Starting April 25, 2026, the ifa Gallery in Stuttgart will present the exhibition *Dreaming Beyond AI: Portals Behind the Algorithm*, which explores the power of artificial intelligence.
Abb. oben: Installation view: Dreaming Beyond AI: In the loop; Kampnagel 2023
In a world where algorithms shape our daily lives and make decisions for us, the exhibition *Dreaming Beyond AI* at the ifa Gallery poses the question: How can we reclaim time, relationships, and futures beyond algorithmic logic? Eight artists from ifa residencies use sound, video, AI-generated images, and virtual reality to create visions of care, resistance, and community. With this project, the ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, in collaboration with the transdisciplinary collective Dreaming Beyond AI, focuses on the impact of AI as a central issue and promotes a critical and nuanced examination of the topic.
Dreaming Beyond AI is a multidisciplinary collective and collaborative web project that brings together artists, technologists, researchers, activists, and policymakers to develop new narratives and visions surrounding AI technologies. Since its founding in 2020, the project has aimed to highlight the impact of AI on social inequalities and to critically examine dominant narratives and predefined visions of the future.
Photo: Maïscha Souaga
The work of Dreaming Beyond AI examines how colonial legacies, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, and white supremacy contribute to marginalization, isolation, and binary thinking in the digital age. Through an analysis of algorithmic systems—such as those in human resources, healthcare, or education—the collective reveals how these technologies reinforce existing inequalities and explores strategies of resistance. AI serves simultaneously as a portal and a starting point for posing broader social questions about marginalization, imagination, futures, and feminisms. The collective is guided by values such as feminist care practices, mutual support, accountability, respect, community, transparency, and solidarity.
Artists: Biarritzzz, Guilherme Bretas, Hiba Ali, Kira Xonorika, Mac Andre Arboleda, Maithu Bùi, Noam Youngrak Son, Zainab Aliyu
Curated by: Dreaming Beyond AI (Nushin Yazdani, Sarah Diedro Jordão, Iyo Bisseck)
The program includes discussions, workshops, and panel discussions with international guests, including a lecture by Harvard professor Paola Ricaurte on the design of technologies from a feminist perspective, reports from data workers in Kenya and the Philippines on the invisible labor behind AI, and an immersive 3D workshop on dream worlds.
Photo: Maïscha Souaga
Through its work in the arts and civil society, the ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations fosters understanding and trust among people worldwide. It promotes democratic civil societies and advocates for freedom in the arts and sciences, as well as for freedom of expression. The ifa brings its international expertise and networks in the arts, culture, politics, and society to the table in public debates, broadening perspectives—both in Germany and around the world.
The ifa galleries in Stuttgart and Berlin showcase contemporary art from a global perspective. The exhibitions and educational programs are developed through a collaborative process that identifies global connections and reimagines them through a different narrative.
WHEN?
Opening: Friday, 24. Apryl 2026, 19 p.m
Event dates: Saturday, 25. April – Sunday, 30. August 2026
WO?
ifa-Galerie Stuttgart
Charlottenplatz 17
70173 Stuttgart
