This year, CultTech Summit introduces a new program track: CultTech Community Roundtables.
Any ticket holder can propose a discussion topic. Each roundtable seats up to 20 participants — speakers and listeners — in a dedicated room. The session lasts 50 minutes in total, with time for both presentations and open discussion with Summit attendees. Full rules below.
This year, CultTech Summit introduces a new program track: CultTech Community Roundtables.
Any ticket holder can propose a discussion topic. Each roundtable seats up to 20 participants — speakers and listeners — in a dedicated room. The session lasts 50 minutes in total, with time for both presentations and open discussion with Summit attendees. Full rules below.
(+) read more and join:
As artificial intelligence reshapes the cultural sector, this roundtable brings together art researchers, cultural producers, curators, and managers to reflect on how their activities, roles, and responsibilities are evolving in response to algorithmic systems. Moving beyond artistic creation alone, we focus on the operational, analytical, and strategic layers of working with and around AI in contemporary cultural institutions.
How is AI impacting research methodologies in art history and theory? What new competencies are required of curators and producers managing AI-assisted projects? How do we ensure cultural policies, funding frameworks, and public engagement strategies remain relevant in this shifting landscape?
This discussion will explore:
Participants will share practical insights, emerging case studies, and visions for sustainable and inclusive models of art management. By examining how intelligence—both human and artificial—is curated, mediated, and institutionalized, this roundtable seeks to lay foundations for a critical, research-informed approach to cultural work in the age of AI.
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What if the museum of the future isn’t just for people, but by them? In an era of co-creation and user-generated content, this question is no longer a theoretical exercise but a strategic imperative.
This roundtable tackles this paradigm shift head-on. We move beyond a single case study to ignite a multi-perspective dialogue on the power and potential of student-led content creation in museums.
Together, we will explore critical questions for:
Institutions: How do we challenge traditional notions of authority and quality control to genuinely empower young creators?
Educators: How can we leverage the museum as a dynamic learning ecosystem to foster critical 21st-century skills like digital literacy and collaborative problem-solving?
Tech Innovators: What does the tech stack for cultural co-creation look like? Which tools, platforms, and workflows truly enable seamless collaboration?
The Audience Experience: How do student-authored narratives create more authentic, relevant, and engaging experiences for everyone?
This roundtable is more than a discussion—it’s a collaborative exploration of actionable strategies. Join us to debate, define, and lay the groundwork for scalable models that place the next generation of creators at the heart of our cultural institutions. Be ready to challenge assumptions and co-create a roadmap for the truly participatory museum of the future.
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Communities can be a key force in growing creative projects. By empowering community members to spread the word, or by building upon their feedback to create new features and opportunities, a lot is possible!
In this roundtable, Artivive’s Karin Gutmaher and Leander Seidl will share some of the AR startup’s own experiences growing together with the community, as well as offer inspiration on how creative tools can be used to empower communities even further.
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What if your life were the greatest film ever made — and you had the power to direct it?
In a world where algorithms run fast and life runs faster, it’s easy to become extras in our own story. This roundtable flips the script. The Art of Living: Directing Your Own Blockbuster in the Age of AI invites you to take back the director’s chair — and lead your life like the boldest project you’ll ever produce. With purpose, vision, and creativity, we’ll explore how to design a life worth watching.
This roundtable is hands-on. It is designed to move you from inspiration to action. By the end, you won’t just have ideas. You’ll have a plan.
Our premise is simple but radical: life is not a finished product, it’s a prototype. We’re not meant to arrive. We’re meant to iterate and become. Each scene, each act, is an opportunity to redesign, rethink, and reinvent. Participants will explore how to become the founders of their own lives, drawing from:
And because every great story requires participation, this roundtable is a co-creation space. In this roundtable, you won’t just listen. You’ll build. Led by Natalie Thibault, who spent nearly 17 years at Amazon developing global talent, participants will engage in a live, hands-on exercise applying Amazon’s Working Backwards framework to their own lives. With insights and experience at one of the world’s most innovative and tech companies, Natalie will guide you through turning personal vision into practical strategy — scene by scene.
Participants will have a rare opportunity to engage with Chris Cavell, a two-time Emmy Award winning producer with 15 years of experience building partnerships across A-list talent, tech, healthcare, and entertainment. Most recently, Chris has brought his creative vision to the Calm App, which has been downloaded over 180 million times and recognized as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies. His work champions authentic storytelling and the power of human voices, partnering with icons like Jay Shetty, Matthew McConaughey, LeBron James, Harry Styles, and many others to improve mental well-being, spark imagination, and elevate the quality of life.
