In July, three students from the MA Digital Narratives programme, Amna Tariq, Haydar Tastan, and Moheman Iqbal, together with Natalia Kozakiewicz of Cologne University of Music and Dance, presented their project HAL in Neumarkt Square.
As part of the Nimm Platz programme by the City of Cologne they transformed Neumarkt into a vibrant space of rhythm, movement, and digital ritual. What started as a classroom production exercise evolved into a participatory public performance, blending AI, 360° video, and Dhamal, a Sufi tradition of ecstatic dance.
Strangers danced side by side, a 70-year-old woman experienced VR for the first time, and the artists learned firsthand what it means to take digital art into the unpredictability of public space.

Read the full behind-the-scenes story and reflections in their MA Digital Narratives Medium blog post: https://medium.com/digital-narratives/east-in-west-digital-in-public-7f4cb83f1246