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Artificially created beings or complex technical objects have by now become an essential element of our daily lives in a more animated manner than ever before. Those devices are not only instruments with one single function, they do not only replace human capacities like it was the case during industrialization. Technical objects are sensing, perceiving and “thinking” and they imitate human behavior, they react with sounds or even voices and some offer an intimate relationship to humans (Wennerscheid 2019). To imagine what it is like to have another kind of experience is a question that is pursued by philosophers, artists and science fiction writers alike. From my point of view this imaginative perspective of machines reveals a lot about our self and our culture, as can be observed with digital assistants and the reappearing gender stereotypes in android forms and voices (Hester 2016, Wennescheid 2019, Atanasoski & Kalindi 2019). Furthermore, such a perspective helps to overcome the human centered perspective and evokes more value, awareness and empathy towards things that surround us (Braidotti 2013). RESEARCH QUESTIONS a) How is the artificially created other made a subject of discussion in science fiction movies, video art and robotic art? b) What kind of aesthetics is used to speculate about the inner life of an artificial nonhuman? c) Why is the “it” gendered and what characteristics are ascribed to it? d) Which ethical challenges might result from these circumstances (e-waste, working conditions in production, etc.)? e) What is the material dimension of the narratives and metaphors we use for technical objects? f) What are the powers and flaws of artistic speculation? g) Nonhuman creation is genderless. What examples for a queer reconceptualization can be found and what is left of the cyber feminist idea of liberation through technology? h) By analysing examples coming from media art, robotic sculptures and film, I want to investigate the possibilities of representing an entity beyond the human. i) The question will be under which conditions it is possible to escape anthropocentrism, or whether it must be aesthetically captured as a boundary condition? (Anna Lerchbaumer)