Celebrating 25 Years of STS-CH (2001-26)
Immersive Arts Space – Zurich University of the Arts / Online
Monday, 29 June 2026

In the making: art, science and technology studies – a (Swiss) diaspora, 25 years on

Abstract

Of late, a series of pleas for art, science, and technology studies has seen the light of day (e.g., Rogers et al. 2021), inviting renewed “use of art for public engagement” (Horst 2024), “collaborative resistance to increasing technoscientism” (Gluzman 2023), and/or alternative “politics of knowledge” (Rogers 2023). How have these pleas materialized? How do they relate to, if not subvert, technoscientific hype (e.g., “AI,” the “Metaverse”)? And what alternatives do they suggest? This event offers a transdisciplinary forum for material and discursive engagement, gathering both performative interventions in and reflections on current technoscientific scenarios, their artistic reconfiguration, and attendant (re-)"distribution of the sensible” (Rancière 2020). Hosted at ZHdK’s Immersive Arts Space, the event stages selected artworks and opens discussion in and across the (Swiss) diaspora of STS researchers, upcoming and established, with a particular angle on art, design, and culture – 25 years on. 

Program*

5.00-5.30pm Welcome & Introduction: “ASTS,” a (Swiss) Diaspora?
Chris Salter & Philippe Sormani (IAS, ZHdK) 

5.30-6.30pm STS(-CH) and Art: Local Trajectories, Global Formations, Future Questions
Regula Valérie Burri (HCU Hamburg)
Discussants: Sophia Prinz (ZHdK) & Claude Rosental (EHESS) 

6.30pm-7.15pm From Pfynwald to Performance: “Atmospheric Forest”  
Rasa Smite (IAS, ZHdK)

7.15-8.00pmPresent Futures: Working Out “ASTS” in CH and Beyond Roundtable, Moderator: Anna Lytvynova (ETHZ)

8.00-9.00pm Apéritif

Support, Venue & Participation
The event is supported bySTS-CH, DIZH, and IAS and will be held at Immersive Arts Space, Förrlibuckstrasse 109, CH-8005 Zürich. The event is public. 

*Program in the making!