Das Kiss*lab Projekt ist ein partizipatives Kunst- und Begegnungsformat, das körperliche Nähe, Berührung und nonverbale Kommunikation als gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Praxis erforscht. Im Rahmen des Kiss*Lab Events entsteht ein temporärer Raum, in dem Besucher:innen zu Mitgestaltenden einer partizipativen Performance werden. In einem achtsam kuratierten Setting aus Rauminstallation, Musik, Film und Performance wird Nähe als positiv besetzte Normalität im öffentlichen Raum erlebbar gemacht. Das Projekt verbindet Performancekunst, Konsenskultur, Soundkunst und visuelle Anthropologie zu einem vergänglichen, aber nachhaltig wirkenden Kunstwerk, das sich über den Körper der Teilnehmenden auf den gesellschaftlichen Alltag auswirkt.

The project centers on the Kiss*Lab event, which will take place on November 8, 2026 at the B-Side. It will be complemented by a variety of event, teaching, reflection, and research formats as part of the preparation and follow-up process, in which students and event participants are involved.

• News from the Kiss*lab

  Extension of the application deadline

  Take a look at the event and project descriptions, participation guidelines and our awareness and ethical concept down below!

  You can register here.
  The new application deadline is November 1st, 2026.

  If you have questions about the project, please contact us at kisslab[at]uni-muenster.de oder auf Instagram: @kisslab.ms

• Project phases and dates

  From April to July the focus is on preparation, conceptualisation, and team‑building. In August and September the recruitment of participants and outreach to the public take place. The main event is held in November, followed by a post‑production phase from December through February 27. During this final phase the team and participants reflect on the work and organise a public film screening with a subsequent discussion.

  Project duration: April 2026–February 2027

  Friday, October 16, 2026, 5 pm
  Scharnhorststr. 100 - SCH 100.2 (Hörsaal)
  Interactiver lecture: In Beziehung - Ein Dialog zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft

  Sunday, November 8, 2026, 15:00 bis 19:30 Uhr
  B-Side (Veranstaltungssaal)
  “Kiss*lab” event

• Project Responsibility and Collaborations

  The Kiss*Lab project is hosted by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and funded by the Robert Lemelson Foundation. With Michael Schmalz (Matou La Rouge/Somatic Lab Münster) serving as artistic director and Dr. Annika Strauss (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology) as academic advisor, in collaboration with B-Side Kultur e.V. and the collective lust:kunst.

• Combining Teaching, Art, and Research

  The Kiss*Lab brings together artistic practice, university teaching, and collaborative research in a single project. At its core is a participatory performance involving approximately 20–40 people. The participants are not merely an audience but co-creators of the artistic event. Through guided yet open formats for interaction, they explore closeness, distance, touch, nonverbal communication, and bodily perception. Throughout the process, they determine for themselves how intensely they participate and which forms of interaction feel right for them.

  The artistic director (Michael Schmalz) develops the concept, designs the space and program for the Kiss*Lab event, and guides and facilitates the organizational process. The team also includes an academic supervision (Dr. Annika Strauss) from the field of cultural and social anthropology, who designs the accompanying courses, supervises the participating students, and guides the collaborative research process. Students of visual anthropology as well as cultural and social anthropology carry out various study and research projects as part of the project. The support team, composed of experts with prior experience in the field of awareness, helps create a consensus-oriented, diversity-sensitive, and trauma-informed space during the Kiss*Lab event. It supports participants during the event and, if necessary, beyond it, and provides guidance in situations where questions, uncertainties, or boundaries arise. Together, they form the Kiss*Lab team, which designs and implements the project over the course of nearly a year. Individual exercises and interactive formats for the Kiss*Lab event are tested, discussed, and refined in advance by the Kiss*Lab team.

  The project is linked to various courses in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology's BA and MA programs:

  • Konzeption eines Forschungs- und Berufsfeldprojektes
  • The social science of intimacy – Sexology, queer anthropology and sensual ethnography
  • Public Anthropology und Ethnographisches Bloggen

  Students observe, document, and reflect on the process while developing their own research approaches and questions. In this way, the Kiss*Lab becomes a space for learning, experience, and research: Students can put methods of ethnographic, visual, and artistic research into practice while reflecting on their own role in the field of research.

• Collaborative Research and Publicly Engaging Ethnology

  The Kiss*Lab views research not as one-sided observation, but as a shared, responsible process of knowledge production. The focus is on questions regarding how closeness and intimacy are shaped by society, which social norms govern physical encounters, and how alternative forms of togetherness can be experienced and shaped. The scholarly perspectives are not conveyed in isolation from artistic practice, but emerge in close connection with the experiences and questions that develop within the project, during organizational work, and through interaction with the participants.

  The results of the study and research projects are presented at a public event, discussed with participants and an interested public, and made accessible to all.

  The event is also accompanied by an interactive lecture. Artistic and social science perspectives enter into dialogue with one another and engage with an interested, non-academic public. Academic findings are not merely presented but are jointly discussed, embodied, and made tangible through performative or perception-oriented elements.

  A student of visual anthropology is documenting the creative and organizational process surrounding the Kiss*Lab event on film. The resulting materials serve not only as documentation but are themselves forms of ethnographic and artistic practice and generate their own forms of knowledge.