Experimenta Social #49
Are the Robots Friendly?
Thursday 28 August 2025, 6.00 – 7.30pm
Free entry | Tickets essential
Join Experimenta Curator Lubi Thomas in conversation with artists Katrin Hochschuh and Adam Donovan, who will discuss their new Experimenta Commission, which is premiered in Experimenta Emergence. This talk will focus on their practice of creating sophisticated mechanisms to explore robotic behaviours, algorithms and interactivity, and their current activities in their Melbourne residency at SensiLab.
Plasticity of Mirrors is a new robotic swarm species for the democratic creation of a collective intelligence that offers a utopian narrative for the future of robotic ecosystems at this critical moment where AI meets embodiment.
Katrin Hochschuh is a media artist with an architectural background in digital design and robotic fabrication. Her artwork connects the digital and the physical realm, exploring robotic behaviours, focusing on the human and social implications of technology. Adam Donovan is a hybrid media artist working in science, art and technology. His artwork incorporates nonlinear acoustics, robotic sculpture, game engines and camera tracking. As a duo, they perform and exhibit internationally, are part of the European Media Arts Platform EMAP and collected by ZKM Karlsruhe. See more here.
This facilitated panel discussion with Bianca Durrant and Lubi Thomas will be followed by an audience Q&A, and casual drinks (with non-alcoholic options) at SensiLab.
Plasticity of Mirrors by Hochschuh and Donovan is on display as part of Experimenta Emergence: National Tour of Media Arts, at Noosa Regional Gallery until 17 August 2025, and touring nationally until 2027.
WHEN: Thursday 28 August 2025, 6.00 – 7.30pm
WHERE: SensiLab, Monash University, Building G, Caulfield Campus, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East VIC 3145
Presented in partnership with SensiLab and Goethe-Institut
Getting to SensiLab:
The quickest way to get to SensiLab is by train on the Cranbourne, Dandenong, Frankston and Pakenham lines. Caulfield Railway Station is next to the Monash Caulfield campus and four lines stop at the station. Approximate travel time from Flinders Street Station in Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) is 15 minutes on the express.
Accessibility:
SensiLab is a wheelchair accessible space. Please advise us in advance if we can support your visit and access requirements in any other way via experimenta@experimenta.org
Children are welcome with adult supervision.
About the Speakers
Katrin Hochschuh & Adam Donovan
Adam Donovan and Katrin Hochschuh met through a mutual network of artists, architects and researchers during the installation of one of Donovan’s pieces at the Museum of Digital Art in Zurich, Switzerland.
Katrin Hochschuh & Adam DonovanAustralia/Germany
Katrin Hochschuh is a media artist with an architectural background in digital design and robotic fabrication. Her artwork connects the digital and the physical realm, exploring robotic behaviours, algorithms and interactivity, always focusing on the human, their perception and social implications of technology. Writing custom software allows her to connect deeply with technology.
Adam Donovan is a hybrid media artist working in science, art and technology. His artwork incorporates nonlinear acoustics, robotic sculpture, game engines and camera tracking. He explores the intangible aspects of physics to amplify their effects creating new mediums and experiences. Designing custom hardware and electronics, his creativity has no bounds in creating new robotic companions.
As a duo, they amplify their strengths, combining matter and information into unexpected artworks. They perform and exhibit internationally, are part of the European Media Arts Platform EMAP and collected by ZKM Karlsruhe. Their works allow for democratic collective intelligence via experimental transcendence.
Resources
Bianca Durrant
Bianca Durrant
Bianca Durrant has 20 years’ experience in the arts sector to bear for the organisation. As an authentic leader with a focus on working collaboratively to achieve outcomes, Bianca has developed a professionalised approach to her leadership informed by leading small arts organisations, producing and curating the work of leading Australian and international artists and consulting across the sector in strategy, diversity initiatives and funding.
Holding masters qualifications in fine arts, and bringing a strong business acumen rounded by leadership training from Oxford, Bianca approaches the eco-system of the arts sector to look for ways to bring people and organisations together to deliver what is needed most – with great care for artists and a developmental approach for the sector. She has extensive experience creating teams both within and across sectors, involving government, industry, researchers and creatives, with a passion for using art as a platform to create community dialogue around critical global issues. Previous roles include General Manager, Liquid Architecture, where she secured inaugural organisational funding and diversification (gender) strategies for the Board, staff and programming; Gallery Manager for Faculty Gallery (now MADA Gallery) Monash University; and board roles in the visual arts with CAVES Inc. and KINGS ARI. Bianca is based between Naarm (Melbourne) and Berlin.
Lubi Thomas
Lubi Thomas - Experimenta Emergence Curator
Lubi Thomas
Lubi Thomas is an experienced digital and new media curator whose work has significantly contributed to the cultural landscape over the past 20 years through exhibitions, projects, festivals, and transdisciplinary programming.
She has developed cultural policy models for precincts, councils, and institutions, collaborating with global organisations like LEGO Education and Ars Electronica to establish spaces and opportunities for artists to develop and present work. With over forty exhibitions, many touring nationally and internationally, Lubi has extensive experience. Her focus lies at the intersection of Art, Technology, Science, and Society, enabling her to engage with contemporary practice addressing environmental and societal issues. Lubi’s adaptable approach has allowed her to successfully present projects in traditional galleries and unconventional spaces.
Her key tenet is that Art is a language of ideas, through which she aims to present contemporary Art that ignites emotional and intellectual responses within the broader community. Lubi works and consults locally, nationally, and internationally, including with Experimenta since 2013. Lubi is based in Quadamoka Country.