Florian Model

Hello.

My is .

I .

I do care about your , naturally.

Yes, that's my . No, I'm a . First, I miss the looks, and second, I am not fond of wool. Yes, a in my name is One good excuse not to google myself. People tell me that. Want to drop me a mail? Here you go: mail@florianmodel.com.
Want to follow me on social media? Sure, here you go. But don't expect me to be active over there. Some an , , , or . I'm active in the fields of technology, sociology, fine arts and , . I meander between these fields and use them as a for my interests. That’s also why I try to keep all of this transparent: because work tends to flatten people into roles, when in reality no one is just one thing Schiller once said: "Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays". In that sense, is something coming from within one's self. If you consider labor as externally motivated by money or prestige, play is motivated only by one's curiosity, their intrinsic motivation. What play ultimately means is following one's interest, ignoring extrinsic factors. That's what I aim for. There's this question which has been one of my for the past two years that . What's the impact of us as individuals on society as a whole? And even further, what's the impact of society ? Those two questions really stick with me and play a big role in all my fields of interest. I think about them all the time, : On a more conceptual level, I'm with upward and downward causation of complex systems and their emergent behavior. In that sense, I'm fascinated by . Drawing on the idea of Luhmann's system theory, we can think of our world as a big system, consisting of subsystems, consisting of subsystems and so on. ? Think about this: Out of curiosity, the first cell never died. It split. Since then, through innumerable divisions, mutations and iterations, this cell has intrinsically grown into one giant hyper-organism, consisting of ameba and algae, insects and birds, fungi and trees, and me and you. From this perspective, our bodies are just instances of that very first cell that split: In constant exchange with ourselves. There is no other, boundaries get blurry, the relevance of bodies fades away, measures of comparison become irrelevant: Behavior is just an emergent outcome of each interaction of one cell with another cell, society is just the outcome of interactions between individuals with other individuals. This hyper-organism is constantly dealing with its own existence, posing questions and exploring its surroundings out of . If you want to learn more about my projects, drop me a mail. A few selected artefacts I created over time include , a work that drew me more towards societal dynamics. and build upon my interest in artificial intelligence, dealing with our fears of autonomous, self-learning agents. The power of non-goal-driven behavior fueled the work . The engagement for that project laid the foundation for , a research-driven video simulation of autonomous agents experiencing a post-work society. The notion of work, especially in the light of labour as a discipline, is the starting point for the interview series . Ever since I had a shitty experience at a startup, I've been very much drawn to labor theory, especially Silvia Federici, Frigga Haug, and Paul Lafargue. During Covid, we even had a reading group called for a while. Anyway, that interest in how people prompted me to create the piece , which allowed three people to spend one month doing as they please.
Older artifacts include — among others — Radicalart.info, which is a backup of . I received his permission to preserve this important piece of art history just weeks before he died. Last but not least, creates a multi-layered narrative and stream of consciousness, posing the question of what it means to be real.

Opinion Flow

Drawing from my general interest in upward & downward causation, I wondered: How much do we influence each other? What do I perceive as true, to whom do I give faith? The work Opinion Flow was created as part of my fellowship at Cité International des Arts Paris in 2019 in cooperation with several sociologists. The core question asked how ideas, ideologies and opinions circulate in society and how much we as individuals are shaped by social, political and social structures. The result is a simulation that runs in a loop. As time goes by, it shows an increase in opinion heterogeneity.

Significant Other

The installation deals with two core questions of artificial intelligence: How does matter become something capable of thought and why are we, as a society, as a single subject, so afraid of these independently acting, collective systems? The starting point of these considerations is the dystopian narrative around Grey Goo. Grey Goo describes a swarm of nanorobots, which represents a decentralized, non-hierarchical system. Due to its nature, this swarm can take on any form, haptic and material. The nanorobots can replicate themselves and communicate independently. In dystopia, they devour all organic matter and transform the earth into a desert planet. The installation consists of, among other things, two video works: One deals with the subtle fear of intelligent, collective systems, while simultaneously in the second video such a system learns to work independently to circumvent obstacles by means of artificial intelligence.