Closing the loop is economist and global educator Dr. Marieta Velikova, who will challenge participants to think in systems, not silos. She’ll explore the opportunity cost of conformity — the unseen trade-offs we make when we follow paths that don’t align with our values. Marieta will emphasize the importance of culture — both organizational and societal — as a force that shapes how we define success, manage ambiguity, and respond to change. Participants will walk away with tools to spot opportunity in uncertainty, and to build the confidence and resilience needed to lead meaningful lives in fast-changing, cross-cultural environments.
This roundtable doesn’t analyze technology from a distance — it puts humanity back at the center of the frame. It embodies REACT 2025’s mission to rethink the relationship between culture and technology by offering a session that’s as introspective as it is interdisciplinary, as poetic as it is practical. It’s not just about where AI is taking us — but about who we choose to become along the way.
But don’t just take our word for it…
Studies prove that “Individuals with a strong sense of purpose reported fewer depressive symptoms, lower levels of anxiety, and better emotional resilience.” And, “Employees who feel a strong sense of purpose at work are four times more likely to be engaged, report higher job satisfaction, and stay longer at their companies.”
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With spatial computing moving into the mainstream through headsets and mobile devices, we are standing at a pivotal moment for cultural heritage.
Spatial storytelling allows us to see hidden histories, connect people with place, and opens up history to new audiences. At the same time, it raises questions about authenticity, responsibility, and the role of technology in shaping memory.
This roundtable will explore how spatial storytelling can support preservation and education in a world where the line between virtual and physical grows thinner each day.
We will cover:
Authenticity and accuracy: How can spatial storytelling preserve history rather than distort it?
Role of technology: How do we avoid “tech for tech’s sake” and keep the focus on culture and heritage?
Audience connection: Can spatial storytelling open up new ways for younger and more diverse audiences to engage with heritage?
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Cultural value is increasingly shaped by digital layers that extend beyond traditional artworks and institutions. With the integration of AI, blockchain, and augmented reality, we are witnessing the rise of hybrid cultural economies—systems that reconfigure how creativity is authored, how ownership is structured, and how audiences engage.
The Blue Danube Project illustrates this paradigm shift. As a multimedia “Gesamtkunstwerk” and collaborative laboratory, it situates AI as co-author, challenging long-held notions of creativity, originality, and intellectual property. Blockchain introduces new financing mechanisms, allowing artists to become assets themselves—shifting value from static works to the long-term trajectories of cultural creators. This principle underpins GAIA Culture’s ambition to become the “NASDAQ of culture.” Finally, through Artivive’s augmented reality platform, publications and exhibitions are reimagined as hybrid, participatory experiences. AR enables physical works to become portals into evolving digital narratives, transforming cultural memory, accessibility, and the economics of audience interaction.
Together, these digital layers highlight how cultural value is being restructured at its core—not only by enabling new modes of artistic practice, but also by building hybrid cultural economies where trust, participation, and sustainability are central.
Guiding Research Questions (linked to The Blue Danube Project)
In The Blue Danube Project, AI is framed as a co-author. How does this challenge traditional concepts of authorship, and what does it imply for artistic agency and intellectual property?
GAIA Culture’s contribution highlights the artist-as-asset model. How can blockchain shift the financial focus from finished works to the career trajectories of artists, and what new opportunities and risks arise from this shift?
Through its partnership with Artivive, the project extends exhibitions and publications into AR-enhanced formats. How does this hybridity alter audience engagement and expand cultural memory beyond the gallery space?
When AI, blockchain, and AR converge within a project like The Blue Danube, what new value systems emerge, and how do they reshape the economic and social role of culture?
Can The Blue Danube Project serve as a prototype for hybrid cultural economies more broadly, and what institutional, legal, and ethical frameworks are necessary for such models to scale responsibly?
