Mutual Training – You Are AI as Much as AI Is You!
Academic lecture exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and contemporary dance through artistic research and human-robot interaction.
How can artists develop and critically engage with artificial intelligence beyond commercially available AI systems? In his lecture “Gegenseitiges Training – You are AI as much as AI is you!”, Dr. Oliver Schürer explores the relationship between AI, robotics, and artistic practice through the work of the transdisciplinary research group H.A.U.S. (Humanoids in Architecture and Urban Spaces).
Rather than relying on industry-developed AI tools, H.A.U.S. creates its own systems using arts-based research methods, prioritizing artistic exploration over commercial objectives. A central example is DANCR, an AI tool developed according to principles of contemporary dance. Used in the performance youAI, DANCR enables real-time improvisation between a human dancer and a humanoid robot.
The lecture is part of the Freie Universität Berlin's interdisciplinary series “Aporien der Anwendung. Künstliche Intelligenzen in Geisteswissenschaften und Künsten,” which examines how AI is reshaping creative processes, academic research, and the relationship between technology and the arts.
- Date: November 11, 2026
- Time: 6:15–7:45 PM
- Location: Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Theatre Studies, Lecture Hall, Grunewaldstraße 35, 12165 Berlin
- Organizer: Institute of Theatre Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
- Speaker: Dr. Oliver Schürer, artist and researcher, Associate Researcher at the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI)
- Audience: Researchers, students, artists, cultural professionals, and anyone interested in AI, robotics, and artistic experimentation
- Focus: Artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics, contemporary dance, arts-based research, human-robot interaction, and creative technologies
- Featured project: DANCR, an AI tool enabling real-time improvisation between a dancer and a humanoid robot in the performance youAI
- Lecture series: Aporien der Anwendung. Künstliche Intelligenzen in Geisteswissenschaften und Künsten
- Accessibility: Step-free access via the rear entrance on Schmidt-Ott-Straße