Hybrid Classifications

Is there such a thing as a hybrid between technology and nature? And if so, what could that look like? Can artificial intelligence imagine this hybrid? An idea so different from human imagination and classification? These questions were the starting point for the large-format installation Hybrid Classifications, consisting of a video, a fibreglass relief, and an engraving.

Leisure & Play
A large part of society spends its time in paid or unpaid work: be it filling out Excel spreadsheets, selling software, sweeping streets, caring for people, managing funds, doing laundry, looking after children or going shopping. But it is this everyday work, this business-as-usual, that indirectly contributes to the worsening climate crisis, significantly determines our society, costs us time with our friends, strains our bodies and affects our mental health, gives hope to some and takes hope away from many. But what if, as a result of growing automation, we will soon no longer have to work, or perhaps even be allowed to? In this context, questions about intrinsic motivation and self-interest come into focus. The relationship between duty and freedom needs to be redefined, with work no longer representing duty alone and leisure no longer representing freedom alone. What constitutes a human being - and thus society - needs to be rethought. Purposeless Abundance
Purposeless Abundance grew out of my curiosity about what happens when you take away goals altogether. Together with a developer and a AI researcher, we built a series of simulations where autonomous AI agents aren’t trying to optimize anything: they simply exist, interact, and play. Instead of chasing outcomes, their behavior unfolds through these open-ended encounters, and I’m interested in what emerges from that: patterns, rhythms, and forms of interaction that don’t serve a clear purpose. My thinking here is shaped by labor theory, AI advancements, and philosophy, especially ideas around post-work futures and acting without a fixed purpose. I kept coming back to Friedrich Schiller’s notion of play as a condition of freedom and Georges Bataille’s thinking around excess beyond utility. Technically, the agents use reinforcement and imitation learning, but I deliberately avoided training them toward efficiency. I wanted to see what happens when they’re left to engage on their own terms. What continues to interest me most is how agency takes shape in these systems—both individually and collectively. Each agent acts on its own, but their behaviors are constantly shaped by others. Over time, this creates a kind of feedback loop where patterns stabilize, groups form, and shared norms begin to appear: not because I imposed them, but because they emerge from within the system itself. Commissioned by Bildmuseet, Umeå University

The Urgency Is Fake
I followed people who, in the throes of exhausting labor, feel how hard it has become to imagine anything beyond what already exists. Their curiosity fades, and with it the sense of play. They catch themselves circling the same questions, repeating the same answers, and only making things worse.

Spielgruppe
The reading group we started during Covid came out of a shared need to slow down and think differently. We read widely: texts on unpaid labor, the philosophy of doing nothing, ideas of play, and possible ways of moving beyond post-capitalism. It became a space where we could sit with these questions more openly, without needing clear answers or outcomes.

There is this beautiful quote by Annie Dillard: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living"

Unconditional Time
The gig economy, involuntary self-employment, the cultural precariat—being underpaid despite being overqualified: these aren’t abstract ideas to me. They shape how many of us live and work. I see how easily curiosity and playfulness get worn down under these conditions. I notice it in myself too: returning to the same questions, the same ideas, the same answers, while things somehow keep getting worse. Reading Maria Montessori and Bob Black made me wonder if the problem isn’t how we work, but that we work at all. What would it mean to stop and begin from play instead? With this project, I wanted to try that out in a very direct way. I gave three workers a month’s pay and asked nothing of them in return—no goals, no expectations, no outcomes. Just time. Space. The possibility to follow whatever interested them. The funding came entirely from Stiftung Kunstfonds — €9,000 in total — and every cent went directly to the participants. What mattered to me was protecting that time. There was no documentation, no production, nothing to show for it in the usual sense. I wanted that freedom to remain intact, without being turned into something useful or measurable.

radicalart.info

The website radicalart.info was very valuable for me in the development of my artistic practice. The author Remko Scha has collected many examples of conceptual art from the last 150 years there. I came into contact with him in 2015. He wrote to me: "Excuses for my delay in answering you. My health is very bad and I may not live much longer." As a result we talked about the ephemeral nature of art on the Internet and I decided to secure his website for the future.

