PodcastsArtsArt Is Not a Thing

Art Is Not a Thing

Ars Electronica
Art Is Not a Thing
Latest episode

24 episodes

  • Art Is Not a Thing

    Challenging VR's Procrustean Bed: Disability, Tactile Epistemologies, Worldbuilding

    2026/04/09 | 29 mins.
    In this episode, host Ana-Maria Carabelea is joined by artist Iz Paehr to talk about inherently ableist technologies. Their work Feeling Virtual: An Archive of Touch looks at how digital technologies can be used to make cultural heritage more accessible. Challenging the sensorial hierarchies and ableist assumptions built into XR technologies, Iz explores the potential of touch and disabled ways of knowing the world around. 
    Host: Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Producers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene Grinner
    Editing: Yazdan Zand
    Music: Karl Julian Schmidinger

    Ars Electronica:
    https://ars.electronica.art/
    https://www.instagram.com/arselectronica/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/arselectronica
    Resources:
    Tactile Descriptions: A Workbook
  • Art Is Not a Thing

    Anthropocene Oscillations

    2026/03/07 | 23 mins.
    In this episode, host Ana-Maria Carabelea is joined by researcher and lecturer Alex Damianos and architect John Palmesino of Territorial Agency. Two years after the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy's decision to reject the proposal to recognise the Anthropocene as a geological unit, they discuss where the Anthropocene is today and where the debates are heading. 
    Host: Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Producers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene Grinner
    Editing: Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Music: Karl Julian Schmidinger

    Ars Electronica:
    https://ars.electronica.art/
    https://www.instagram.com/arselectronica/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/arselectronica
    Territorial Agency
    Dr Alexander Damianos
  • Art Is Not a Thing

    The Politics of Seeing and Being Seen

    2026/01/31 | 20 mins.
    Using both the conditions and limitations of the photographic medium, Trevor Paglen's investigations into state surveillance, military operations, and data collection raise questions about truth, deception, and imagination. In this episode, Hannah Balber talks to the American photographer, author, and geographer about UFOs, psyops, the power of manipulation, and how seeing and being seen are deeply political.
    Art Is Not a Thing is produced by Ars Electronica and developed in collaboration with Radio Ö1.

    Host: Hannah Balber
    Producers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene Grinner
    Editing: Hannah Balber, Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Music: Karl Julian Schmidinger

    Ars Electronica:
    https://ars.electronica.art/
    https://www.instagram.com/arselectronica/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/arselectronica
    Trevor Paglen
  • Art Is Not a Thing

    Computational Compost: Against the Resource Intensivity of Data Centers

    2025/12/29 | 21 mins.
    In this episode, Hanna Balber talks with architect Marina Otero Verzier about the environmental cost of data centres. Challenging the image of the 'cloud' as an immaterial entity, her project, Computational Compost, uses heat from computer servers to power a vermi-composting machine, thus imagining a potential symbiotic relationship between digital technology and nature. 
    Art Is Not a Thing is produced by Ars Electronica and developed in collaboration with Radio Ö1.

    Host: Hannah Balber
    Producers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene Grinner
    Editing: Hannah Balber, Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Music: Karl Julian Schmidinger

    Ars Electronica:
    https://ars.electronica.art/
    https://www.instagram.com/arselectronica/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/arselectronica
    Marina Otero Verzier
  • Art Is Not a Thing

    System Vulnerability

    2025/11/30 | 17 mins.
    In this episode, Hannah talks to German media artist Simon Weckert about the societal impacts of digitalisation and his artistic strategies to disrupt, redirect, or reduce the logic of systems to absurdity. His work points to the vulnerability of allegedly infallible digital systems and the risks of relying on them.
    Art Is Not a Thing is produced by Ars Electronica and developed in collaboration with Radio Ö1.

    Host: Hannah Balber
    Producers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene Grinner
    Editing: Hannah Balber, Ana-Maria Carabelea
    Music: Karl Julian Schmidinger

    Ars Electronica:
    https://ars.electronica.art/
    https://www.instagram.com/arselectronica/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/arselectronica
    Simon Weckert

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About Art Is Not a Thing

Art Is Not a Thing is a podcast series about art as a practice of critical inquiry, knowledge production and world-building. From media art, bio-art, sound art to digital activism, speculative design, or data storytelling, the series delves into artistic work that reflects on, questions, and reimagines our practices in and of the world. The series is developed in collaboration with Radio Ö1. Host: Hannah BalberProducers: Ana-Maria Carabelea, Christopher Sonnleitner, Marlene GrinnerEditing: Hannah Balber, Ana-Maria CarabeleaMusic: Karl Julian SchmidingerDesign: Jelena Mönch
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