Schulze. Held in German.

Sunday, November 29, 2020, 2 pm > VIRTUAL TOUR, SEE VIDEO BELOW
Guided tour with Claudius Schulze and Dr. Christiane Stahl (Director Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation). Held in German.

Sep 12 — Dec 20, 2020
Opening Reception: Friday, Sep 11, 6 – 9 pm
Framework program: please see above

Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation

Auguststraße 75, 10117 Berlin
[District: Mitte | Borough: Mitte]

Opening hours: Tue – Sun 11 am – 6 pm

Admission free