Inna Levinson in conversation with Annekathrin Kohout, art and media scientist, Leipzig

Inna Levinson lets the colouring matter on the coarse-meshed canvas appear as if it were the remaining matter in physical space in a universe consisting of data structures. The way in which digital media and technologies increasingly determine and, as it were, perforate our everyday lives can therefore also be a theme of painting.

In a conversation with Annekathrin Kohout, Inna Levinson will explain her approach in more detail. It will also address the question of how we can respond artistically to images that are aimed less at our human eyes than at the algorithms that analyse them.

Katja Novitskova in conversation with Thomas Thiel, director Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, and Ludwig Seyfarth (in English)

How do digital imaging software and AI influence our perception? How do machines gaze at us? The Estonian artist Katja Novitskova, who lives in Amsterdam, approaches these topics not least through her observations of the animal world. Or we see protein structures or viruses that are identified or even invented using digital pattern recognition. In doing so, Novitskova is highlighting the tremendous power they exert on us today, reaching well beyond their visual impact: indeed, their manipulation can go as far as to alter biological structures. Then images no longer depict reality; far more, they are prototypes for possible new realities, of which Novitskova’s art offers us a glimpse.

Will rankings and AI replace experts’ judgment?

Talk with Marek Claassen, founder of artfacts.net, and Carsten Probst, art critic and Vice President of AICA Germany, and Ludwig Seyfarth.

Artfacts.net, founded in 2001 by Stine Albertsen and Marek Claassen, is an online platform that introduces itself on its website as follows: "Artfacts harnesses the power of data and technology to organise and understand the art market. Our database helps people navigate the ever-changing art world landscape." When art market developments are made recordable, presentable and understandable by algorithms, this does not imply any judgement on the content or quality of artworks. But can the achievements of institutions and curators also be meaningfully formalised and quantified using digital tools? Marek Claassen explains how data from the art world is processed at artfacts.net. In conversation with Carsten Probst, it will be discussed whether art criticism can benefit from this and whether there is a risk that judgements about art will be made by artificial intelligence in the future.

with Susanne Bürner (artist and publisher Monroe Books, Berlin), Dr Karin Lingl (Managing Director Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn) and Gerhard Theewen (publisher Salon Verlag & Edition, Cologne)

Moderation: Dr Eva Schmidt (former director of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Member of the Board of Trustees of the ARTHENA FOUNDATION) and Ludwig Seyfarth (curatorial direction KAI 10)

How are monographic publications and artists' books created? How are they published and distributed? What funding opportunities are available? And how is the significance of carefully designed, printed books changing alongside easily produced and downloadable digital formats?

The panel discussion will take place on the occasion of the Publish Now! publication grant, which the ARTHENA FOUNDATION awards for the first time. The two funded projects will be announced at the end of March 2024.

Margret Eicher and Lena Schramm in conversation with Dr. Sebastian Baden, director Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Margret Eicher's textile collages and Lena Schramm's painterly depictions of ecstasy pills illustrate in different ways how visual found footage can be placed in new contexts and thus illuminated differently. Margret Eicher rewrites the canonical narratives of the cultural history of power, says Sebastian Baden, who has also studied Margret Eicher's work in his intensive research on representations of war and terrorism in art. Lena Schramm, on the other hand, uncovers a hidden history of the last 30 years that is concealed behind the diverse appearances of a party drug.