ABOUT
Mikko Gaestel (b. 1982) is a visual artist, filmmaker, and scenographer based in Berlin. His practice centres on the relationship between bodies, technological systems, and the moving image — how machines mediate, simulate, and archive human experience. He works across video installation, 3D animation, spatial performance, and documentary film.
Art, Technology & Computational Installations
Alongside his independent practice, Gaestel collaborates on large-scale multimedia environments and video installations exploring artificial intelligence, human-machine interaction, and post-humanism. His long-term collaboration with Christopher Kulendran Thomas on Being Human and The Finesse — works examining AI-generated identity and algorithmic personhood — has been presented at MoMA New York, New Museum New York, MCA Sydney, ICA London, KW Institute Berlin, and Venice Biennale, among others. He has also collaborated with artist Jenna Sutela on Foreign Sequence / Birth Mantra at HKW Berlin, and has developed generative live visualisations and large-scale 3D animations for events including the 50th Olympic Anniversary Opening Ceremony in Munich.
Spatial Performance & Theatrical Video Design
Since 2010, Gaestel has contributed video design and scenography to international theatre and dance productions. He has worked extensively with Rimini Protokoll, Lola Arias, and the Sasha Waltz Company, across venues including Salzburger Festspiele, Festival d’Avignon, and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne. His current project, Kaspar (Residenztheater München), develops an AI dramaturgical system in collaboration with researchers at HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg, funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes.
Film & Documentary
As director and cinematographer, Gaestel works across experimental and documentary film. His feature debut The Great Fortune won the Grand Prize at the Belgrade International Documentary Festival (2016, distributed by Journeyman Films). Recent films include Macucu (Colombia/Germany, 2021) and O Ciclo Anual no Rio Tiquié (Brazil/Germany, 2021), the latter made in direct connection with his Humboldt Forum facade projection of the same name.
Education & Academic Work
Gaestel holds a Meisterschüler degree in Fine Art and Media from the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK) and studied Fine Art at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík. He lectures on multi-screen installation at UdK Berlin and has led workshops at the Ruhrtriennale Campus College.
→ Film screenings and exhibitions