Hybrid Talk: Tech Tales

As part of the TechTales exhibition—organized by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Department of Communication Systems), the Master’s degree program in Stage Design and Scenography, the Science & Society office at the Executive board of the TU Berlin and the Hybrid Plattform —this event invites the public to an evening of exploration, conversation, and critical reflection. In collaboration with the Hybrid Platform, the program will feature a panel discussion and guided exhibition tour that bring together researchers, artists, and technologists to address pressing ecological, epistemological, and technological questions.

The discussion will focus on multi-perspective approaches to environmental sensing, exploring how alternative epistemologies—those rooted in relational, embodied, and situated knowledge—can expand the scope of science, particularly in the context of climate change. Panelists will reflect on the changing role of science in an age of crisis, and how to engage with knowledge systems that emerge outside traditional academic frameworks.

Technology will be examined in its dual role: as a driver of innovation and as a product of extractive, unsustainable systems. The conversation will highlight how open-source hardware can serve as a pathway toward more inclusive, accessible, and environmentally conscious forms of technological development. The event will also explore storytelling and the historical and ecological significance of forests in Germany—from cultural icon to contested resource—while reflecting on how transdisciplinary research and teaching can help us reimagine futures that are just, regenerative, and collectively shaped.

With the talk we invite the public to imagine science not only as a tool for understanding the world, but as a method of co-creating it. It calls on us to rethink what knowledge matters, who gets to produce it, and how it can be used to shape livable futures.