Partners

The Digitales Koproduktionslabor (KoLab) is a response to the rapidly growing need for expertise and creative space in the field of digital art and culture in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Because of the complexity and partial inaccessibility of tools in areas such as XR, coding and VFX – and the artistic possibilities that result from them – artists need external expertise both when developing concepts and when realising them.

This is where KoLab offers various forms of support: from advice and the provision of technology to co-productions.

ATEM – Alternative Thoughts on the Emerging Metaverse – is a biennial for audiovisual live coding and immersive art that takes place entirely in the metaverse. What makes it special: the virtual spaces are not just a setting but become an artistic medium themselves.

At its heart are live coding performances in which code turns into music, images and audiovisual worlds in real time, as well as immersive works that make new forms of space, sound and interaction tangible. International artists and creatives use the possibilities of the metaverse to think about art beyond physical boundaries and to try out new forms of experience.

Performances, installations, workshops, art labs and a conference combine artistic practice with exchange and experimentation – creating an unusual meeting place for everyone who wants to discover how art in virtual worlds can look, sound and feel.

VKII Ruhrbezirk e. V. works for social participation, empowerment and equal coexistence in a diverse society. A particular focus lies on working with people from African and migrant communities as well as with children and young people.

Through educational programmes, youth groups, workshops, counselling and events, the association creates spaces in which people can contribute their own perspectives, develop skills and actively help shape social processes. VKII combines community work with civic education, media literacy and cooperation with civil-society and public institutions.

In the project Ankoppeln, VKII and its partner associations develop new ways of empowering young people in particular and opening up access to social and political participation. Digital spaces are understood both as an opportunity for networking and self-organisation and as a space for learning, in which a critical approach to information, technologies and social power relations is becoming increasingly important.

The storyLab kiU is an interdisciplinary research and creative lab based at the Dortmunder U. Founded in 2016, it sees itself as an offshoot of the university: here, the artistic and design research of the Department of Design becomes visible in the middle of the city.

The focus is on new forms of storytelling in digital media. Students explore how dramaturgy and storytelling change through current technologies. It is less about technical skills than about trying out alternative ways of telling stories.

The storyLab kiU works as a digital production studio for image, sound and programming. It realises immersive spaces, interactive installations and 3D facade projections – for example at the city festival DORTBUNT 2025 and, since 2019, at the annual Museum Night at the Dortmunder U. It also carries out third-party-funded projects and collaborations, including with the City of Dortmund and the Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS).

The artistic director is Harald Opel, who received the Research Prize of Fachhochschule Dortmund in 2025 for his work at the storyLab kiU.

mono is the listening café in the Dortmund record shop Black Plastic. Excellent classic espresso meets McIntosh amplifiers and Tannoy speakers – a place to listen consciously to all kinds of music in everyday life, to enjoy readings or small concerts, or to listen to and watch changing DJs several times a week. Or simply to drink a coffee and browse through music books.

Processing Community Day is a free community event celebrating the intersection of design, art, code and technology.

Whether you already work with Processing or p5.js, are interested in creative coding, study design or technology, or simply want to discover new ways of creating with code, PCD@Dortmund offers an opportunity to meet like-minded people, exchange ideas and create together.

The event welcomes experienced creative coders as well as complete beginners. No previous knowledge of Processing or p5.js is required.