The MARes in Hybrid Arts program (Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University) invites you to the public online defense of the Master’s thesis Re-thinking Neon: Beyond the Signifier by Angelina Almukhametova, supervised by Iannis Zannos, on Thursday, 5 March 2026 — 7:00 pm (Athens time), via Zoom. The project reexamines neon beyond its traditional role as a signifier, proposing a post-semiotic framework that understands the medium as an embodied, affective material with its own agency and future within art and culture. The defense is open to the public, and all interested students, researchers, artists, and members of the community are welcome to attend.

The MARes in Hybrid Arts program (Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University) invites you to the public online defense of the Master’s thesis Bioelectric Signaling as Pre-linguistic Musicality: A compositional practice emerging from the agency of humans and weakly electric fish by Sophia Osbanova, supervised by Iannis Zannos, on Tuesday, 3 March 2026 — 3:00 (Athens time), via Zoom. The project treats the bioelectric discharges of weakly electric fish as pre-linguistic musicality, transforming multielectrode recordings into an orchestral work (SENSUS) through a transparent, repeatable pipeline that frames composition as a distributed agency across organism, technology, algorithms, collaborators, and listening. The defense is open to the public, and all interested students, researchers, artists, and members of the community are welcome to attend.

The MARes in Hybrid Arts program (Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University) invites you to the public online defense of the Master’s thesis Cyborg Balsamine 2.0 by Tatiana Yfanti, supervised by Maria Chalkou, on Tuesday, 3 March 2026 — 19:00 (Athens time), via Zoom. The project drawing on Hannah Höch’s photomontage and Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory, uses glitch aesthetics, digital montage, and archival research to explore posthuman identity and hybrid bodies as challenges to white patriarchal power structures in contemporary digital culture. The defense is open to the public, and all interested students, researchers, artists, and members of the community are welcome to attend.

The MARes in Hybrid Arts program (Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University) invites you to the public online defense of the Master’s thesis Doublespeeches by Nathalie Dubois Calero, supervised by Adam Zaretsky, on Thursday, 19 February 2026 at 10:00 (Athens time), via Zoom. The project is a bioart approach to human identity through the microbiota and the concept of the human holobiont, raising speculative questions about behavior. The defense is open to the public, and all interested students, researchers, artists, and members of the community are welcome to attend.

The MARes in Hybrid Arts program announces the opening of applications for the Half-Tuition Waiver for Merit-Based Achievement. This initiative provides financial support covering 50% of the semester tuition fees (1,000€) for one (1) eligible student who demonstrates academic excellence. Application Deadline: March 6, 2026 — 3 pm (Athens time).

MARes in Hybrid Arts gladly shares the announcement of The Cyborg Balsamine 2.0, a video installation by Tatiana Ifanti at amaka Studio, a project developed as part of the artist’s master thesis, supervised by Assist. Prof. Maria Chalkou.  "What is a cyborg? When does identity become fluid? Who is afraid of fragmented bodies? What is the Garden of Eden? And ultimately, who writes the rules in the posthuman world?"

The Master of Research in Hybrid Arts (MARes) at the Department of Audio & Visual Arts of the Ionian University announces the first public release of Human Germline Gene Editing is Bioart: An Open Letter to Lulu and Nana by bioartist Adam Zaretsky, Visiting Professor in the MARes program published online on January 1, 2026, by the Bioart Ethical Advisory Kommission (BEAK) in Simplified Chinese, English and French.

The upcoming guest lecture (December 10th, 2025, 17:00-19:00 Greek time) will feature the Coordinator of the Audiovisual Sector of the Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival (Peldocfest), offering a compelling perspective on integrating sustainability, community engagement, and environmental focus within art and project development.

We are pleased to continue the MSG Talks, an online platform where MARes postgraduate students share their ongoing research and artistic experiments with the broader academic and artistic community. This December, will present the latest developments in their projects: Sujata Majumdar, Sofiya Barinova-Osbanova, Myrto Papadopoulos, Tatiana Yfanti and Anne Vlaanderen.

The Winter School in Hybrid Arts Methodology concluded its 2025 edition at the Athens School of Fine Arts Annex in Hydra, after an intensive week dedicated to interdisciplinary research, artistic experimentation, and collaborative learning. Co-organized by the Interactive Arts Lab of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts – Ionian University on behaf of the Master of Research in Hybrid Arts (MARes) and the Third Sculpture Laboratory of the ASFA, the program brought together faculty, postgraduate students, and invited practitioners for a concentrated series of seminars and workshops.

The Winter School in Hybrid Arts Methodology returns to the Athens School of Fine Arts Annex on the island of Hydra for a week-long immersive program that brings together postgraduate students and faculty for collaborative academic exploration, artistic experimentation, and intensive research development. Running from November 24 to 28, 2025, the Winter School provides a dedicated environment where emerging researchers engage directly with leading practitioners in hybrid arts, media archaeology, performance, sound, sustainability, bioart, and critical theory. The Winter School in Hybrid Arts Methodology is co-organized by the InArts Lab  of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts - Ionian University on behalf of the Master of Research in Hybrid Arts (MARes) and the C’ Sculpture Studio of the Athens School of Fine Arts. The program operates within a framework of Social Ethics that fosters respectful communication, inclusivity, and accessibility.

Date & Time: 19 November 2025, 17:00–19:00 Location: Online Platform Hosted within: Project Sustainability Coordination: Dr. Iakovos Panagopoulos

Emmanuel Rovithis, MARes in Hybrid Arts teaching staff, and choreographer-performer Justine Goussot present their latest collaboration within the framework of the ION ARTS Festival 2025, on Monday, November 3rd, at 21:00, at Polytechno (Corfu). Drawing inspiration from the world of social media, the performance interweaves movement, speech, video, and acting into a multilayered narrative.

The Master of Research in Hybrid Arts (MARes) invites you to a talk by Professor Vasileios Karyotis, Head of the Ethics and Research Deontology Committee of the Ionian University and Associate Chair of the Department of Informatics, on Monday, November 4, 2025 at 16:00 (4:00 p.m.) on the topic Ethics Release Procedures in Academic Research.

All communication with the Secretariat of the Master of Research in Hybrid Arts (MARes) during the academic year 2025-2026 should be established by email mares@ionio.gr during office hours Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. (local time, Greece). All communications received after 3:00 p.m. are processed on the next working day. Please note that correspondence is not processed during weekends, national holidays, and official university breaks.