Bérénice Serra French media artist and researcher based in Zürich (CH). Her artworks and writings explore how civil society invents tactical forms of agentivity within networked environments. Focusing on modes of communication in visual culture, she critically examines how digital infrastructures shape power dynamics in the circulation of images and information. Her practice draws on open source intelligence, tactical media strategies, ecology of user-generated content, and post-digital writing systems. She is currently Guest Professor at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW. works biography press writing teaching contact instagram mastodon
Visual Grammar of Designed Truth in OSINT is a multidisciplinary symposium. The event brings together researchers, journalists, designers, artists, and OSINT analysts to examine the visual language and communication strategies employed in open-source intelligence investigations. Through a series of talks, workshops, and screenings, the symposium highlights the ongoing visual transformation of OSINT practices. It explores how citizen collectives, investigative associations, and the press have been reshaping the information dissemination landscape over the past decade by uncovering connections within available online data. ⁂
This course investigates alternative modes of digital interaction by revisiting the command-line interface as a tool for art and design. Departing from the WYSIWYG paradigm and the graphical metaphors introduced by the WIMP interface in the 1980s, students will explore how software shapes user intuition and creative practice. By engaging directly with the operating system through the Terminal, students will learn to process files, automate tasks, and develop a deeper understanding of the computer as a programmable machine. The course highlights how command-line libraries can serve as powerful, efficient alternatives to conventional design software. ⁂
This course will serve as an initiation into Web-to-Print techniques, starting from Media Queries specifications and extending to the implementation of Paged.js, a free and open-source JavaScript library that formats content in the browser to generate PDF output from any HTML content. It will enable students to build a foundation in programming single-source publications, while exploring the creative potential of web languages such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. ⁂
Do we truly pay attention to the content we consume daily on screens? The goal of this workshop was to direct our attention towards video content shared on digital social platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, etc. Using screen recording techniques, we analyzed and enhanced selected content addressing a particular online phenomenon. Over two weeks, we navigated the internet and explored various artworks within the field of Desktop Movies. We addressed the issue of attention in digital environments and developed skills in using our screens as cameras, audio recorders, and multimedia canvases. ⁂
The Alice & Bob workshop proposes an introduction to analog and digital steganography techniques (dead drops, semagrams, cardan grille, etc.) aimed at subverting surveillance, bypassing censorship, and making marginalized cultures visible. The workshop seeks to introduce students to the complex topic of online surveillance through secret writing techniques and low-tech approaches, to create poetic forms of communication that highlight the social value of language. ⁂