🇦🇹 Internship in Austria 🖥️ Digital Infrastructure, Local AI and AV Networks at an Independent Art Space 🔌 (Erasmus+ grant)

Das LOT in Vienna is building its own fully independent digital ecosystem from the ground up, and it is looking for an Erasmus+ intern to help make it happen. This is digital infrastructure, AI implementation, AV networks and open-source culture in a self-organized contemporary art and cultural space. As the team puts it, be part of something that doesn't exist yet.

🏛️ About Das LOT

Das LOT is a self-organized contemporary art and cultural space in Vienna, working between art, technology, performance, music and collective practices. It is one of the few independent cultural spaces in Austria building its own sovereign digital infrastructure from the ground up.

The LOT is a research laboratory, production studio and event space, and it sees itself as a harbour and landing stage for artists, creatives and researchers of all disciplines. The LOT is intended to become the central contact point for transdisciplinary art and artistic research, providing a space for working, trying and failing, and enabling visitors to have a real say, to participate and to create new art.

🚀 The Project

Over the next six months, Das LOT is setting up its own fully independent digital ecosystem, a modular, open-source, AI-ready workspace that belongs entirely to the organisation. No Big Tech dependencies. Just tools that work, infrastructure they control, and knowledge that stays with the institution.

This is not a finished project waiting to be maintained. It is a living process, and there is genuine room for your ideas, your experience and your approach to shape how it develops. If you bring knowledge the team has not thought of yet, they want to hear it. This model has the potential to become a blueprint for other independent cultural spaces in Austria and beyond.

🧭 Another Austrian internship, in a completely different sector and with a monthly salary attached: Internship in 🇦🇹 Austria 🚚 Transport Sales Manager at an International Logistics Company 📦 (€2,350/month) → https://youthworkshub.org/20444

🛠️ What the Work Involves

The internship covers three connected areas, and you will not need expertise in all of them, because curiosity, a hands-on attitude and the ability to learn as you go matter more than a complete skillset.

💾 Digital workflows: the organisation is moving its organizational tools away from scattered cloud services toward a self-hosted, connected workspace, covering how files are stored, how the team communicates, how projects are tracked and how institutional knowledge is preserved. You help set this up, test it with real users, and document it so it actually gets used.

🤖 Local AI: the team is building a local AI layer for the space, running language models, transcription tools and an internal AI interface on their own hardware. You help get these tools running, integrate them into daily workflows, and make them accessible to team members who are not technical. How the space uses AI, and when it chooses not to, is an open question the team works through together.

🔌 Physical network and AV infrastructure: Das LOT is also building its internal network from scratch, connecting computers, servers, lighting systems, audio devices and AV tools through a structured, reliable setup. This involves real cable work, device configuration, IP networking, and testing signal chains between hardware and software. If you have ever enjoyed the satisfaction of getting everything to talk to each other, this is that.

👤 What They Are Looking For

🔍 Someone who connects to at least part of this and is genuinely interested in the rest

🎓 You might come from IT, media technology, digital systems, cultural informatics, AV production, or somewhere adjacent, and you might be self-taught in some of it

🧠 What matters is that you are organized, curious and comfortable in an environment where not everything is figured out yet

🌐 Helpful background includes basic networking knowledge, experience with open-source or self-hosted tools, familiarity with Linux or local servers, interest in AI and automation, experience with AV software or hardware, or simply a track record of building or configuring things that work

🇩🇪 Basic German is helpful but not required, and self-taught experience counts

🧰 Tools and Technologies Mentioned

You do not need to know all of these, or even most of them. The list is there so you can recognize yourself in it, not to set a bar, and if something on it lights you up, the team wants to hear about it.

☁️ Nextcloud and Collabora

💬 Element and Matrix

🗂️ Baserow

📝 Obsidian

🔗 n8n

🦙 Ollama

🎙️ Whisper

🖥️ Open WebUI

🐧 Linux and self-hosted services

🌐 Static IP configuration, LAN and managed switches, isolated network architecture

💡 ArtNet, sACN, OSC and Dante

🎛️ TouchDesigner and Resolume

🎚️ Behringer Wing and LightShark

✨ LED pixel mapping and local LLMs

🎓 What You Will Take Away

Hands-on experience building real infrastructure, not a simulation and not a course project. You will leave with practical knowledge of how a cultural institution can operate its own digital ecosystem, and a documented piece of work you actually built.

💻 If the mix of technology and cultural institutions is your thing, this internship sits in exactly the same space and comes with accommodation: Internship in 🇧🇪 Belgium 📚 Digital Humanities Intern at an Academic Publisher 💻 → https://youthworkshub.org/19824

📋 The Details

📍 Location: Vienna, Austria

📅 Period listed in the offer: 15 September 2026 to 15 January 2027, while the description states September 2026 to February 2027, with longer stays very welcome

⏳ Duration: listed as 6 months in the general information, while the description states a minimum of 4 months

🕐 Commitment: listed as full-time in the general information, while the description states approximately 25 to 30 hours per week

💶 Payment: an Erasmus+ grant is required

🎓 Fields: IT, media technology, digital systems, cultural informatics and AV technology, and the offer also lists Business Studies and Management Science, Communication and Information Sciences, and Engineering and Technology

🏢 Type: enterprise or company

👥 Who Can Apply

This is an Erasmus+ traineeship placement, so it is open to students and recent graduates enrolled at a higher education institution in an Erasmus+ programme country who can secure an Erasmus+ traineeship grant through their university. Confirm eligibility and the grant procedure with your own university's international office. Many Erasmus+ internships require university confirmation several months in advance, so the organisers recommend applying as soon as possible.

📩 How to Apply

Send your CV, a short motivation letter and, if available, examples of things you have built, configured or maintained, either formally or on your own, by email to the host organisation. In your motivation letter, tell them what part of this project speaks to you most and what you would bring to it. Also let them know if you have any prior experience with the listed tools or technologies, even if only basic or self-taught.