Kristin Veel

As Professor in Aesthetic Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen, I specialize in the intricate interplay between digital technologies and everyday life, probing its profound impact on cultural imagination and the evolving trajectories of cultural history. My research delves into the nuanced invisibilities and uncertainties that emerge from data-tracking and datafication processes, examining their manifestations across diverse domains such as film, art, literature, architecture, design, and everyday experiences. Grounded in aesthetic and cultural theory, my methodologies encompass a spectrum of approaches, from theoretical inquiry to practice-based artistic and speculative methodologies.

At the University of Copenhagen, I co-lead the interdisciplinary research hub, INTERSECT, with Henriette Steiner, where we foster collaboration across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and design. INTERSECT serves as a nexus for exploring the intersections of urbanism, landscapes, communities, and social justice.

I am honored to serve as the Principal Investigator of a collaborative project with Landsorganisationen af Kvindekrisecentre (LOKK), funded by Queen Mary's Center, which investigates the use of smart technologies in the home for coercive control and tech abuse. Additionally, alongside Kathrin Maurer, I co-lead a project funded by The Velux Foundation, hosted at the University of Southern Denmark, exploring The Aesthetics of Bio-machines and the Question of Life, which aims to shed light on how we can rethink the status of the machine and explore new concepts of what it means to be alive. I am also co-PI of the project Human-AI Collaboration: Imaginaries, Interventions, Interfaces funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark which together with Malthe Stavning Erslev and Kristoffer Ørum will investigate how we can use artistic and design-based approaches to address and manage problematic aspects of Generative AI use through a focus on creative human-AI collaboration.

My contributions to the field have garnered recognition, including an honorary Research Fellowship at the Surveillance Studies Centre, Queen’s University, Canada, and the prestigious Lars Arge Award for Young Scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters. 

I am the author of Narrative Negotiations: Information Structures in Literary Fiction (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009) and co-author of Tower to Tower: Gigantism in Architecture and Digital Culture (MIT Press, 2020) with Henriette Steiner. Co-edited volumes include Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data (MIT Press, 2021) and Warchives: Archival Imaginaries, War and Contemporary Art (Sternberg Press, 2020).

My most recent monograph co-written with Henriette Steiner, Touch in the Time of Corona: Reflections on Love, Care and Vulnerability in the Pandemic (De Gruyter, 2021), reflects on the profound implications of the pandemic on human connection and intimacy.

For more information on my research and publications, please visit:

- HomeCTRL

- Bio-machines 

- INTERSECT 

I am committed to advancing knowledge and fostering inclusive and caring research environments, and I welcome opportunities for collaboration and dialogue within and beyond academia.