Warsaw Water Retreat
The Mensch Maschine project critically examines the human–machine relationship, exploring alternative cosmological and ecological approaches to technology and artificial intelligence. In the face of the escalating climate crisis and growing political tensions, the project challenges linear narratives of progress and dominant models of knowledge production, proposing instead symbiotic modes of coexistence between humans, technology, and the environment.
In Warsaw, the project will provide the framework for the Warsaw Water Retreat—a ten-day gathering rooted in the processual and relational practice of the artist residency programme at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art. The Retreat will bring together artists working across a range of media and representing both the Polish and international art scenes. Participants will include the Centrala collective, Alicja Czyczel, the FLOW collective, Pola Sutryk and the Zakole collective, as well as artists-in-residence from Akademie der Künste and E-WERK Luckenwalde: Sepideh Behruzian, Edgar Fabián Frías, Phumulani Ntuli, and Flora Weil.
The Human Machine / Mensch Maschine project was initiated by JUNGE AKADEMIE at Akademie der Künste in Berlin in collaboration with E-WERK Luckenwalde and the VISIT residency programme of the E.ON Foundation. It supports artists who propose new ways of thinking, narratives, and practices that respond to contemporary social, ecological, and technological challenges. The programme questions entrenched dualisms, such as the distinction between the “natural” and the “artificial,” and encourages the exploration of new forms of relationships between people, technology, and the planet. In 2026, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art joined the project as a partner institution.
