On October 9, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., Marco Donnarumma will present his lecture, “Flesh Technology: Performing Bodies and Machines for New Relationalities,” at the Un-Label Studio. The event is presented in collaboration with KISD—TH Köln. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the artist and discover the ideas behind his practice—one month later, Donnarumma will return to the Un-Label Studio for an intensive four-day workshop. You can register here.
About the KISDtalk
In a world of social bubbles, immediate gratification and geopolitical upheaval, sound in art, design and performance can help establish new ways of acknowledging the ‘other’, a first step towards a renewed mutuality. In this session, Marco will present his latest series of works, I Am Your Body, an ongoing collection of performances and installations that leverage grassroots research to explore Deaf perception of sound as a means for new artistic aesthetics. Computational and prosthetic technology plays a crucial role in these works, but rather than being passive media, they are subverted and transformed into machines that act as new organs for a shared perception. A talk will be followed by an open conversation and demo of some of Marco’s bespoke biomachines.
Date: Oktober 9, 2026 (Thursday), 5:30 pm
Location: Un-Label Studio, Hosterstraße 1-5, Cologne (accessibility)
The KISDtalk will take place in English with interpretation in German Sign Language (GSL).
Free Entrance.
The KISDtalks are a public lecture series on relevant perspectives of design. The format provides space for an open-minded and profound analysis of current and future issues of design, culture, society, technology, and different scientific disciplines. Topics are interdisciplinary, integrative, and provide internationality by domestic and international speakers.
Facilitator
Marco Donnarumma
Marco Donnarumma is an artist, inventor and theorist. His oeuvre confronts normative body politics with uncompromising counter-narratives, where bodies are in tension between control and agency, presence and absence, grace and monstrosity. Working interchangeably as a sound and visual artist, performer, choreographer, and theater maker, he presents his work on stage, in concert halls, museums, and galleries. He is best known for using sound, AI, biosensors, and robotics to turn the body into a site of resistance and transformation. He has presented his work in thirty-seven countries across Asia, Europe, North and South America and is the recipient of numerous accolades, most notably the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education’s Artist of the Science Year 2018, the Prix Ars Electronica’s Award of Distinction in Sound Art 2017, a Digitalive Award 2018 by Romaeuropa Festival – with Margherita Pevere – and a ZER01NE Creator grant in 2024. For his contribution to the field, Donnarumma was named a pioneer of performing arts with advanced technologies by the major national newspaper Der Standard, Austria. He writes on music, performance, and technology, integrating aesthetics, feminist studies, and critical theory with scientific research. His writings are published, among the others, in ACM Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Music Journal, Frontiers in Computer Science, Performance Research and cultural outlets such as Hyperallergic and Furtherfield.
Image credits: Eurica Maurice, Dario J Laganà
