„Ningyō and Automata“ – Dr. Oliver Schürer
Organisation: Polish-Japan Academy of Computer Sciences 
Partner: Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw 

In the transition from the 17th to the 18th century, two cultures independently developed a fascination for mechanisms that create lifelike appearances. The Japanese Bunraku theater, puppetry for adults, used mechanically sophisticated puppets (Ningyō). Their mechanical principles became important concepts for Japanese industrial production (Karakuri). In Europe, animated figures (Automata) became the direct precursors of industrial machines, leading to developments such as the mechanical loom (Vaucanson).

Both cultures realized lifelikeness by making artifacts move autonomously - but they expressed very different cultural ideas.

In Japan, the ensemble Uemura Bunrakuken (1751-1810) coined Bunraku theater, an art form that dramatizes the tensions of the individual between social tasks and personal desires. In Europe, Jean Paul studied the chess automaton of the Austrian diplomat Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734-1804). From the relationship between people and their artifacts, Paul developed a satire about free will, coining the term “Doppelganger” that became very influential in 20th-century psychology and the arts.

Both cultures used their insights to develop ever more intricate mechanics that led to the Industrial Revolution and subsequently to automated industry, today Industry 4.0. But at the same time, they kept their rather different initial intent on technology.

While both cultures describe strong tension, some intense and demanding relationships: Japan primarily looks at technology in expressing the tension between the social and the individual. Europe sees technology as a kind of otherness that mirrors the individual uncannily. When it comes to today’s live-like technologies, these different cultural ideas shape completely different understandings.

Oliver Schürer is a researcher, author, Senior Scientist, and deputy director at the Institute for Architecture Theory and Philosophy of Technology at the Vienna University of Technology. He is researching lifeworld aspects of space, techniques, and technologies. He conducted numerous research projects in Architecture, Arts, Engineering sciences, and the Humanities. 

https://www.attp.tuwien.ac.at/team/oliver-schurer

In 2014, he founded H.A.U.S. (Humanoids in Architecture and Urban Spaces), a transdisciplinary group of researchers from AI-research, architecture, automation technology, dance, human-robot interaction, media arts, music, and philosophy. The group works by means of performance art, public experiments, arts-based and scientific research concerning life-worlds, spatiality of human movement and robotic motion, and the embodiment of social AI.


10.04.2025 (Th.), 6:00 p.m.
Austrian Cultural Forum
Ul. Próżna 7/9, Warsaw
Free entrance
In English