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Borrowed Limbs
The experimental short film “Borrowed Limbs”, created in collaboration between the two designers Lisa-Marleen Mantel and Laura Juliane Wagner, emphasizes the mediating role speculative design has in the face of disruptive technological advancements, as it allows for the exploration and simulation of ethical issues. The short film is centered around an AI main character who uses the human body as a sensing device to gain a physical understanding of their surroundings. Influenced by posthuman thinkers, the work aims to provoke a discussion about Cartesian notions of disembodied intelligence.
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4 Nov Sat 22:00 CEST
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The experimental short film Borrowed Limbs created in collaboration between the two designers Lisa-Marleen Mantel and Laura Juliane Wagner, emphasizes the mediating role that speculative design has in the face of disruptive technological advancements, as it allows for the exploration and simulation of ethical issues. The short film is centered around an AI main character who uses the human body as a sensing device to gain a physical understanding of their surroundings. Influenced by posthuman thinkers, the work aims to provoke a discussion about Cartesian notions of disembodied intelligence.
The work combines recent developments in philosophy and cognitive science with state-of-the-art technologies and artistic practice: The main part of the film was produced with a machine-learning-backed process called “CLIP guided diffusion”. This method enables image synthesis based on language prompts. Prompts are carefully refined in a human-machine communication loop. In a way, the practical processes involved in producing the film reflect the speculative idea of an ongoing dialogue found in the narrative. The work resulted in a modular design pipeline for controlled image synthesis using AI tools as a design appropriation to communicate speculative concepts. It was created as part of the Master Research at KISD – Cologne International School of Design (Faculty of TH Köln).
The process of producing the film is described in detail in the form of a research paper.
Lisa Marleen Mantel & Laura Juliane Wagner
Lisa-Marleen Mantel (she/her), multidisciplinary designer and digital creative, working for over 7 years in the field of creative technologies, interactive exhibitions, and digital applications. From 2016 to 2023 she worked at the digital agency Demodern and joined the creative agency Elastique. As Senior Art Director in early 2023, she has been a member of the ADC Germany jury as of this year. In various teaching assignments, including at the TH Köln as part of the KITeGG research project, she deals with the question of how AI models can be purposefully integrated into the design process.
Laura Juliane Wagner (she/her) is an interdisciplinary designer currently working as research associate as part of the project KITeGG, which aims to sustainably anchor AI in design education. As part of her role, she is also co-heading the school’s lab for artificial intelligence and robotics, encouraging designers to combine applied technology with traditional and technology-independent skills. With the aim of exploring ways to appropriate technology through creative and artistic practice, she teaches design students through various theoretical and practical workshop and seminar formats.