The project “Boundary Values” (“Grenzwerte”) deals with the complex relationships between climate and migration, which become effective not only politically and metaphorically, but also operationally through the use of sensors and data. The team of Svea Bräunert, Winfried Gerling and Paul Heinicker relies on the operational platform CALLISTO, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to merge data from satellites, drones and social media. The aim is to show that climate regulation and migration are connected and how this connection is established in terms of apparatuses, operations and semiotics.
With a mix of methods from operational analysis, aesthetic research, data visualization and theory, combined with expertise in photography, design, artistic research and curatorial practice, the interface of media studies in the fields of digital culture, environmental media and sensorics, borders and migration will be explored. The researchers will initially focus on CALLISTO as a case study, but assume that the insights gained can be transferred to other operational platforms.
Patrol boat in the southern Mediterranean between Italy and Tunisia © Winfried Gerling 2022
The project is embedded in the program “Aufbruch – Neue Forschungsräume für die Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften” in the Exploration profile of the Volkswagen Foundation. The project is headed by Prof. Winfried Gerling, Professor of Concept and Aesthetics of New Media in the European Media Studies program at the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.
The Volkswagen Foundation promotes research and science in all its branches, especially in the natural sciences, the humanities and technology. The Exploration profile offers space for creative and daring research approaches that contribute to solving major, science-driven challenges and are intended to generate new knowledge without defined utilization contexts. The Volkswagen Foundation’s Exploration profile area supports projects such as this one, which advance unconventional ideas and penetrate previously unexplored areas of research. The Foundation encourages people to take risks and contribute to solving major scientific challenges with unorthodox questions and experimental approaches.
