Choreographer and artistic researcher Irina Demina (SCARBOD Lab) is currently a resident artist at Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (ZfK). In this interview she talks about her vision to use body-based formats for knowledge exchange and public engagement with research. In collaboration with the Office for Knowledge Exchange with Society she develops new ways of enhancing engagement with science. The research community is invited to visit the newly activated ‘object lab’ at ZfK and engage in participatory sessions or get inspired by performative talks

Irina Demina, how do you workwhat do you do and what does SCARBOD Lab stand for?

As  a choreographer and artistic researcher, my work is driven by a lot of curiosity for transdisciplinary formats that connect embodied artistic practice with scientific inquiry. I understand choreography not just as stage art, but as a method of thinking about and through movement — a strategy for navigating knowledge and uncertainty, and exploring relationships between bodies, spaces, ideas, and time. I call this approach SCARBOD Lab, which is short for Science Art Body.

How can dance and science engage with each other?

My practice revolves around trans- and multidisciplinarity. — I’m curious about what emerges when seemingly unrelated fields cross-pollinate, like, for example, folk dance and AI or dance improvisation and theoretical neuroscience – which are projects I am currently involved in. What fascinates me about the dialogue between dance and science is the chance to explore knowledge not just intellectually, but to experience it with the whole body. Participatory, embodied formats create opportunities to reconnect knowledge with lived experience — inviting people to sense, reflect, and engage with science in a different way.

How can the research community get to know participate in or experience your work?

This invitation to dialogue isn’t limited to specific disciplines, on the contrary, the most exciting things often happen at the most unexpected intersections. We have developed a couple of pilot formats for the object lab at ZfK, which everyone is welcome to take part in – from open movement sessions to performative talks. If you are interested to join one of these events or would like to start an exchange about movement and engagement practices – please contact us at wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

Photo: (c) Claude Hofer

Current events in the object lab

Open movement sessions: “BODYATION”: First Wednesday of the month on 07.05.25, 04.06.25, 02.07.25 from 09:00 – 10:00

This regular movement session invites the HU community to rethink thinking – engaging your body as an active partner in the research and ideation process.

Performative encounters: “Choreographies of knowledge”: 04./05.07.2025, 17:00 – 19:00

This event aims at fostering transdisciplinary dialogue, where artistic exploration and academic inquiry converge to spark new possibilities and creative collaborations.

All events take place in the object lab of Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, Campus Nord – Haus 3, Philippstr. 13

We kindly ask you to register your interest: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

“Choreographies of knowledge” at the Object Lab invites practitioners and researchers from the fields of body-based arts, movement and performance to share their practices in a relaxed open studio atmosphere. In this series of dynamic encounters scientific concepts are gaining potential to transform into lived experiences, tracing the invisible choreographies of knowledge and suggesting novel pathways for teaching and research.

How does knowledge move? What transformative potential lies in movement for sharing and shaping ideas? Does research have a rhythm, a form, a choreography? How do bodies, materials, concepts and spaces interact and dance together in the dynamic co-creation of knowledge?

This event aims at fostering transdisciplinary dialogue, where artistic exploration and academic inquiry converge to spark new possibilities and creative collaborations.

4 July 
5 pm   An Boekman “Moving the Classroom” (Tanz in Schulen) / auf Deutsch
6 pm   Irina Demina  “Folk Dance and AI. Rethinking traditions” / in english

5 July  
5 pm  Lina Gómez  “Embodied Landscapes. Seismic bodies” / in english
6  pm  Wanda Golonka  “Rund um die Leere. Choreografie und Keramik” / auf Deutsch

Location:
Objektlabor
Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Campus Nord – Haus 3
Philippstr. 13

Short, non-binding registration would be appreciated: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

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4 July 2025

5 pm      An Boekman “Moving the Classroom” (dance in schools)
www.tanzzeit-berlin.de

An Boekman invites participants to a hands-on session and presents the project “Moving the Classroom”, which integrates movement as a dynamic and aesthetically engaging approach to conveying curriculum content across various school subjects within the classroom. Participants in today’s event are encouraged to explore their own embodied experience of how, and to what extent, movement can function as a powerful tool for learning and teaching. The focus is on a topic from computer science: digital problem-solving strategies and the choreographic potential of algorithms. The format compellingly demonstrates how, especially in times of increasing digitalization, physical experience can become a key to understanding complex content.
Since 2024, the pilot project “Tandem Dance and School: Cultural Approaches in Teacher Education” has been running as a collaboration between Freie Universität Berlin and TanzZeit e.V.

6 pm       Irina Demina “Folk Dance and AI. Rethinking traditions”
www.irinademina.com

Irina Demina shares insights into her creative collaboration with computer scientist/programmer Dávid Samu on exploring the possibilities and potential of a dialogue between traditional and digitally stimulated choreographies by integrating the traditional folk lexicon with digital machine learning technologies.
Specifically for the project “KLOF. Cyberographies of Folk” an algorithm was developed that got trained on dozens of folk dances from around the world, allowing it to generate synthesized hybrid choreographies — opening new perspectives on how artificial intelligence can contribute to reimagining and rethinking inherited bodily practices.

5 July 2025

5 pm        Lina Gómez “Embodied Landscapes. Seismic bodies”
www.linapgomez.com

Lina Gómez shares insights into the creative journey behind her project “Vagarosas”, that began in 2019 with a residency at Radialsystem and an exchange with Mark Handy, Professor at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Tectonics and Sedimentary Systems at Freie Universität Berlin.
Using mountains and volcanoes as metaphors for movement and perseverance, the research later expanded to two residencies in Chile. In 2022 and in 2023 Gómez worked with her creative team at Bosque Pehuén, a private protected area managed by Fundación Mar Adentro.
This creation process—bridging art, science, and local communities—culminated in a striking stage work premiered at Radialsystem Berlin, where seven performers embody resilience, coexistence and continuous transformation through rhythm, presence, and collective motion.

6 pm       Wanda Golonka  “Around emptiness. Choreography and ceramics””
www.wandagolonka.com 

„…Become one with the earth by studying and repeating the gestures.
A timeless practice.
Concentration on the inner self.
The form is created by the inside.
The anchoring.
Breathing in the gestures, adapting the rhythm.
Centring.
Work on the left side.
Left arm – right hip.
The maximum speed.
The digging. Calmly right hand on left hand,
do not decenter.”
 (from the book ‘Mise à la terre. Grounding’ by Wanda Golonka)

Wanda Golonka, with decades of experience as a choreographer and as professor of the MA Choreography program at the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin) explores how the process of working with clay can be practiced as a subtle form of choreography — a danced engagement with material, form, and emptiness.