Weak Signals

Art and technology know lots of tricks. They can spot little sings in different parts of society. These weak signals might show us new trends or big changes coming. They enable us to consider the unknown future not as a threat, but as a resource for new narratives. This little pocket book, edited by Lukas Feireiss and Florian Hadler and designed by Studio Yukiko, playfully identifies some of these "Weak Signals". As a glossary of new terminologies and neologisms, it curates, archives, copies, combines and compiles ideas, texts and images using a cut-up technique. It brings together human-written and AI-generated texts in a flat hierarchical manner and provides a vast array of hyperlinks that form an intricate web of endless references. Weak Signals is the result of the seminars "Art and Technology: A Research Network and Weak Signals: New Narratives in Art and Technology", which were conducted by the visiting professors Prof. Lukas Feireiss and Prof. Dr. Florian Hadler at the Berlin University of the Arts in 2022-2023. Supported by Deutsche Telekom AG, the seminars and the resulting publication are a unique case of Third Mission that strengthens the university's permeability and social impact through dialog, exchange and the development of common vocabularies.