02 / An open invitation
Make AI risk something people can touch.
We're looking for hands-on installations, immersive experiences, art, and explainers that let someone with no background in AI experience how these systems work, what they make possible, and where people still have a say.
Commissions up to $500 per work, plus shipping and installation if needed.
What we're looking for
We already have plenty of screen-based games about approving or stopping an AI agent. We especially want physical, outdoor, VR, and language-free work.
Let the visitor do the thing
Physical or on-screen installations, and games, where the visitor acts and the system responds. Fast to grasp, hard to forget.
- Try to stop an agent that would rather not be stopped
- Train a tiny model and watch it learn the wrong lesson
- Steer a chatbot with a persuasion dial
- Watch a model discover a rule nobody taught it
- Talk to the same model with its guardrails on, then off
- A two-player game where racing to deploy first costs you both
Put the visitor inside the scenario
VR, XR, audio walks, or room-scale pieces of a few minutes, running from a single station with a volunteer attendant.
- Watch a simulation of a model copying itself
- Sit in on an AI incident post-mortem
- See a city change under three automation forecasts
- Stand inside a neural network as it recognizes a face
Make it felt before it is understood
Sculpture, print, sound, video, performance. Work that uses any of the senses to make the abstract stakes of AI development perceptible and comprehensible.
- A model's weights laser-etched into a block of glass
- Portraits of expert disagreement
- A room that hums louder as the model gets less sure
- A 3D-printed loss landscape you can run your hand over
- Something beautiful made from a model's internals
One idea, clearly
Posters, short films, zines, or tabletop demos that explain a single concept well: interpretability, oversight, misalignment, the EU AI Act.
- A timeline of AI development and forecasts
- What interpretability finds inside a model
- Who regulates AI in Europe, on one wall
- What gradual disempowerment means, and why it's hard to see
- What AI has already done for medicine, and what it hasn't
What the space can hold
Roughly four to six works at once. Tabletop and wall pieces are easiest to place.
Weatherproof or tent-covered work welcome. November in Berlin: cold, wet, dark by 16:30.
Standard sockets. Bring adapters for anything unusual.
Volunteers cover the room, not each piece. Headsets get a dedicated attendant.
Works should survive hundreds of visitors and a reboot without the creator present.
How to submit
Two stages. A short pitch first. Full files only if you're shortlisted.
Tell us the idea
- A pitch of up to 200 words: the concept you want people to grasp, and how the piece gets it across
- The one thing a visitor should leave understanding, and what they do in their first 30 seconds
- One image, sketch, or link
- Category, footprint, and what it needs to run
- Whether it exists yet, or is still an idea
Shortlisted works only
- Files, build, or the object itself
- A one-page setup and reset guide
- Accepted terms
- A short conversation with the team
Key dates
Call open
The pitch form is open. We review pitches as they arrive.
First shortlist
Everyone who pitched by 12 Oct hears back, selected or not.
Final files due
Shortlisted works deliver stage two.
Install week
We build the room. You're welcome to join.
EAGx Berlin
The main showing, three days.
Foresight opening
Reception at the Foresight Berlin Node with artist talks and roundtables. Call in if you're not local.
Rolling showings
New pitches are considered for Foresight, AI Safety Berlin, and later venues. The first exhibition will be replicated at Mox and LISA.
For creators
What you get.
- Your work in front of an expected 1,000+ people across the Berlin venues and online, and possibly in briefings for policymakers and journalists
- Credit as you choose: full name, alias, or anonymous
- Photo and video documentation of the installed work
- For three selected screen-based works: a 50-inch LED screen at EAGx and afterwards at Foresight
- An opening reception at Foresight on 19 November with artist talks and roundtables with the community. Call in if you're not local
- Inclusion in the open-source exhibit kit, if you opt in
- Equipment: you provide your own unless agreed with us. We have a Quest 2 headset, a computer, screens, tables, mounting, and power that we can lend to selected work. Tell us what you need and we confirm before you commit
- Commissions up to $500 per work: every accepted work is paid, $200 for a physical installation and $150 for a screen-based or online piece, rising to $500 where the work calls for it. Shipping and installation costs, a screen or a mount or a crate, are covered on top of the commission. Paid within 30 days of install, whatever the piece draws
You keep your work.
- Ownership stays with you. We take a non-exclusive license to display it.
- The default license is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, or display-only if you prefer.
- Work is shown at your own risk. The pilot is volunteer-run and cannot insure pieces.
- Interactive pieces may record anonymous usage data on the device.
Questions
Does the work have to be finished?
No. Ideas and in-progress work are welcome at stage one. Tell us honestly where it stands. We'll weigh feasibility against the November date.
Who decides?
A small volunteer committee screens every pitch against four criteria: feasibility, accuracy, engagement for a non-expert visitor, and fit with the exhibition's aims, which are that visitors leave understanding more, amazed by some of it, worried by some of it, and knowing where they can act. Advisors from the AI safety field review the shortlist.
Is there an age limit?
You must be 18 or older to submit. You confirm this on the pitch form.
Can I submit more than one idea?
Yes. One form entry per idea.
Can I use AI tools to make the work?
Yes, and please disclose it. Claims still need to be accurate.
Is there a fee or budget?
No fee to submit, ever. Every accepted work is paid, with shipping, materials, and installation covered on top; the amounts are under What you get above. The pilot is volunteer-run, so these are honest commissions rather than market rates.
Do I have to bring my own equipment?
Yes, unless we agree otherwise. Say what the piece needs in the form; the equipment we can lend is listed under What you get above, and we confirm what we can cover before you commit. Attended stations are available for anything fragile.
What happens to my work afterwards?
Physical works go back to you unless agreed otherwise. Digital works stay in the exhibition's rotation for later venues unless you withdraw. If you opt in, they also join the open-source kit other cities can stage.
Not pitching? Help us build it.
We need screeners, installers, venue hosts, and people to talk to visitors. A few hours a week.