Workshop: You ok, Robot? – Introduction to Parallel Interaction

A introduction to "parallel interaction" and other concepts of human-machine interaction.

18 Jul 2025, 10:00 – 14:00

NODE offices / MESO Design

Gutleutstr. 96
60329 Frankfurt

0-30 €

Join us for a 1-day workshop on robotics and interaction.
The day before, Amir will also hold a presentation at our meetup called “uncertain, incomplete, uncanny” – read more about it here and join us for that too!

What is the workshop about?

This workshop presents “Parallel Interaction”, a conceptual framework Amir Bastan has been developing as part of his PhD research. It proposes a reorientation of how we understand interactivity in contemporary artworks that engage with machines, robotics, AI, and generative systems.

Participants will be introduced to the concepts of Parallel Interaction, Quasi-Interaction, and Self-Interaction. Together, we will analyse a curated selection of contemporary artworks, and apply these conceptual tools to have a different understanding of human-machine relations and emergent behaviours in art and design contexts.

 

 

Registration

We offer three types of tickets from which you can choose the one that suits you best – please choose freely! We would be glad if you supported our program by buying a ticket. If you can’t afford the ticket, you are welcome to choose the supported ticket.

Register • Anmeldung

Who is the workshop for?

  • anyone interested
  • students in “multimedia” related studies
  • type or graphic designers
  • people afraid of coding 🙂 or
  • creative coders who’re up for learning something new
  • architects and designers who are interested in interactivity
  • the lazy ones who want to get things done without too much fuzz

What do you need to bring?

  • a laptop (Mac / Windows / Linux)

[en]

  • The workshop will be held in English unless everyone present is native German speaker.
  • Please bring your own computer
  • We offer three types of tickets from which you can choose the one that suits you best – please choose freely. We would be glad if you supported our program by buying a ticket. If you can’t afford the ticket, you are welcome to choose the supported ticket!

[de]

  • Der Workshop findet auf Englisch statt – es sei denn, alle Anwesenden sind Deutsch-Muttersprachler*innen. Das NODE Team kann mit Flüsterübersetzung auf Deutsch unterstützen.
  • Bitte bringt euren eigenen Laptop mit
  • Wir bieten drei Ticketarten an, aus denen ihr frei auswählen könnt. Wir würden uns freuen, wenn Ihr unser Programm mit dem Kauf eines Tickets unterstützt. Solltet ihr euch die Gebühr nicht leisten können, könnt ihr gern das supported Ticket wählen!
 
 
 
 
 

Workshop Host

Amir Bastan

Linz, Austria

baxtan.xyz
Amir Bastan is an artist and researcher with a background in fine arts, philosophy, and interaction design. His work explores human consciousness, artificial intelligence, and robotics within media arts and interactivity frameworks.
Currently a doctoral researcher at Creative Robotics and lecturer at Kunstuni Linz, Amir’s research focuses on “The Human Robot Transference,” which examines connections between psychoanalysis theories and human-robot interaction.
Through his academic and artistic practice, Amir has developed expertise in real-time robotic control and simulation as part of The Bunraku Project, a software which enables real-time control, visualization, and simulation of industrial robots.
His interests are analysing human-robot interactions and understanding how contextual properties affect human behaviour. Amir’s research focuses on creating a dynamic framework that can observe and categorize actions within an interactivity framework, interpreting the factors driving behavioural changes in advanced interactive systems.

 
 
 

 

What is NODE+CODE?

Since 2014, the meetup invites creatives, designers, artists, coders and anyone else interested to a series of events with changing locations and thematic focuses – all related to working with code in design and the arts. We want to build a community of people interested in the creative and critical application of technology in Frankfurt and Rhein-Main.

 

Funding

The project is funded in the program “Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries Institutions” by the Hessian Ministry of Economy, Energy, Transport and Housing

In collaboration with

 

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