Speakers:
Stephanie Meisl (s.myselle)
Stephanie Meisl is an award-winning media artist and AI thought leader, known for pioneering works such as OK Computer and Schiele’s Ghost, which interrogate digital identity, generative aesthetics, and the boundaries of human–machine collaboration. As co-founder of the collective D#AVANTGARDE and creator of the AI persona s.myselle, she positions AI not as a tool but as a co-author, provoking new debates around creativity, authorship, and ethics. Her work has been recognized with the Content Vienna Digital Literacy Award (2023), and in 2024 she was appointed Vice Chair of the Creative Industry Council, where she contributes to national strategies on AI and culture. In The Blue Danube Project, her AI-driven practice underpins the speculative narratives and aesthetic experiments at the heart of the work.
Patricia Paulina Karrer
Patricia Paulina Karrer is the founder of GAIA Culture, a platform redefining culture as an investable asset through blockchain and AI. She holds an MSc in Digital Innovation and Emerging Technologies from the London School of Economics (LSE), where she founded her first Web3 venture, New Emerging Artists (NEA), to support early-career creatives through digital visibility and financing. She later joined Exclusible, a leading Web3 and Metaverse company, where she designed NFT strategies for luxury brands including Hogan, Christofle, and Richard Orlinski. At the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), she served as Strategic Regional Innovations Manager and AI Task Lead, directing EU-wide programs on AI and digital innovation. With GAIA Culture, Karrer advances the artist-as-asset model, enabling communities to invest in artists’ long-term trajectories rather than only in their artworks. Her ambition is to establish GAIA as the “NASDAQ of culture”, integrating financial innovation with cultural sustainability. In The Blue Danube Project, GAIA Culture contributes the blockchain infrastructure and new ownership models that underpin its hybrid cultural economy.
Sergiu Ardelean
Sergiu Ardelean is the founder and CEO of Artivive, the leading augmented reality platform for the arts, with over 650,000 creators in 190+ countries. Artivive allows artists and institutions to merge physical artworks with immersive digital narratives, transforming exhibitions and publications into layered, participatory experiences. Adopted by institutions such as the Albertina Museum in Vienna, the United Nations in New York, and cultural centers in Seoul and Shanghai, Artivive has become a global infrastructure for hybrid cultural engagement. Ardelean also serves on the Harvard Advisory Board and mentors at MIT Arts Startup, the Culttech Accelerator, and SUP VC, shaping the next generation of cultural-tech leadership. In The Blue Danube Project, Artivive’s AR technologies provide the digital layering that expands cultural memory and participation, turning traditional formats into immersive encounters.
Suggested Roundtable Flow:
5 min – Curator’s framing, positioning The Blue Danube Project as a prototype of hybrid cultural economies.
3 × 3 min – Speaker Inputs, highlighting AI as co-author (Meisl), blockchain & the artist-as-asset model (Karrer), and AR & participatory hybrid experiences (Ardelean).
25 min – Moderated Discussion, structured around guiding questions.
15 min – Transition/Preparation for the next roundtable.
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“Publish or Perish!” is the adage in the academic field, where scholarly content takes the form of documented writings published in specialized journals. But to “publish” is, first and foremost, to make public. In this regard, artists have powerful “mediums” at their disposal for publicizing their work: exhibitions, live performances, design objects, the dissemination of media productions, etc… Between academic forms of publication and artistic encounters with the public, is it possible to open up new avenues that meet both academic and artistic requirements? Could these hybrid forms of publishing, by drawing as much on sensitive experience as on the transmission of knowledge, make it possible to address both experts and much wider audiences? What’s more, could these new formats help to mobilize and involve their audiences?
In an attempt to provide concrete answers to these questions, it seems appropriate and productive to explore alternative paths, hybridizing academic formats with artistic forms. To present this approach, we will draw on several examples of public experimentation carried out recently by EnsadLab, Ecole des Arts Décoratifs-PSL’s research lab before briefly introducing the new journal .able, which is part of this move to renew publishing methods based on art and design research. Free access peer-reviewed journal exploring the full potential of multimedia and multi-platform publishing, .able’s aim is to deliver visual essays to the academic sphere and beyond, to bring this research and creation to as wide an audience as possible.
Other examples may then be proposed by the other participants in this round table discussion before we all discuss this invention of new formats for “publicizing” research that would enable us to increase our societal impact
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Ticketing: From Paper to Personalized Experience
Digital admission systems are transforming how we manage visitor flows, enabling real-time updates, sustainability, and personalized communication. Wallet tickets and mobile passes reduce manual processes and offer opportunities for data-driven marketing and visitor loyalty—turning physical tickets into souvenirs rather than necessities.
