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Anton Koch (M.Eng.) works as a senior research software engineer and research assistant at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. Since 2017, he has been responsible for software development and technological strategy within Motion Bank, an interdisciplinary research group exploring digital practice in contemporary dance, as well as the capture and transmission of dance knowledge. Since 2022, he has also been responsible for platform and infrastructure development within the KITeGG project, which aims to incorporate emerging machine learning technology into the design curriculum. His research focuses on the triadic relationship between engineering, politics of labour and social practices, reflecting on his domain through art, history, and critical thinking.
Before moving into the research field, he worked as a software developer in small companies and advertising, co-founding his first start-up for digital music distribution, Loopnet.de, in 1998. Since then, he has been involved in numerous other projects and companies, developing application prototypes and finding ways to make emergent technologies accessible in commercial contexts. Furthermore, he has produced experimental electronic music, several music videos, exhibited media installations as side-projects to his professional work and supported various cultural projects with technological consultancy and development.
A dance research project initiated in 2010 by choreographer William Forsythe. The interdisciplinary research focuses on the fundamentals of digital dance research, the digital documentation of dance, and the use of digital technologies in dance practice.
Located at the Mainz University of Applied Sciences in the Design Department since 2016.
Making AI tangible and comprehensible: Connecting technology and society through design. A joint project of five universities on the integration of AI in design teaching.
Lead: Mainz University of Applied Sciences | Funding: German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF) and the Rhineland-Palatinate state
The #vortanz project was aimed at introducing and exploring machine learning (AI) to university level dance education in a sustainable way.
Lead: Mainz University of Applied Sciences | Funding: German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF)
Improving the mobile and collaborative functionality for Motion Bank's annotation tool in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
Funding: Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science, Education and Culture (MWWK)
The "#digitanz" research project investigated how digital tools can transform creative processes in cultural education, focusing on a dance program for 19 high school students at an integrative school in Mainz.
Funding: German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF)
A cross-disciplinary project of dance, visual arts and science in which a commissioned dance piece is digitally captured from initial rehearsal to full performance and subsequently translated by visual artists and designers.
Funding: German Federal Cultural Foundation
The first translation of a full-length choreography to produce a dataset that is used both in the further choreographic process as well as sound and lighting for the final performance.
Funding: Hamburg Cultural Foundation
A conceptual exploration of a federated network for dance data exchange among the arts and science.
Funding: Aventis-Foundation
Developing a conceptual prototype for an archive of William Forsythe's rehearsal material collected with the Piecemaker software developed by dancer David Kern.
Funding: German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF)
A critique of AI's historical and ideological ties to systemic violence and neoliberalism, urging a materialist and abolitionist reevaluation of its sociotechnical foundations. The article proposes alternative frameworks that reject racialized and colonial legacies in technology.
A review of the decision-making process for the establishment and implementation of the supporting technical infrastructure for the KITeGG project.
The article examines the role of Foundation Models within the contemporary landscape of generative Artificial Intelligence, arguing that they should not be regarded as neutral technological developments, but rather as instruments embedded in the political economy of neoliberal austerity.
The article examines research on the application of machine learning and deep learning in dance. It discusses the deployment of automated systems for movement analysis, such as pose estimation and human action recognition.
The article discusses growing public criticism of technology's societal impact, while also linking technological development to systemic issues and capital-driven industry growth. It critiques the tech sector's role in perpetuating inequality and militarization, noting its expansion post-2008 financial crisis.
The chapter details Motion Bank's innovative documentation methods, terminology, and motion capture strategies, emphasizing their applicability to artistic research and the cumulative value of choreographic data projects.
This article describes five case studies, presenting them as examples of the diversity within the consortium of the National Research Data Infrastructure Germany (NFDI) for research data on material and immaterial culture (NFDI4Culture).
deRSE2025 Conference
Motion Bank Unicamp International Seminar
MOCO'24 – 9th International Conference on Movement and Computing
Politics of the Machines – Lifelikeness & beyond
Beyond Gravity Festival – Reflexionen
deRSE 2019 – German Conference for Research Software Engineers
Artistic collaboration, Hamburg
ArtSci Nexus, Leipzig & Hamburg
Kampnagel K3, Hamburg
31C3 Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg
Fleetstreet Theater, Hamburg
Angaben gemäß § 5 DDG
Anton Koch
c/o Impressumservice Dein-Impressum
Stettiner Straße 41
35410 Hungen