In the Keynote Unreal Conditionals, Janne Kummer offers propositions that reshape relations to automated technologies. As dominant narratives around artificial intelligence are demystified, potential histories resurface, retiring the false binary of it being a universal solution or all-powerful destructive force. Instead, to come to terms with technologies requires a critical engagement with the conditions they are shaped by and the conditions they create. Challenging imperial frameworks, new metaphors for the artificial and the intelligent unfold. Unreal Conditionals gestures at the possibilities that are already present but are rendered unreal.
Janne Kummer (they/them, no pronouns) is a transdisciplinary artist in the field of performance and digital arts. JK's artistic practice is a continuous exploration of the politics of body representation, disidentification and the transformative potential of art, both in analog and digital spaces. Their work aims to question existing power structures and create alternative realities beyond capitalist exploitation logic. JK's background as a martial artist and active fighter (Muay Thai and K1) forms the foundation of their performative movement practice. Their creative process is informed by a trauma sensitive somatic understanding, recognising the body as a primary source of knowledge and healing.
In close collaboration with HAU Berlin, JK has created notable works such as “Unreal Conditionals”, "XBPMMM - A Travelogue of Morphing" and "The House of Monstress Intelligenzia." As an esteemed participant in artistic-performative research, JK has been a Fellow in several distinguished programs and initiatives, including the "DiGiTal" program of the Berliner Chancengleichheitsprogramm, the "ATLAS Choreography Residency Impulstanz" in Vienna, and the “Academy for Theatre and Digitality” Dortmund. They have been an associate researcher at the "Berlin Open Lab." They are alum of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.
In addition to their artistic work, JK regularly leads seminars, workshops, and alternative teaching formats across academic, artistic, and community contexts, including at UdK Berlin, LUCA University of the Arts, ZHdK Zurich, HfS and FU Berlin, New Fears Gallery, ZKM Karlsruhe, Re:publica and HAU Berlin. They also organise a queer community workshop series focused on martial arts, trauma, power dynamics, self-defence, and play-fighting.
They are part of the queer wrestling collective 'liminal beast of prey' and the international QTMA network (queer trans martial arts fighters).
JK believes in collaborative processes and their potential to be a source of healing and meaningfulness.
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