Theda Nilsson-Eicke - Modelling the Mind

© Florian Hetz

For the S+T+ARTS Ec(h)o Residency on the theme Modelling the Mind, Theda Nilsson-Eicke (born 1981 in Landskrona, Sweden, lives and works in Berlin and Dresden) has been nominated. The theater director, author, and artist focuses on the elemental conditions of human perception and the internal and external factors that influence it in her project In diese Welt geworfen (Thrown into This World). The project explores the complex and ambivalent state of being "thrown into a new world" and the modifications or developments needed to adapt to new circumstances – or not. What behaviors do we develop when our life situation changes, and why? What parameters influence our decisions and actions in these new situations? The project In diese Welt geworfen (Thrown into This World) aims to create a synthetic world and demonstrate how both analog and digital phenomena, as well as societal and cognitive factors, impact the construction and perception of reality.

The project is being developed in collaboration with the Immersive Experience Lab of Jun.-Prof. Matthew McGinity and the research project Brain and Machine Computations of Behaviour in Complex and Uncertain Environments at TUD Dresden University of Tecgnology, as well as with the Dresden University of Fine Arts (HfBK Dresden).

Theda Nilsson-Eicke works at the intersection of theater, visual arts, and performance, and also teaches as a junior professor for stage setting and costume design HfBK Dresden. In her artistic practice, she explores the synthesis of art and technology, investigating both its content and its use as a medium of expression. Theda Nilsson-Eicke has created numerous successful installations, since 2013 many in collaboration with Julian Eicke (selection): Die Walküre (2020), Dekameron (2018), Cellar Door (2016), MEAT (2014).