Simulations as liquefied Realities

Heinz von Foerster insists that, in a way, all theories can be true at once. Marvin Minsky suggests that it’s entirely possible we’re living in a simulation. Hannah Arendt writes about how little we actually understand about ourselves, and in Rashomon, even the witness can’t fully account for what happened. I keep coming back to these ideas when thinking about how truth is formed—or fractured. In this work, I’m trying to sit with that uncertainty. I built it around the logic of complex systems, where multiple perspectives overlap, contradict, and reinforce each other. Formally, it takes the shape of a simulated social media feed on a smartphone. As you move through it, nothing settles into a single, stable truth. Instead, meaning shifts constantly—shaped less by facts than by the way information circulates, accumulates, and collides.

Curating

Curating is very closely connected with my artistic practice. It's about connecting different interests, topics and people to create a context and certain atmosphere in space: Putting entities in relation and thereby creating a narrative, a story.

Usually, I work along with Johannna Markert & Lukas Ludwig, with whom I run the non-profit Anorak. We work as a trio and together we have realized many projects including Affairs, Gemini, Bells, Nupta Cadavera, In a Room and Mixed Feelings. As a , we rely on our . Founded by some friends a few years ago before our studies, the non-profit has now grown into a lively organization for contemporary art. Counting over now, which is really nice to see. If you want to become a member as well, feel free to join us!

UX architect and digital product design

I design digital products for critical environments. My focus is on turning complex, fragmented systems into clear, usable experiences that help people.
Over the , I’ve worked across industries like semiconductors, aerospace, public sector, and climate tech. The common thread is complexity: Whether it’s manufacturing systems, aircraft maintenance, or large-scale platforms. My role is to make these systems understandable and usable in real-world conditions.
I specialize in simplifying workflows, aligning UX with underlying system logic, and building scalable design systems. I work closely with engineering and product teams to move ideas from concept to production—quickly, but with purpose.
I’ve supported teams in iterating, validating, and scaling their products. Some of my projects have ranged from early-stage concepts to multi-year transformations, including leading distributed teams of up to 12 engineers.

I'm proud I to implement dark patterns into the products I was responsible for. And never will. I started building websites back in 2007 for my photography, and over time the projects grew in complexity and scale. Today, my work includes collaborations with companies like the German Federal Government, Qualcomm, Lürssen Yachts, Repath, 8tree, Moovit, MTS Schrode among many others.

Video

I started video and photography back with my skateboard & snowboard friends. Over the years, as they got their first sponsors, I was eager to expand my skills and get their photos printed in magazines. Since then, I have heavily expanded my practice: From Storytelling to planning and conducting shootings, editing, and postproduction. I now have moved more towards commercial shootings. I'm open for freelance gigs. Feel free to contact me.

Teaching

I got into teaching undergraduates and graduates right after my studies and it has been an incredible experience . Following Jean-Joseph Jacotot's philosophy, education should be open to everyone. I share his belief that all people have equal intelligence and everyone could learn anything.

Up until now, I have given seminars, lectures and workshops at ABK Stuttgart, Merz Akademie Stuttgart, Centre for Innovative Media Rijeka, and HFBK Hamburg. Really. I do . Mostly, because I want to try . But then of course, it's also to make ends meet. But first and foremost, I love connecting my experience with new ideas to create something new. I love . For example, I played one of the major roles in a movie by Ted Fendt, which premiered at Berlinale Forum in 2026. Hardly a topic where I can't find anything . Did you know, that when you’re “doing nothing,” your brain becomes highly active in a system called the default mode network (DMN)? For example, I love working on books and sketchbooks. I made over 200 sketchbooks so far, and printed eight artist books so far, eg. Texte & Hypothesen, Potentiality & Probability, Fallacies & Biases, Leisure & Play and Holding Pattern. But also, I'm a book hoarder. I don't collect any personal data on this site. All statistics running are hashed and anonymized.