Open Hertzlab & XR experience »Criptastically Hacked«

A participatory encounter at the intersection of disability, technology, and artistic intervention – what happens when hacking becomes a tool of care, resistance, and radical creativity?

In this session, web developer and activist Christian Bayerlein joins artist-researcher Puneet Jain to explore disabled-led innovation in XR and digital accessibility. Bayerlein – who lives with spinal muscular atrophy and directs his own care team – shares a practice rooted in autonomy and techno-critical experimentation: from micro-joystick interfaces to wheelchair-powered heating systems and open-source accessibility tools.

Puneet Jain, whose artistic research investigates the ableist foundations of XR technologies, presents experimental prototypes designed in close collaboration with crip activists. By hacking body-worn tech and reframing immersive media through the lens of access and agency, Jain repositions extended reality as a space for disabled storytelling and resistance.

The event includes a one-on-one XR experience from Jain’s XR artwork Crip Sensorama, followed by informal reflection. The experience is non-invasive and each session lasts 20 minutes and includes optional dialogue about the perceptual shift experienced.

Together, Bayerlein and Jain present a framework of „crip-tech“ that is less about fixing bodies – and more about questioning the systems that define usability and participation.