TU Wien — Guest Professorship Jens Hauser 2026/27, Lecture Program

Art & Science is a field of collaboration where artists and scientists co-investigate questions, methods, and materials—producing new knowledge, artifacts, and experiences that neither discipline could achieve alone. It ranges from artists working with data, sensors, and biological systems, to scientists adopting aesthetic, performative, or speculative methods to reflect on and communicate their research. The outcomes can be prototypes, installations, publications, performances, instruments, or novel frameworks that bridge cultural insight and technical rigor.

Art & Science initiatives empower TU Wien to drive responsible innovation by uniting technical rigor with critical, creative inquiry—accelerating discovery, deepening societal relevance, and preparing students to tackle complex, real‑world challenges.

In the upcoming winter semester, TU Wien welcomes Dr. Jens Hauser as Guest Professor having received a TU Wien Global Fellowship grant. His combined teaching module explores how hybrid practices between art and science can rethink circularity, unpack the metaphor of “green,” and make micro-scale biological and technical agencies visible and meaningful in research and design.

Jens Hauser is a Paris- and Copenhagen-based media studies scholar, curator, and writer specializing in the intersections of art, technology, and the life sciences. He has served as Professor of Art History at KIT, is currently a researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s Medical Museion and École Polytechnique Paris-Saclay, and is a distinguished faculty member at Michigan State University, where he co-directs the BRIDGE artist-in-residency program. As a curator of around 30 international exhibitions and festivals and co-editor of “On Microperformativity” (Routledge) and “Life is Other: A/Biotic Entanglements in Art and Curating,” (De Gruyter) he brings deep curatorial and scholarly experience to art–science collaboration.

 

In the upcoming winter semester Dr. Jens Hauser will offer the following to lectures:

  • 166.258 SE (1 ECTS): Microperformativity, Circularity and Greenness in Art & Science
  • 166.259 UE (4 ECTS): Workshop on Microperformativity, Circularity and Greenness in Art and Science

 

Both lectures will be soon publically announced in TISS. The workshop is limited to 15 participants and a preregistration until September 15 via this form is required.

 

SE (1 ECTS): Microperformativity, Circularity and Greenness in Art & Science

Dates: 08.10.2026, 18:00–20:00 and 14.10.2026, 18:00–20:00

Format: Two lectures, each followed by a short test

Lecturer: Dr. Jens Hauser

 

Lecture 1 — 08.10.2026 Unpacking “Green”: How Green is your Art – how Green is your Science?  Paradoxes and Contradictions of More-Than-A-Colour 

What is “green”? Are we “green”? Do “green sciences” exist? From algae as “superfoods” or environmental pests to the way “green” travels across arts, sciences, and media, this lecture disentangles symbolic green, ontological greenness, and performative greening. It critically addresses greenwashing and the fetishization of “naturalness,” showing how techno-literate artists leverage ambiguity between nature and artifice to probe the limits of sustainability discourse.

 

Lecture 2 — 14.10.2026 Experiencing Microperformativity: Laboratory Agencies on Artistic Stages

Microperformativity foregrounds other-than-human agencies—biological and technical—that challenge human-centered, mesoscopic traditions of observation and performance. Drawing on aesthetics, media and performance theory, and STS, the lecture shows how cells and enzymes become actors, and bioreactors and incubators their stages. Media and eco arts help unpack notions such as “green,” “sustainability,” and “circularity,” opening alternative, often playful perspectives and dissolving disciplinary boundaries.

 

166.259 UE (4 ECTS): Workshop on Microperformativity, Circularity and Greenness in Art & Science

Dates: Pre-meeting 15.10.2026 13:00-15:00, GM 7 Kleiner Schiffbau, BD01B41

October 2026 -January 2027 

Format: Theoretical and practical seminar with group work, concept development, and prototyping

Lecturer: Dr. Jens Hauser

Participants: max. 15

Content

In this theoretical and practical seminar participants will study existent ‘green’ and ‘microperformative’ artistic works in order to conceive and develop their own hybrid and interdisciplinary prototypes to question and enlarge their idea of ‘circularity’.

 

Part 1: Case-study analysis of existing “green” and microperformative artworks grounded in bioengineering and nonhuman agencies; participants examine technical, philosophical, and art/science-historical layers.

Part 2: Speculative group design bridging disciplines (biology, bioengineering, chemistry, physics, informatics, robotics, …) to link organic and machinic elements, bio- and digital media; results include concept sketches, narratives, and low-fidelity prototypes or technical mock-ups.

Part 3: Staging, mediation, and reflection; groups plan public presentation strategies and exhibit outcomes at TU’s Welcome Foyer Getreidemarkt.

 

Capacity: max. 15 participants (selection based on fit and balance of disciplines)

Preregistration required: please submit a brief motivation statement outlining your interests in microperformativity/greenness/circularity and what you hope to contribute.

 

The following information will be asked in your preregistration 

Preregistration until 20 September 2026 via Mentimeter https://www.menti.com/alazk3z6wr8y

  1. Your study status and affiliation if you are embedded into a working group (e.g., Bachelor, Master, PhD, PI, research group, institute)

    This workshop primarily targets Master’s and PhD students already embedded in research projects who have a strong interest in developing and shaping Art & Science projects. 

    Senior researchers, PIs, and professors are warmly invited to register as “supportive researchers and PIs” and indicate in their motivation whether they can contribute resources (e.g., interactions with artists, hosting students, access to data, facilities, or labs). Their participation will help scaffold teams and enable meaningful collaborations.

  2. Thesis topic or Research field (if applicable) and supervisor’s name

  3. Brief motivation 

    Describing your expertise and expectations with Art&Science projects.

    Please also state if you and/or your supervisor are interested in:

    • Facilitating interactions with artists
    • Providing access to relevant (ethically and legally shareable) research data for artistic use
    • Enabling access to research facilities/labs, equipment, or materials to prototype artworks