A nexus is a connection. What happens when art, technology and the public react? We think: new perspectives on the impact of technologies and new spaces for ethical dialogue and discourse.

About Us

05

We develop and organize innovative formats of science communication and reflection for the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools in the project »Nexus Experiments: Participative art/science projects and ethical discourse on neurotechnology«. In regular events and participatory projects – we call them »Experiments« – researchers enter into a dialogue with the public. To this end, we create interfaces between art, science and ethics and search for new models for the transfer of knowledge.

  • 36
    scientists
  • 58
    events since 2012
  • 5
    collaborations with cultural institutions
  • 34
    involved artists
  • 70-
    300
    visitors per event

Why philosophy and Neurosciences
?
How does technology engage with the brain
?
Where do art and science meet
?
How can I get involved
?

The Project

Nexus Experiments is part of the working group »Norms and Nature« led by Oliver Müller at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Freiburg.The research and communication project is funded by the Excellence Cluster BrainLinks-BrainTools of the University of Freiburg. The aim of the cluster is to develop medical technology that interacts directly with the nervous system. It combines life sciences and engineering as well as their clinical applications. BrainLinks-BrainTools is a cluster of excellence that was founded in 2012 as part of the German Excellence Initiative and is funded by the German Research Foundation DFG (Funding Code EXC 1086).The project Nexus Experiment was called »Reaching Out« until 2017.

Norms and Nature at the University of Freiburg
Poster
Press review

Team

Prof. Dr. Oliver Müller
Director
oliver.mueller [AT] brainlinks-braintools.uni-freiburg.de
WWW
Heisenberg Professor of Philosophy with focus on present and technology
2008 until 2013
Director of various projects on topics in neuroethics, biomedical ethics and ethics of synthetic biology at the University of Freiburg
since 2012
Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools
2012
Habilitation and Venia legendi in Philosophy
since 2013
Head of the projects »Mechanized Brains« (BrainLinks-BrainTools)
Seit 2014
Head of the Junior Research Group NPAC: A neuro-philo-action compendium (BrainLinks-BrainTools)
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Dr. Philipp Kellmeyer
Director
philipp.kellmeyer [AT] uniklinik-freiburg.de
WWW
Dr. Kellmeyer is a neurologist at the University Medical Center Freiburg where he heads the Neuroethics and AI Ethics Lab at the Department of Neurosurgery. He studied human medicine in Heidelberg and Zurich and received a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge (GB). As a neuroscientist he works in the fields of neuroimaging and translational neurotechnology, in particular the clinical application of deep-learning-based brain-computer interfaces. He is a scientific member of the BrainLinks-BrainTools cluster of excellence at the University of Freiburg and Research Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) in the “Responsible Artificial Intelligence” research group. In his research at the intersection of neuroethics, digital ethics and AI ethics, he works on ethical, legal, social and political challenges of human-technology interaction, particularly regarding neurotechnology, big data, artificial intelligence and XR technologies in medicine and biomedical research. He is also an affiliate of the Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Zurich, where he also teaches biomedical ethics. Since November 2020, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Neuroethics Society (INS).
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Sabrina Livanec
Conception, Coordination, Finance
sabrina.livanec [AT] brainlinks-braintools.uni-freiburg.de
Studium der Neueren deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Romanistik und Betriebswirtschaftslehre in Duisburg, Angers und Freiburg.
2014-2016
wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Projekt: Störung/Ha-fra-ah (Kulturstiftung des Bundes)
Seit Juni 2015
Seit Juni 2015 im Projekt für Konzeption und Organisation zuständig.
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Marion Kaune
Conception, Coordination, Projects
marion.kaune [AT] philosophie.uni-freiburg.de
WWW

Scientific Advisors

Prof. em. Dr. Ad Aertsen,
Neurobiology and Biophysics
Bernstein Center Freiburg
WWW
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Egert, Biomicrotechnology, Dept. of Microsystems Engineering
Bernstein Center Freiburg
WWW
Prof. Dr. Carsten Mehring, Neurobiology and Neurotechnology
Bernstein Center Freiburg
WWW
Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz, Biomedical Microtechnology
Bernstein Center Freiburg
WWW

Cooperation Partners

In the project we are always looking for contacts to academic and cultural institutions that want to realize events together with us. We cooperate intensively with the Bernstein Center Freiburg, an institute for computational neuroscience especially in the context of events at the Werkstatt of the Center. Furthermore, Freiburg Theater is an important cooperation partner for projects such as Disorder/ Hafraah. The Kommunales Kino, the Literaturhaus Freiburg and the Museum für Neue Kunst also support our work.

funding by

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