The Generative Center
Storytelling experience
With a focus on the use and creation through generative AI technologies, the Center is currently developing and producing several film and documentary series dedicated to Swiss legends and myths, expanding into other production work, social media comunication, pubblicity, music videos, and artistic driven institutional content.
Pioneering production
The Center's short film "The Wolf of Curio"has been the first film entirely created through the use of AI generative art in Switzerland. It has been subsequently adapted to a theatre production, and has led an in depth research into the roots of the Malcantone region, it's history, and dialect.
Critical thinking & reflective analysis
Monthly openings provide for exchange, dialogue, research ignition and laboratories intersecting art, sciences and education.
Workshops, seminars & performances
Recurrent transmission of experience and knowhow on the introduction, implementation, and interaction with generative art in hybrid creative scenarios.
Generative Center
Generative Center is a hybrid production ecosystem designing and operating creative processes across cinema, media, performance, education and institutional culture. Its focus lies in process architecture and the development of cultural production infrastructure, exploring the conditions through which new forms of narrative and production become possible.
talent & experience
Core Team
An arrow out of time.
Felix A. Bachmann
CO-DIRECTOR
Film and Theatre Director, Writer, Producer, AI Artist.
Kevin Merz
CO-DIRECTOR
Film Director, Writer, Producer, AI Artist.
Manuela Bernasconi
CREATIVE CONCEPT
Movement Researcher & Creative Process Designer.
Lucas Previtali
EDITOR
Film editor, IT, AI Artist.
Felix A. Bachmann
Felix A. Bachmann is a multifaceted artist , writer, actor, director, and pioneer in digital and AI-driven art. With a BA in Economics and Philosophy from NYU and a Master’s in Theater Creation from the London International School of Performing Arts, he’s built a life that spans between theatre, film, poetry, dance, and cutting-edge tech. As co-founder of Xocolat, he launched hostartist.network and teamed up with Ruse Laboratories to craft VR tools like ALGO and MONA, bringing immersive experiences to schools, healthcare, hospitals and elderly care homes across Switzerland and the U.S.
Based in Ticino, Switzerland, Felix has he’s co-created the HASARD Festival (Fribourg, Switzerland) and NFTopia, blending physical and virtual creativity, while his acting works from Hollywood feature to indie films and powerful physical theater performances.
Felix kicked off young, dabbling in theater before stints as a model, actor, and even Product Manager for L’Oréal Argentina at 21, steering the shift from Miss Ylang to Maybelline make up brands. He later moved to Europe (London, UK) to multiple life experiences, studies and works such as coordinating production at Buena Onda Films and festivals like Mar del Plata Film Festival (Jury and Special Guests Coordinator, Programer).
He is a father of four children and works closely with his wife choreographer / dancer / producer Manuela Bachmann Bernasconi.
Kevin Merz
Kevin Merz is a Swiss filmmaker, creative innovator, and co-founder of the Generative Center, a hub for projects and educational formats in generative AI. With a background spanning author cinema and blockbuster filmmaking, he has worked alongside Peter Fleischmann and Ueli Steiger, gaining a deep understanding of the industry. His documentaries have won awards and been screened at major festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival and on the Piazza Grande at Locarno.
Beyond filmmaking, Kevin is a co-docent at the University of St. Gallen, where he teaches User-Generated Advertising, and has collaborated with the European Film Center Babelsberg to train film professionals in Rwanda. Passionate about the evolving creative landscape, he is currently focused on the transformative power of AI and building a center of competence for generative AI applications in storytelling and beyond.
When not exploring new frontiers in film and technology, he enjoys family life in Lugano with his wife and two children.
Lucas Previtali
Swiss editor and screenwriter working across film and audiovisual media. His practice is shaped by a longstanding interest in film criticism, alongside a growing focus on the aesthetics and language of digital cinema and the exploration of new forms of visual storytelling.
He edited the graduation short film For Your Own Good, which premiered in the film-school shorts section of the Locarno Film Festival and was later selected for the Fribourg International Film Festival. He has also collaborated on several editions of the Locarno Film Festival, contributing to the creation of festival content.
Since 2026, he has been collaborating with Generative Center, where he edited the film Fiore di Loto, and with Merge Film Festival as a film selector.
Manuela Bachmann Bernasconi
Choreographer, dramaturg, producer and movement researcher. Trained in dance, performing arts and communication sciences, she develops creative practices and processes that explore the relationships between body, language and perception.
She is the creator of FLOWA, a movement practice that uses language to explore and expand the possibilities of movement. Her work spans performance and audiovisual creation, extending into research and the design of collaborative processes across artistic, social and professional contexts.
At Generative Center, she contributes to the development of interdisciplinary research and experimentation.