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ONGOING

2026
03.26

2025
09.25

08.25

12. 25
12. 25

12.25
03.25
03.25



WS25/26





SS25/26


Information

FAiR 2026

Law, Technology and Humans Journal


HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT:
THE OPS ROOM

Aarhus 25 / Paper

VINCI 25 / Paper
VINCI 25 / Art Track

OIC Masterclass
re:publica / Panel
STS Hub / Panel


Teaching
Fundamentals of Innovation

Interdisciplinary Projects I

Evolution of Disruptive Technologies


   © Metaverse Lab 2026 / website: Kristina Tica
Metaverse Lab


Linz Institute for Transformative Change [LIFT_C]
Johannes Kepler University Linz

LIT Open Innovation Center
Altenberger Straße 69
4040 Linz

Metaverse Lab is a research group at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. This is an online portfolio and an archive of research projects, conferences, papers and teaching that is developed at the Metaverse Lab up-to-date.

The digital space, along with its interfaces to the analog world, can be understood as the "Metaverse"—a space beyond ("meta") the (physical) universe ("universe"). Social media, AI-driven chatbots, and cryptocurrencies are current manifestations of the Metaverse. In this space, there are no (state) borders, meaning that state sovereignty, with its power to enact laws, can only be exercised in a very limited way. In practice, sovereignty primarily lies with the tech giants of Silicon Valley, which has significant consequences for the rule of law and its liberal democratic order. Led by Professor Meinhard Lukas, the goal of the Metaverse Lab is to explore the transformation within and through the Metaverse using a radical, root-focused, interdisciplinary approach.
 

TEAM


 Univ.- Prof. Dr. Meinhard Lukas / head of the lab
Dr. Joaquín Santuber / research group lead
Kristina Tica MA MA / university assistant
Mariana Costa Morais MSc BSc / university assistant

Further Links:
metaverselab [at] jku.at
jku.at 


NEWS



19 July 2026CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
Kristina Tica presenting Art Paper "From Computer Vision to the Vision of Law: Human Overs[a]ight" at SIGGRAPH 2026, Los Angeles, CA. Tica, K., Santuber, J. 2026.
https://s2026.conference-schedule.org/presentation/?id=artpl_233&sess=sess232

29 June 2026
ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY
From Computer Vision to the Vision of Law: Human Overs[a]ight. Tica, K., Santuber, J. 2026. Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Vol. 9, No. 3, Article 37, pp. 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3816088

25 June 2026 BOOK PUBLISHED
The Socio-Politics of Legal Design and its Epistemic Consequences. Edited by Siddharth Peter de Souza and Joaquín Santuber. Oñati International Series in Law and Society, Bloomsbury.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sociopolitics-of-legal-design-and-its-epistemic-consequences-9781509990085/  

26 March 2026  AI Cafe #3: Your Machines, Their Rules? – Legality, Rights, and Accountability in Algorithmic Society // with Kristina Tica, Raphael Albert & Joaquín Santuberservus x theater phoenix / stadtwerkstatt | 18:00-19:30

15 March 2026
Article published in Law, Technology and Humans Journal
Dis/ordering AI–Human Oversight: Materialities, Aesthetics and Contestability. 2026. J. Santuber, M. Morais, K. Tica.
https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.4170 

4 March 2026 BOOK LAUNCH
Mariana Morais had launched as co-writer and co-editor the book “Legal Design > Visual Law: a prática do Design Jurídico” in Brazil.

March 2026 VISITING PROFESSORSHIP
Joaquin Santuber has been appointed Visiting Professor at the School of Design of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
14 February 2026 CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
Reading the EU AI Act as a Cultural Artefact
Joaquín Santuber, 2026, presented at  the 9th International Conference “Legal Perspectives on the Internet” (COPEJI 9.0), hosted by the  Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania.
13 February 2026 GUEST LECTURE
Law, Design, and Transformative Change
Joaquín Santuber, 2026, at the Go Digital with Law Winter School, hosted by the  Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania.
https://www.jku.at/ec2u/news-events/news/detail/news/gemeinsam-eine-digitale-zukunft-gestalten-highlights-der-ec2u-winter-school-in-iasi/ 


_

ARCHIVE



19 December 2025 RESEARCH ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY
Visualizing AI Operations for Human Oversight: The Ops Room.
Joaquin Santuber and Kristina Tica. 2025.
In Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI '25).
Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 39, 1–5.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3769534.3769580

HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT: THE OPS ROOM. [Art Track]
Joaquin Santuber and Kristina Tica. 2025.
In Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI '25).
Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 75, 1–3.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3769534.3769583

