Symposium

Dr. Nicol Rivera Aro (she/her) is a Chilean performance artist, dramaturg, and researcher. She is also a trained actress with a focus on screenwriting. She holds a PhD in Philology from Leipzig University. In her work, she uses performative methods to explore the relationship between the body and technology. In doing so, she engages with gender discourses and post-porn, with a particular focus on sextech and non-materialist approaches.

Darbyn Luisa Kalkuhl is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of social sciences and performative art. As the founder of Queeres Theater Kollektiv, Darbyn works as a conceptual director and focuses extensively on research into cyberfeminist and neuroqueer aesthetics. In Darbyn’s artistic practice, theoretical depth is combined with performative intervention to make social power structures and normative concepts visible.

Dr. Johanna Leinius is a social scientist and scientific manager of the Cornelia Goethe Center for Gender Studies of Goethe University. Her research interests include intersectional perspectives on antifeminism and authoritarianism, postcolonial-feminist theory, political ontology, gender relations in socio-environmental transformations, and social movements. Recent publications include „Gender(n)? Impulse und Positionen zu einer erregten Debatte“ (with Bettina Kleiner and Heidi Lucja Liedke, eds., transcript, 2026), “Entdemokratisierung gesellschaftlicher Verhältnisse durch autoritäre Geschlechterpolitiken” (with Franziska Martinsen and Inga Nüthen, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 75, 2025), and “The Cosmopolitics of Solidarity: Social Movement Encounters across Difference” (Springer Nature, 2022). She is co-founder and co-speaker of the „Netzwerk Geschlechterforschung Hessen“ and member of the DFG-funded scientific network „Poststrukturalistische Protest- und Bewegungsforschung: Ein multiperspektivischer Analyseansatz” (POPMAP).

Paula Helm is a Professor of Empirical Computational Ethics at the C3S (Center for Critical Computational Studies) at Goethe University Frankfurt. Originally trained in Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Research, her work is situated at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies, ethnographic methods, and Technology Ethics. Her focus areas include cultural diversity, Critical Data Studies, privacy & anonymity, platform economy, Language Technology, and addictions. Apart from working ethnographically, Paula likes to experiment with computational methods and collaborative formats, such as co-design. Before joining the C3S, Paula was an Assistant Professor of Empirical Ethics and Data Science at the University of Amsterdam. A central aim of her work is to embed ethical questions in empirical research and to extend them beyond the level of PR to technical development, infrastructure, and community. Paula is a member of ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems), a European research network for AI.

Franzy Deutscher is a freelance intimacy coordinator, performer, and movement educator. She studied Theater Studies and founded the Kampfchoreografie (Fight Choreography) network in 2017, which later evolved into the professional association for intimacy coordination and fight choreography (BIK). She played a key role in developing guidelines for intimacy coordination and fight choreography and teaches, among others, at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München) and the August Everding Theater Academy. Her work can be seen at theaters from Bolzano to Kiel as well as on German public broadcasting.

Annalena Maas is a freelance director and trained intimacy coordinator. She studied German Studies and directing, and works across Germany at municipal and state theaters as well as in the independent performing arts sector. Her feminist, musical productions and interdisciplinary performance developments combine artistic practice with a conscious engagement with the body and power. Since 2025, she has been a member of the board of BIK.

Regina Busch lives and works as a freelance theater director in Frankfurt am Main. She is a founding member and artistic director of the Daedalus Company, which has received the Naspa Foundation Award for its productions several times. As a director of photography and camera operator for Hessischer Rundfunk, she streamed numerous classical concerts for the HR Symphony Orchestra at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Rheingau Music Festival. Regina Busch has received several artistic and theater directing scholarships, including from the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Goethe-Institut New York. She was a member of the festival management team of “Politik im Freien Theater“ (Politics in Independent Theater) in Frankfurt am Main and is involved in the boards of various associations in the performing arts.

Helen Varley Jamieson is a digital artist, writer, theater maker, and producer from Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her artistic work addresses social and ecological topics such as throwaway mentality, waste and pollution, the effects of technology on humans and the environment, and feminist topics. In 2003, she co-founded UpStage, an artist-led platform for cyberformance that continues to provide a unique online performance venue. Helen has long been involved in feminist, digital arts, and open-source networks. Since 1999, she has been the “Web Queen” of The Magdalena Project, responsible for the Magdalena website and email newsletter. She has organized numerous online festivals and events, as well as theater and performance festivals in New Zealand and Munich, where she currently lives.

Melisa Tepeli, born in 2000, lives in Offenbach am Main and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies. She is active in the Kurdish Women’s Council Amara and is a city councillor for Die Linke in Offenbach. In 2024, she was part of the collective research performance “Amargi – Mit der Jineolojî zu einem freien Theater?” (Amargi – Towards a Free Theater with Jineolojî?) Her main areas of interest are feminist organizing, peace processes, and democratization.

Andrea Keppler is an advisor for girlz’ politics and culture in the Women’s Department of the City of Frankfurt. She studied Art and Cultural Studies in Leipzig and Rome. Before her most recent position with the federal program “Demokratie leben”, she worked as a curator and artistic co-director of the queer-feminist art space District Berlin for many years. She has co-curated various projects from feminist and intersectional perspectives, including “On Illness, Resistance and Modes of Collective (Health) Care”, “Memory Care”, and “Revolt She Said”. She has also worked with institutions including the Institut Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt and the Raussmüller Collection Basel / Hallen für Neue Kunst.