Urban Hosts

Conversations about urban life, digital society, and our civic environments.

Urban Hosts is a programme of events, which provokes and promotes practices and approaches to how we live in and govern cities. The programme brings together people who are actively producing alternatives to our existing city infrastructures, norms, and perceptions.

Established in 2013, for the Berlin edition this year in 2024 the programme moves to Bezirkszentralbibliothek Pablo Neruda, in Friedrichshain – with continuing discussions on how digital tools and systems shape our democratic process. Join cognitive psychologist, Stephan Lewandowsky, critical engineer Danja Vasiliev and researcher Theresa Züger for discussions on the links between misinformation, civic disobedience and technological use and misuse.

With presentations intentionally kept short, the aim of Urban Hosts is to generate conversations between and among guests.

- 18.30-20.30 (Doors open 18.00)
- Admission free, registration necessary: https://pretix.eu/bibxhain/hosts/
- Event in English

urbanhosts.org

Stephan Lewandowsky [AU/UK/DE]
Cognitive psychologist and Chair of Psychology at Bristol University, Stephan Lewandowsky specialises in understanding the persistence of misinformation in society. Pointing to how our minds build such views, Stephan shares how misinformation can impact democratic discourse and policy making.

Danja Vasiliev [RU/DE]
Emphasising the role that artistic practice plays is exposing and articulating the ways in which technological systems can manipulate our viewpoints, artist and educator, Danja Vasiliev shares the methods that underpin key works from his practice as a critical engineer.

Theresa Züger [DE]
Focusing on the role that artificial intelligence (AI) can potentially play in civil disobedience and its relation to public service, Head of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Public Interest AI programme and AI & Society Lab, shares views and insights.

Teresa Dillon [IRL/UK/DE]
is an artist, researcher and Professor of City Futures at the School of Art and Design, UWE, Bristol. In 2013, she founded Urban Hosts as a means through which to support conversations about how we collectively imagine living in cities. Focused on bridging issues relating to local governance, with applied research, design justice and artistic-led interventions, she is currently working on publications and projects relating to these topics.