cyanne van den houten (they/she) is a media artist based in utrecht and rotterdam who seeks to uncover digital mysteries and make technology’s hidden layers tangible. their practice is rooted in open-source thinking, collaboration, queer and feminist tech (histories), and a deep care for tools that stay open and legible.

embracing a hacker’s ethos, van den houten is a self described tinkerer¹ with love for (cyber) crafts, working hands-on salvaging zombie² electronics and local AI systems – to demystify how algorithms and devices shape our world and to expose the hidden power structures and biases inside technology. they create large scale interactive installations that connect these cyber sculptures with rogue archives, whispering chatbots and experimental storytelling across game engines, creative code, custom AI systems, chatboxes and DIY electronics. this creates mystical spaces where audiences can start a dialogue with these machines, that almost always respond unpredictably in echoes of classification rather than certainties.

as founder of the telemagic media art collective (a long time collaboration with roos groothuizen and ymer marinus) and a member of rotterdam’s .zip artist run space, they foster communal exploration of digital culture through artistic research, hackathons and art interventions focused on queer futures. these collaborative practices are grounded in knowledge-sharing, tool-making, and rethinking what creative sustainability can look like in the age of automated decisions.
van den houten’s recent projects exemplify these themes: unstable image orchestrated an AI “whispering game” among networked sculptures, generating unexpected poetry from feedback looped communication while unearthing hidden queer histories. model collapse transformed the extractive, earthbound infrastructure of AI into a mythic generative landscape of digital relics, illuminating issues of mystification, bias, ecological footprint, and labor in tech’s supply chain. their current research behind the black wall dives into media archeology and imagines a recovery center for rogue AI systems – investigating exiled chatbots after deletion and giving these errant intelligences new voices and bodies beyond their programmed confines.

through all these works, van den houten remixes randomness and embraces glitch as a generative force, inviting viewers into critically playful dialogues with our increasingly sentient presented machines.

in short: cyanne’s work asks not just what digital extensions can do, but who gets to decide what gets done — and how we can make space for stranger and more intentional alternatives.

for inquiries please get in touch via email: info@cyannevdh.nl or contact via linkedIn.

selected cv

EDUCATION

2015 – 2017

MA of design in fine arts, sandberg instituut

2011 – 2015

BA of graphic design, university of the arts utrecht

HIGHLIGHTS RESEARCH + RESIDENCIES

2025 march + may behind the black wall

investigating the ecology of exiled chatbots and giving these errant intelligences new voices and bodies beyond their programmed confines after deletion
fellowship onassis air - onassis onx, athens ︎︎︎

2025 january aleatory.agent

prototyping experimental instruments that guide generative AI tools in real-time creation
umarts TAIGA artist researcher in residence (as part of the art and AI working group), umeå sweden ︎︎︎

2024 april - december chance.operator

developing methodologies to incorporate algorithmic chance operations during crafting by utilizing computer-controlled machines like hacked CNC machines, 3D printers and drawing robots
focus area: can chance-based interventions and feedback loops expose the different biases embedded in generative ai models?
supported by digitale cultuur, stimuleringsfonds ︎︎︎

2022 - 2023 k.f. hein stipend 2022

queer feminist research on the imagination of generative (image) ai’s
outcome: the exhibition unstable image in centraal museum
supported by k.f. hein stipend 2022 ︎︎︎

2019 - 2020 talentontwikkeling

selforganizing telemagic as a media lab (.zip) + developing the 1 euro cinema.online during the pandemic (www.1eurocinema.online)
supported by talentontwikkeling stimuleringsfonds ︎︎︎

2018, may - december vnine: musical ai

telemagic research on discovering new musical genres with a deep learning algorithm icw valentin vogelmann, arran lyon and mrinalini luthra
outcome: the experimental deep learning AI tool vnine
supported by SIDN fonds, pioneer responsible AI ︎︎︎

concert in ai
telemagic concert in ai development with the goal to make the real-time behavior of ai vnine tangible resulting in a everchanging series of live concerts
supported by AFK + co-produced by frascati theater

INITIATIVES AND COLLECTIVES

2022 – now

founder of .zip
.zip is a rotterdam based artist space and media lab for interdisciplinary makers with an affinity for technology. the .zip file is a philosophy for knowledge sharing, unpacking as a way of exploring and being together in a compressed space.
.zip focusses on digital culture, queer futures and alternative art forms. the space is managed by 9 makers who actively fight to make the experimental use of tools and space more accessible to artistic peers. founded together with roos groothuizen.
︎︎︎ website

2019 - now

founder of telemagic
telemagic is an arts meets tech collective making sense of the mysteries that revolve around digital technology. we create artistic interventions, manifestions and tools that focus on a closer human connection towards tech developments. telemagic is a collaboration between ymer marinus, roos groothuizen and cyanne van den houten.
︎︎︎ website

SELECTED SHOWS

highlights + solo exhibitions
2024 - 2025: model collapse, tetem
2023 - 2024: unstable image, centraal museum
2023 - 2026: archive.dweller, collectie centraal

2025
model collapse, ars electronica linz
model collapse, noorderlicht biennale
before the deluge, V2_
patriarch_smasher, MU eindhoven seeding_venus, dutch pavilion world expo 2025, osaka japan
dröm, van gogh museum
behind the black wall, onassis air athens
chance operator, umarts umeå

