What is a handheld device, and what are its powers? By comparing the performative capacities of traditional Taiwanese glove puppets 布袋戲 to that of today’s handheld digital devices like smartphones, we draw connections between patterns and codes embedded in analog crafts and their digital relatives. How is storytelling, performed within the intimate space of a puppet stage comparable to storytelling that happens on the flat screens of smart phones we hold in our hands? Where do generative story-telling- and meaning-making powers, collective intelligence and artificial wisdom reside—and how are they transmitted? What role do human hands play in the production of stories? Do they labor as animators, operators and users performing inputs? Do they provide the human touch? If puppeteers can bring to life inert cloth and wood, gifting an inanimate object a soul by inserting their hand into the puppet’s body, might we consider AI to be more than a highly networked machinery processing data to make reasonable predictions? What makes AI systems hallucinating? What makes them awe-inspiring and unpredictable to their creators? Is there a “ghost in the machine?”  

This talk invites reflection on the evolving relationship between humans and the tools we build to communicate, create and make meaning. Where do trust, authorship, skill and creativity reside in our collaborations with our tools and devices? And who, or what, constitutes the audience in this unfolding performance—humans, deities, social-media algorithms, AI-training datasets, history? In drawing lines from ancient puppet stages to contemporary smartphone screens, we ask: Is AI the future of all audiences? What does that future ask of us—as storytellers, as users, and as humans?

Bio:

Hajoe Moderegger is an artist, professor for emerging media and director of the Digital & Interdisciplinary Art Practice MFA Program at the City College of New York. 

Since 2001, Franziska Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger have collaborated as eteam, an interdisciplinary artist duo recognized for their conceptual approach to digital media, installation art, and community-driven projects. eteam's works have been shown internationally at the International Film Festival Rotterdam or the legendary NY Video Festival, and institutions such as MoMA PS1, Whitney Museum of American Art, Sculpture Center NY, Centre Pompidou Paris, MuMOK Vienna. They received commissions to create new works for: Artport, the Whitney Museum’s collection of digital art; Art in General; Culver Center of the Arts Riverside CA; EYEBEAM NY and FACT Liverpool, Britain. They could not have done this without the generous support of Creative Capital and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, NYSCA, NYFA, Rhizome, CLUI, Taipei Artist Village, Eyebeam, Smack Mellon, Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, the City College of New York, Hong Kong Baptist University and the Fulbright Program, among many others. Their novel “Grabeland” was published with Nightboat Books in February 2020.

Bio:

林志明目前為國立臺北教育大學藝術與造形設計學系的特聘教授。他於 1965 年出生在台中市，國立台灣大學外文系畢業後，於1990 年赴法深造，取得法國高等社會科學研究學院文學藝術語言體系博士學位。研究專長領域為藝術理論、美學、法國當代思潮、影像理論等，於國內外期刊、 專書發表中外論文數十篇，翻譯歐洲當代重要思想家，包括布希亞、傅柯、班雅明、布赫迪厄、 朱利安等著作；近期著有《複多與張力：論攝影史與攝影肖像》、《古典時代瘋狂史：譯者導讀別冊》、《解/嚴：台灣當代藝術家談解嚴與戒嚴》。 林志明除自身學術研究卓越外，藝術評論及展覽策畫資歷亦顯豐富，曾任七屆台新藝術獎觀察團委員及決選委員，並於2002 年參與台灣前衛文件展之創立；擔任多項展演活動之策展人，如台北國立故宮博物院「未來博物館」、國立臺灣美術館「數位之手」、台北當代藝術館、2011 年威尼斯雙年展謝春德個展「春德的盛宴」及其2012 年返台展、2013年北師美術館開幕大展「米開朗基羅的當代對話」、「布希亞：攝影X 密碼」、「未來媒體」等。曾於聯合國教科文組織國際藝評人協會（AICA）總會擔任副會長，並為台灣分會理事長。他於2018年至2020年借調擔任國立臺灣美術館館長。目前致力的研究領域包括：藝術理論、美學、法國當代思想、影像理論、當代攝影、轉型正義與創傷研究、地緣政治、人類世、人工智慧與藝術。

The ways in which we relate to, sense, and respond to both natural and informational environments are undergoing significant transformation in response to the evolution of technology and media. This talk explores new forms of environmental engagement from the perspective of media design that embraces contingency—the inherent uncertainty and spontaneity found in physical materials and natural phenomena—as a source of creative potential.

The speaker has explored the possibilities of responsive materials through a series of interactive media works that integrate physical matter and natural forces with digital technology. By actively incorporating the fluctuation and indeterminacy of materials such as water, air, fabric, light, and sound, his work reveals improvisational relationships that give rise to new connections and awareness between people, objects, and environments.

Through the presentation of his art works and research projects, this talk reflects on how environmental engagement can be designed through responsive materials. It further examines how interdisciplinary practices—spanning engineering, art, and design—can offer flexible and creative modes of interaction in a world that is increasingly complex and dynamic.

Bio:

Yasuaki Kakehi is a researcher and artist specializing in interactive media. After experiences at Keio University and MIT, he has been engaged in research, creation, and education at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo since 2018. He has served as a Professor since 2022 and, in 2025, was appointed as Special Advisor to the President of the University of Tokyo, where he promotes collaborations in design and art and supports creator education initiatives. He holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Information Studies. His work explores the fusion of physical materials and natural phenomena with digital technology to expand human experiences through objects, the body, and space. Bridging the fields of engineering, art, and design, his creations have been exhibited at venues such as the Ars Electronica Festival, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), and LVMH Métiers d’Art La Main. He has received numerous awards across diverse domains, including an Honorable Mention at the STARTS PRIZE 2022, the Excellence Award in the Art Division of the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival, the Best Paper Award at ACM CHI 2017, and the Young Scientist Award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2014.