“Think slow, act fast” is the mantra of the Collective Transformation Lab – an enlightening self-reflection platform established as a collaboration between tech start-up Godot and the Ars Electronica Futurelab.
The goal of the Collective Transformation Lab is to deeply understand individual and collective human behavior in relation to social challenges of the advancing 21st century with a long-term impact and to provide self-reflective, personalized strategies. The works so far consist of Alter.Ego in 2025, Buzz Swatters: Playful Pandemic Prevention in 2024 and Anatomy of Nudging in 2023.
Buzz Swatters, Open Futurelab 2024; photo: Bettina Gangl
Buzz Swatters, Open Futurelab 2024; photo: Bettina Gangl
Anatomy of Nudging; photo: Raphael Schaumburg-Lippe
Anatomy of Nudging; photo: Raphael Schaumburg-Lippe
The focus of the Collective Transformation Lab lies on the transparent and humane use of AI and other evolving cutting-edge technologies to increase consumer confidence and overcome biases. Furthermore, a broad mass of people wants to be involved, for which a tangible, playful approach to complex topics is to be achieved – with the intention of stimulating thought in a provocative way while not feeling invasive. The aim of the Collective Transformation Lab is to make people feel safe yet move them out of their comfort zone in terms of their own behavior.
The Collective Transformation Lab expresses itself as a multi-year collection of different prototypes, in which a new piece is developed and added annually. These can be the development of cutting-edge installations, web services, apps, devices, workshops, discussion formats, and many more.
Alter.Ego
In the third year of their collaboration, 2025, Godot and the Ars Electronica Futurelab will present the installation Alter.Ego at the Ars Electronica Festival, focusing on the interaction between humans and autonomous AI systems and exploring how different AI personalities influence users’ emotions and behavior.
Buzz Swatters: Playful Pandemic Prevention
In the second year, in 2024, Buzz Swatters: Playful Pandemic Prevention was showcased at the Ars Electronica Festival. This work explored innovative ways to educate and tackle collective action problems such as infectious diseases, combining playful interaction with urgent, real-world challenges.
Anatomy of Nudging
In the first year of the collaboration, in 2023, Godot and the Ars Electronica Futurelab presented the installation Anatomy of Nudging at the Ars Electronica Festival. The goal was to introduce festival visitors to Godot’s application Nudge AI, inviting them to become an analogue part of the process of the technology.
Credits
Ars Electronica Futurelab: Friedrich Bachinger, Kerstin Blätterbinder, Roland Haring, Denise Hirtenfelder, Susanne Kiesenhofer, Otto Naderer, Nicolas Naveau, Hideaki Ogawa, Erwin Reitböck, Cyntha Wieringa
PARTNER: Godot Inc. & Godot GmbH