+ … So maybe now you’re starting to wonder what all this new A.I. “Space Race” is about… We don’t know about you, but our newsfeed is flooded with items about ROBOTS ! And THINKING Robots ! Well, some of our XLterrestrial analysts have started wondering what’s going on – you know, the big picture ! Especially after watching this video… A NOVA / PBS clip about the work of Pierre-Yves Oudeyer - Research Director at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation and head of the Inria and Ensta-ParisTech (FLOWERS) team …

~~~~~~ Looking in search engines for an image of “unchartered waters” unveils a predominantly hideous eye-gouging collection of cheap graphic designs for a popular corporate game product. Interesting and disturbing how this title in the net world could render all other meanings of the phrase as secondary or insignificant. … … One might imagine these infantile + torturous game images being projected on the dingy wall of some Abu-Ghraib-like secret prison on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, where some poor art professor strapped to a chair is being forced to denounce his fellow resistance comrades for teaching traditional skills in a New Media recruitment college.

{{{{ }}}}} < 17.02 > CiTiZEN KiNO #51: Unmapping Existence + Unchartered Waters at Spektrum, Berlin, 20:00h The frackbook invite The C-kino #51 Titan Pad for sharing ideas, media + resources … In part, a response to both the tsunami of metadata-like introspection of “conversation pieces” at Transmediale * and the coming 2 weeks of shrinkwrapped spectacles and celebrity-itis of the Berlinale Festival, we will attempt to use C-KINO #51 to go beyond the screens, the cozy discourse and analytical lenses with pragmatic art attacks !

+ + + + Amazing debates were already unfolding around the initiative to form a new Democracy in Europe Movement – DIEM25 ( and the Manifesto ) on Monday in Berlin … A roundtable discussion w/ Talk Real – with Yanis Varoufakis, Marisa Matias, S. Sierakowski, V. Orazzini, Lorenzo Marsili … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc1vMTTfaQc … skip to VID START: 19m:38s - “Enjoy” and/or pull your hair out, but by all means … pay attention ! ” Today, we feel trapped between a rock and a hard place.

If one could say it one image… No time yet to write down all our impressions of Transmediale 2016 so far… a little overwhelmed by all the insights and the entangled festival formats … 1.5 more days of programming and workshops …. stay tune … the XLterrestrials will attempt to analyze all the straaange, unsettling and/or inspired trails we’ve managed to absorb … While we’re processing all the #TM16 threads… Anxious To Act, Anxious to Share, Anxious to Make, Anxious to Secure, etc…

{ image for Transmediale Vorspiel 2016 * } |.|.| < FEb 3-7 > Transmediale 2016, HKW in Berlin .|.|.|. v.1: Faustian Shadows + Conversation Desserts ( desserts or deserts? … guess it depends on who you’re talking to, and whose picking up the tab ) XLterresrials are pouring over the Transmediale 2016 catalogue program for this years ” Conversation Piece ” […]