Multimedia Guides: Immersion Meets Innovation
Today’s cultural experiences go beyond the traditional „explain the world to me” audio tour. Smart devices, mobile apps, AR, and AI are reshaping content delivery with increasingly sophisticated formats. Multimedia guides support participatory museum approaches, offering flexible, multi-sensory ways to explore art and history. At the same time immersive formats like audio dramas are enabling more emotional, intuitive encounters with history.
Will digital admission systems fully replace printed tickets in the near future?
How can museums use data from digital passes to enhance visitor loyalty?
What role will immersive audio formats play in the museum experiences of tomorrow?
How do multimedia guides foster greater participation and inclusivity in cultural spaces?
In the age of smart technology, will human-guided tours remain essential—or become obsolete?
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Key Question
What if the key to future-proof success isn’t just more technology, but deeper cultural intelligence? How does culture create value for a future proof business?
Framing
As AI scales logic and automation drives efficiency, the real differentiator becomes meaning.
The next generation doesn’t just want better systems, they want systems that understand them.
Culture is no longer a soft layer around business, it’s the core code behind trust, innovation, and connection.
It’s what determines whether a brand feels alive, whether leadership feels human, and whether organizations stay relevant in a world defined by change.
The future of work, of finance, of creativity: it all depends on how well we understand identity. Because the greatest value we can create now isn’t speed, scale, or data, It’s belonging in a world with no limits.
The most resilient institutions of the future will be those that understand culture not as decoration, but as strategy.
In the next economy, cultural intelligence is the real investment.
Discussion Angles
→ Cultural fluency as business advantage and leadership skill.
→ Identity-driven creativity and brand innovation.
→ Authenticity and emotional value as new market drivers.
→ The role of culture in building trust, inclusion, and social impact.
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The idea is to explore how theatre partnerships can create brand value through depth rather than scale:
– how sponsorship of theatre builds authentic narratives and reputation,
– what companies gain from smaller but deeply engaged audiences,
– cases of meaningful collaborations between theatre and business,
– and how such partnerships foster long-term loyalty and trust.
I will be happy if artists, producers, brand managers, CSR leaders, marketing & PR experts join to share their perspectives and experiences.
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The relationship between art, technology, and business is often framed in terms of innovation and opportunity — but it is also marked by deep skepticism — especially on the side of art. Artists worry about instrumentalization, while businesses seek measurable impact; a cultural and linguistic gap often makes it hard to get together – and many art-tech projects seem to really lack either in art or in tech.
This roundtable will open a candid discussion on the frictions and misalignments shape harm art–tech collaborations and look at ways to overcome them. Rather than rehearsing celebratory narratives, we will ask: what can each side genuinely contribute to the other? What gets lost in translation? And where do meaningful partnerships emerge? Drawing on perspectives from both practice and theory by artists and technologists alike, we will explore the conditions under which skepticism can give way to synergy.
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What does it really take to build in creative tech? Not just vision or skills — but the grit to fail, adapt, and figure it out. In Europe especially, a stronger tolerance for failure could unlock faster innovation and bolder ideas.
This roundtable asks: How do we turn setbacks into stepping stones? What separates excuse-making from problem-solving? And how can founders hardwire resilience into their entrepreneurial DNA?
Expect candid fail stories, honest insights, and an open discussion on the messy reality of building creative tech ventures.
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The music business is one of the most complex cultural markets, with rights, royalties, and careers often slowed by administrative hurdles. This roundtable brings together seasoned professionals and tech founders to discuss practical solutions already in play. From fan engagement tools and management platforms to AI systems for sync, metadata, and rights management, the session highlights where technology is genuinely reducing complexity and helping the business move forward.
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We are living through a pivotal moment when technology is not only transforming industries but reshaping the foundations of cultural production, sharing, and experience. Generative AI brings extraordinary creative potential while raising profound challenges for authorship, economics, ethics, and the integrity of expression.
This roundtable will examine how creative resistance and persistence can be structured through convergent interventions across technology, economics, and policy. By fostering creator agency, sustainability, and ethical cultural innovation, we aim to chart pathways for resilient cultural ecosystems in AI-mediated environments.
The discussion will center on the question: How can integrated technical, economic, and policy interventions foster creative resistance and persistence, driving a structural shift toward cultural ecosystems that center creator agency and emotional integrity in the age of AI?