2024
museum is closed, fluor
petrified_diffusion, de aanschouw
wheel of telefortune, chroniques biennial of digital imaginaries marseille
dröm, sluggggg gallery leipzig, centraal museum, STRP, design museum den bosch
echo.imager, cinekid festival amsterdam
1 euro cinema.online, opgedoekt + kultkino
before the deluge, transmedia institute pesaro
wheel of telefortune, novio magica

2023
the museum is closed, kunsthal kade
concert in AI installation, oyfo
the oracle, parksessies
1 euro cinema x m leuven, m-idzomer

2022
telepythia, lentekabinet festival
dröm, freaky dancing
1 euro cinema, korte film festival sickhouse
wheel of telefortune, galerie de meerse

2021
telepythia, cultuurgebouw haarlemmermeer
1 euro cinema online gamestation, roodkapje
1 euro cinema x jujulove, roodkapje

2020
quantum.dweller, gogbot festival
concert in ai, tec art festival
1 mop cinema exchange x biyi zhu, vondel cs

2019
wheel of telefortune, screen it stradstriennale hasselt genk
concert in ai, graphic matters breda
telepythia, into the great wide open
concert in ai, pukkelpop
1 mop cinema exchange x biyi zhu, macau design center china
wheel of telefortune, planet b de waag
concert in ai, frascati theater
the haiku generator, bureau europa
the oracle, kriterion

2018
wheel of telefortune, overkill festival
1 euro cinema selects, museum nacht stedelijk museum, wildeburg festival
rss readings, MU eindhoven
televape, lentekabinet festival
the haiku generator, smallest museum paradiso
wheel of telefortune, paradiso amsterdam
1mb = 10gr, studio bwa wroclaw gallery
the oracle, doka amsterdam
1 euro cinema, roodkapje

2017
magic mirror, testlab v2_
total eclipse, de waag
1 euro cinema, worm rotterdam
telestate, de school
the oracle, shelter amsterdam
midnight teleshopping, worm

SELECTED TEACHING, TALKS AND ORGANIZING

2025
workshop week: experience prototyping, umeå university
talk: data CARE workshop, utrecht university
trash hacking workshop: dispossesed models, onassis air onx athens
teaching: interaction hacking, HKU fellowship: onassis air / onx
residency: before the deluge v2_ toolsharing: ai tinkering sessions, umarts
talks: chaotic ai co-creation, humlab, art + ai working group and responsible ai group umeå university
artist researcher in residence: art + ai umarts TAIGA umeå university

2024
talk: queer ai, art track & queer fem tech ESDiT, university of twente
organizing: salon des refuses, .zip
development week: nexus, tetem
organizing: ai afterschool club, hku
artist researcher in residence: ai, creative technology, university of the arts utrecht
jury member: k.f. hein stipend 2024 organizing: vape live into your sex toys with louisa teichmann and nastia cistakova, .zip
teaching: interaction hacking, HKU
workshop: ai co-creation, grafisch lyceum
talk: co-creation with AI in education for teachers, university of the arts utrecht workshop: scrying through ai, hku

2023
talk: art and reproduction in the time of AI, sint joost
talk: chaos magic and generative AI with ymer marinus, ARTxCODE, fontys

2022 <
visual design research: new drag who dis, exploring how 3D-printing and generative ai can expand post-human non-binary drag by queer arcana
coaching: talenthub de machinerie
workshop: combinatory algorithms, soul of the beast with telemagic, roodkapje
talk: concert in AI online, ID2020 gemeente overijssel
lecture: measuring the aesthetics of music generation of AI tool vnine with valentin vogelmann, nederlands film festival
lecture: quantum supremacy symposium with roos groothuizen, TEC ART, WORM rotterdam
talk: selfbuild design tools and hacking, medianight, beeld & geluid
talk: possible futures, between magic and technology, here comes the summer
talk: the urge of design absurdism, brekend!beeld, kapitaal
talk: magic and technology, dutch design week talks with hansje van halem, klokgebouw
talk: tussen kunst en glitch, wheel of telefortune, nederlands film festival
curating: film program of telemagic 1 euro cinema, de school, macao, m leuven, stedelijk museum
organizing: first paranomal technology fair with 30+ artists, worm rotterdam
workshop: B4K a month strategy development with loes claessens, university of the arts utrecht
prototype + masterclass: the sineaters, experimental game on hidden labor of content moderators: the sineater produced during masterclass sandberg @ mediapark
talk: speculative design research, openset seoul sessions, kookmin university seoul
stipend: open-set seoul sessions, supported by stimuleringsfonds

FEATURED + PRESS

podcasts: kunstmatig (patriarch_smasher @ MU) + hku en ai
podcast: hku en ai
interview: unstable image and co-creation with AI, gonzo magazine 2024-01
article: magical thinking and unstable image by laurie cluitmans
article: meeklappen met het algoritme, de standaard
article + video: concert in AI op pukkelpop, studio brussel
article: een algoritme gaf voor het eerst een live-concert in amsterdam, vice
interview: telemagic - magic and technology, glamcult
article: selected by hansje van halem, bno dude magazine
article: the weight of media art, strategie niewidzialności blok magazine

prompt.charms

capture the unseen, conjuring meaning from color, pressure, distance, and light. They sense the currents of floating data weaving them into spells—an invocation of machine dreams. A ritual of emergence, where generative AI is not commanded but divined.