Vorarlberg University
of Applied Sciences

Design Symposium

Intelligence Beyond Human

Thursday, 30 October 2025
When?	11:00 AM - 09:30 PM
Where?	Inatura, FHV Aula (A0 01)

What can you expect?

The design symposium “Intelligence Beyond Human” explores forms of intelligence that extend beyond the human – from neural networks and swarm behaviour to plant cognition.
At its core, the symposium addresses social, ethical, and design-related questions surrounding artificial intelligence. How is AI changing the way we think, decide, and design?

Through keynotes, workshops, and exhibitions, the symposium opens up an interdisciplinary space between technology, nature, and design – asking how we might act and create intelligently in the future.

Programme

Venue: inatura - Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn (Jahngasse 9)
11:00 - 11:20 PM	Check-in
11:20 - 11:40 AM	Welcome Margarita Köhl, Programme Director InterMedia, BA and Design and Creative Leadership MA, FHV
12:00 - 02:00 PM	Workshop: Plant Intelligence: Plants as Teachers (WS) Christoph Matt Workshop: Remixing Your Own, Better Images of Artificial Intelligence (WS) Nadia Piet, Independent Researcher and Designer; Faculty in Design for Responsible AI, ELISAVA Barcelona
12:00 - 02:30 PM	Intelligent Threads: Exploring E-Textiles (WS) Sarah Kim, German Institute for Textile and Fibre Research Denkendorf
02:00 - 02:45 PM	KI-Conversations (D) Florian Bühler, Lecturer, FHV & Johanna Bruckner, Lecturer, FHV
02:50 - 03:20 PM	The Dance of the Bees: How Bees Communicate and Collaborate Through Choreography (T, X) Beekeeper Martin Alfare
03:25 - 03:55 PM	Exhibition Tour Students of FHV
04:00 PM	Division of Labour ? The Collective Intelligence of Ants (X) Students of FHV

Venue: FHV (CAMPUS V, Hochschulstraße 1)
04:45 - 05:20 PM	Check-in & Welcome Drink at FHV
05:15 - 05:35 PM	From Intelligence to Intelligences: AI through the Lens of More-Than-Human Perspectives (T) Margarita Köhl, Programme Director InterMedia, BA and Design and Creative Leadership MA, FHV
05:40 - 06:00 PM	Recap Workshop & Answering the Key Questions
06:00 - 06:30 PM	From Intelligence to Intelligences: AI through the Lens of More-Than-Human Perspectives (T) Steffen Finck, Head of Circular Lab; Researcher in AI and Data Science, FHV
06:30 - 07:10 PM	Planta Sapiens: How Do Plants Think? (T) Paco Calvo, Professor of Philosophy of Science; Director, Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINT Lab), University of Murcia
07:15 - 07:45 PM	Decentering Design - Practice in a More-than-human World (T) Giliam Antonie Ganzevles, Designer, Researcher, Author (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
08:15 - 08:45 PM	A Tour of AIxDESIGN's Critical and Creative AI Practices (T) Nadia Piet, Independent Researcher and Designer; Faculty in Design for Responsible AI, ELISAVA Barcelona
08:45 - 09:00 PM	Break
09:00 - 09:30 PM	Panel Discussion Margarita Köhl, Nadia Piet, Giliam Antonie Ganzevles, Steffen Finck, Paco Calvo
from 09:30 PM	Get-together Campus Cafe

Legend

WS = Workshop | T = Talk | D = Discussion | X = Experience

Event language

German & English

Audience

All interested parties are cordially invited to participate.

Participation

Be part of the Design Symposium – Intelligence Beyond Human and get your ticket ▷ here!

Internal