#LUDIC TEA
Film Screening: “Eternal You” and Guest Lecture: “There’s
a there there”
Studio Experimental Game Cultures
Film Screening: “Eternal
You” (Moritz Riesewieck und Hans Block, 2024) and Guest Lecture: “There’s a there there” - Moritz Riesewieck
How
is it that people chat with a bot or talk to an avatar as if they were actually interacting with a "real" revenant of a deceased
loved one? The sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle, who has been researching parasocial relationships and interactions
between humans and machines at MIT in Boston for more than two decades, says the bots and avatars know "how to trick you into
thinking there's a there there".
This expression plays with a well-known phrase from Gertrude
Stein. In "Everybody's Autobiography", Stein described the feeling of returning to her old home village, where nothing was
the same for her. She had returned home, but home was gone. The avatars and bots of the dead are often described as "un-heim-lich".
Author and director Moritz Riesewieck will shed light on the special quality of the presence of the dead in the form
of digital and virtual revenants. What do the bereaved hope to achieve through dialogues with the supposed digital clones
of the dead? How do the bots and avatars or their providers play with people's hopes and fears? Moritz Riesewieck will combine
observations from 6 years of documentary research and diverse artistic experiences with references to philosophy, cultural
history, psychology and more.
Short Biography:
Moritz Riesewieck (*1985) is a German author
and director. His debut film `The Cleaners‘ which he co-directed with Hans Block dealt with a shadow industry of digital censorship.
It celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and has since been screened at more than 70 international
film festivals, in cinemas and on TV worldwide. It was nominated for an Emmy and the German Television Award and has received
numerous international awards, including the Prix Europa for the Best European TV documentary film 2018 and the Grimme Audience
Award 2019. Their TED talk on freedom of expression on the internet reached an audience of millions. Their essay 'Vom Ende
der Endlichkeit' was published in several countries. Their second feature documentary “Eternal You” premiered at Sundance
Film Festival 2024 and has already been shown at more than 30 international festivals, in cinemas and on TV and won several
awards. Under the label “Laokoon” Riesewieck collaborates with Cosima Terrasse, Hans Block and other artists and scientists,
developing innovative theatre and crossmedia projects. Their artistic data experiment "Made to Measure" premiered at the international
media art festival Ars Electronica in Linz. It won the renowned "Information is beautiful"-award 2022. Their theatre plays
have been shown at Burgtheater in Vienna, Muenchner Kammerspiele and other renowned theatres. In their work, Laokoon questions
the impact of digital technologies on society and everyday life. Moritz Riesewieck has recently become a member of the German
Film Academy.