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15 December 2025 OIC MASTERCLASS #2: CREATIVE PRACTICES AS KNOWLEDGE GENERATION
JOAQUÍN SANTUBER AND KRISTINA TICA / BLOG POST

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01-03 December 2025VINCI 2025 Conference, Linz
Visualizing AI operations for Human Oversight: The Ops Room (short paper) /
Human Overs[a]ight: the Ops Room (art track)
Joaquín Santuber and Kristina Tica

–27 November 2025 OIC MASTERCLASS #2: CREATIVE PRACTICES AS KNOWLEDGE GENERATION
JOAQUÍN SANTUBER AND KRISTINA TICALIT OPEN INOVATION CENTER  JKU
 LIT Open Innovation Center 
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14-16 October 2025X Coimbra International Conference on Human Rights (CIDHCoimbra 2025)
Paper presentation: How user-centered design drives neoliberal logic in public institutions.
Mariana Costa Morais

September 2025  PANEL Legal Design Summit 2026, Helsinki
Opening Up Possibilities for Legal Design,
Joaquín Santuber

–03-07 September 2025 EXHIBITION
HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT: THE OPS ROOM at the Ars Electronica Festival Kristina Tica & Joaquín Santuber, 2025

18 August 2025
RESEARCH ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN ACM DIGITAL LIBRARY:
COMPUTING HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT:LAW/APPARATUS\VISION/AGENCY / 
Proceedings of the sixth decennial Aarhus Conference: Computing (X) Crisis

19-22 August 2025COMPUTING HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT:LAW/APPARATUS\VISION/AGENCY
research paper 
presented at The sixth decennial Aarhus Conference: Computing (X) Crisis




JOAQUÍN SANTUBER

Joaquín Santuber is a lawyer and obtained his PhD in Design and IT-Systems from the Hasso-Plattner-Institute, Potsdam, Germany on the topic of designing for digital justice. As research-group lead of the Metaverse Lab, Johannes Kepler University Linz, he works with art-based and design approaches to address the questions of legality in digital environments. 

He has been an Assistant Professor at Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia, a research fellow at the Humboldt’s Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, and the Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra. Currently, Joaquín serves as editor of the LD Journal and as a visiting professor of the School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. 



FULL CV


KRISTINA TICA

Interdisciplinary artist and researcher, with most recent practice centred on the artistic and theoretical exploration of the aesthetics and ethics of machine learning applications in visual computational processes. Tracing the impact of emergent technologies in popular culture under critical theory and philosophy in media and arts, her work activity spans through various disciplines - from visual arts, to coding, writing, and music.

Currently pursuing her practical and theoretical PhD research at the intersection of critical AI, computational image and its aesth-ethics, media theory and law, between the Department of Media Theory at the University of Applied Arts (die Angewandte) Vienna and the Metaverse Lab [LIFT_C] at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. Formerly a Lecturer in Feminist Hacking Strategies, MA Postdigital Lutherie at Tangible Music Lab, Kunstuniversität Linz.

Exhibited at festivals such as Ars Electronica, Speculum Artium, ESOF Trieste, The Wrong. Since 2024 collaborating with Obi Blanche as a duo, DJing and performing in Obi Blanche & B.O.B, as a vocalist and bass player [BRAKE] and being a co-author of the postdigitalpunk research, and music project. Works recently published in ACM Journals; Leonardo Journal (Vol. 57); and The Practice of Art and AI by Hatje Cantz.

FULL CV


ticakristina.com

| | |
postdigitalpunk.cargo.site
Leonardo /ISAST Network Directory

MARIANA COSTA MORAIS


Mariana Costa Morais is a lawyer and interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of innovation, law, the arts, and access to justice. She holds a bachelor's degree in Law from the University of São Paulo and has experience in housing rights, gender, and sexual rights. She co-founded both the first university-based Legal Design Lab in Brazil and the Center for the Right to the City and Culture at the University of São Paulo.

Her international background includes studying Chinese culture at Hubei University in China in 2017 and working with Legal Design in Sweden in 2021. She was also a research fellow at NULawLab, the Legal Design Lab at Northeastern University, and served as a Youth Leader for the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee in 2023.

Mariana holds a master's degree in Design from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, where she explored judicial innovation labs and the role of design in promoting access to justice within a neoliberal context. Between 2023 and 2025, she worked as a teaching assistant and researcher at FGV Law, focusing on intellectual property and innovation. She is currently a doctoral student at the Metaverse Lab [LIFT_C], researching the intersection of AI and law. Her work critically examines the use of emerging technologies and their impact on the effectiveness of social justice, with a focus on citizen agency and autonomy.