A thoroughly successful exchange between art, technology, and law: Last week, CeTI was a guest at the Motorenhalle of riesa efau. Kultur Forum Dresden. As part of the current exhibition “berühren(d)” (touching), we co-hosted the interdisciplinary salon “digital touch” — an evening filled with fresh perspectives on the future of human interaction.
Art That Demands a Relationship
The exhibition “berühren(d)”, which runs until July 12, 2026, at the Motorenwerk, deliberately breaks a traditional taboo of the museum space: the displayed works are explicitly meant to be touched. Here, art is understood as a direct, physical relationship.
But what happens to this intimacy when we leave the physical space behind? This was the core question explored during the “digital touch” salon.
Between Sensors and the Law: The Body in Digital Space
Together with the artist Johannes Kiel and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Katharina Kaesling (Junior Professor for Civil Law, Intellectual Property, particularly Patent Law, and Legal Issues of AI at TU Dresden and Principal Investigator at CeTI), we discussed how closeness is being renegotiated in the digital age.
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Art & Technology in Dialogue: Guided by Johannes Kiel’s artwork and an interactive CeTI demonstrator, attendees experienced firsthand what happens when proximity is mediated by sensors and human bodies are transformed into data streams.
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The Legal Perspective: Thanks to Katharina Kaesling’s expertise, we were able to dive into the legal dimensions of this technological shift. Who holds the responsibility when touch becomes digitized? And how can we safeguard our freedom of choice and personal autonomy when machines interpret our physical movements?
An Inspiring Look Beyond the Horizon
The evening was an enriching experience for the CeTI team. Seeing how our main areas of research — centered on the Tactile Internet and human-machine collaboration — could be interpreted artistically was fascinating.
The “Digital Touch” salon was just one of several exciting salons, with accompanying events scheduled throughout the exhibition. You can find the full program here: https://riesa-efau.de/kunst-erleben/motorenhalle/aktuell-vorschau/
