02/05/2026
Call for participants: ROTBOTS is a project by distant.gallery, Zentrum für Netzkunst, and Vernetzte Materialität / Networked Materiality (AdBK Nürnberg) exploring automated content as artistic practice.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Z4uqAOk59tE_-7Vj--aAWm9s5kXNlSw0CkMKPxafm4/edit?usp=sharing
We invite artists, designers, and critical makers to join workshops in Berlin on automated content production as an artistic and political tool. You can also join our distribution network by distributing content from the content machines, donate your spare or extra accounts, bot networks and other distribution channels to strengthen our efforts. If you are up for supporting new artistic explorations of brain rot, we implore you to join us. More specific details on the workshops are written below.
ROTBOTS focusses on building semi-autonomous ‘content machines’: systems that generate and distribute artistic brainrot across social media. Rather than feeding existing extractive platforms, the project asks: can automated content become a form of resistance?
During the workshops, you will learn to modify, test, advance, hack, and reconfigure modular tools for generating and distributing content, from text and image generation to automated publishing. You will develop your own content machine based on your practice, while contributing to a shared pool of materials used across participants' systems.
The ROTBOTS workshop
Each workshop is a 1-day, on-site session at Zentrum für Netzkunst. You can also participate online through distant.gallery.
You will:
– work with and modify existing content-machine prototypes
– develop your own system based on your practice
– contribute to and draw from a shared pool of materials
– experiment with collective authorship and distribution
No advanced technical knowledge is required; the focus is on artistic direction.
Bring:
– your laptop
– headphones
Everything else will be provided. There will be coffee, tea, snacks and a vegan lunch.
Dates:
16 May 2026 with Sam Lavigne & Tega Brain
5 June 2026 with Clusterduck
13 June 2026 with IOCOSE
2 July 2026 with !Mediengruppe Bitnik
What to expect:
– Access to open-source tools and scripts
– Participation in a shared content ecosystem
– Your own content machine to keep and develop
– Contribution to a collective, distributed exhibition
ROTBOTS is initiated by Constant Dullaart, in collaboration with Fabian Hampel and the Networked Materiality class at AdBK Nürnberg, and brings together an international group of artists and collectives, who will each join one of the workshops.
The exhibition:
Selected outcomes of the content machines will be presented in a final exhibition at Zentrum für Netzkunst (October 2026, tbc). By then, the work is expected to already circulate in the wild, embedded in feeds, timelines, and algorithmic flows.
The exhibition will include the full release of all used code on github.
How to apply:
Send your portfolio and short introduction (max. 200 words) about your interest in the project to: rotbots[at]distant.gallery
Please include:
– your name
– a link to your work (website or portfolio)
– a short note on your technical experience:
· I regularly write code
· I can read/modify code with support
· I prefer working without code
– any dietary restrictions or special needs
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via email. Visit https://distant.gallery for more info.
ROTBOTS is a collaborative project by distant.gallery, Zentrum für Netzkunst and the Networked Materiality class at AdBK-Nürnberg, supported by Stiftung Kunstfonds.