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This roundtable, titled Economics of Culture Redesigned: Financing the Creative Economy with AI and Web3, examines how emerging technologies — particularly artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data-driven finance — are redefining cultural capital and reshaping the
creative economy. It asks: how can we redesign cultural finance to balance innovation, equity, and artistic authenticity in an age of generative technologies?
The session explores the promise and tension of AI-backed credit scoring, automated risk analysis, decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain tokenization. These tools hold the potential to democratize access to funding, reduce evaluation costs, and increase transparency for creative entrepreneurs who have traditionally faced significant barriers to capital. Yet they also risk introducing new forms of bias, commodification, and opacity that can undermine cultural diversity and creative risk-taking.
This conversation will move beyond hype to address real-world implementation. The session moderator will share insights from developing CreditLense, an AI-enabled credit memo automation platform designed to simplify and standardize the underwriting process for creative industries financing. This case study highlights both the opportunities of integrating AI into cultural finance and the responsibilities required to maintain human-centered values.
Panelists will discuss:
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For years or decades, the creative industries were told to learn from “the real business world”. To become more efficient, more results-driven or more structured.
It’s about time to flip the script and demonstrate: the creative industries are more resilient than any other industry and make the most out of change.
This Roundtable is meant to gather the best examples how the mindsets, the skills and the workflows of artists and creatives can inspire other industries in the times of #vuca and #bani.
What if the secret to the next breakthrough isn’t in another spreadsheet, but in how a jazz musician improvises? What if the solution to your team’s innovation block lies not in another framework, but in how theater directors guide their cast toward opening night?
While most businesses are still trying to make creativity fit into their existing models, the smartest leaders are flipping the script entirely. They’re discovering that artists, musicians, designers, and cultural institutions have been solving complex problems, building engaged communities, and creating lasting impact long before Silicon Valley existed.
Join this table if you have thrived on uncertainty, know how to improvise or excel when facing uncertainty!
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Education at the intersection of art, culture, and technology is often imagined as either institutional or market-driven — universities on the one hand, and commercial training programs on the other. Yet many learners and practitioners today are looking for something different: short, flexible, and accessible formats that allow them to build knowledge “piece by piece,” outside traditional hierarchies.
At the same time, there is a growing demand for spaces where knowledge is not simply transmitted, but constructed together — in dialogue, exchange, and collaboration. New pedagogical approaches such as rhizomatic learning highlight the individual’s capacity to synthesize knowledge across diverse sources, while communities create the context for meaning-making.
This roundtable will explore what educational needs exist today in the art–tech field, and how they might be met through non-institutional programs, hybrid paid/free models, and community-driven learning environments. We will ask: why do we, as individuals, seek knowledge? What formats truly support this search? How can non-hierarchical dialogue shape future educational programs? How can we engage people from the tech world in art — and what are the best ways to introduce art to them? And what topics require extra attention and dedicated courses?
Bringing together perspectives from learners, artists, and tech experts , this discussion aims to surface insights that can guide the design of CultTech’s future educational initiatives — while also opening a broader reflection on how we learn, why we learn, and how communities can transform that process.
Vision behind the description
The discussion is built upon 3 layers:
Deep Layer — Intellectual / Value-based
Questions: How do we respond to emerging discourses? What does intellectual integrity mean to us, and how do we construct knowledge?
Goal: create a foundation for shared meaning.
Middle Layer — Educational Opportunities
Questions: Which learning formats work best for you? Where do you find knowledge today? What should short-term programs include?
Here participants “move down” from philosophy to practice: universities, residencies, workshops, courses.
Do you feel there are enough opportunities right now — both institutional and non-institutional? Or do you notice gaps where nothing really exists yet? → If there are gaps — what kind of program would you like to see created?
Goal: identify real preferences, needs and habits.
Applied Layer — Benefits and Tasks
Questions: Why do you personally need learning right now? What tasks does it help you to solve?
Goal: uncover concrete needs (urgent and practical(or unpractical, maybe someone is just lost and wants to study something for the sake of knowledge and curiosity): career, project, community).
Final Layer — Topic Formation
Questions: Which themes or directions deserve dedicated programs? What knowledge cannot be collected “piece by piece” but requires specialized courses?
Goal: gather a pool of future topics and directions for programs.
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The earlier you apply, the better your chances of securing an audience and being included in the Program.
Roundtables proposed by partners are automatically approved. To become a partner, you can secure your spot at the CultTech Expo — please fill out the form on this page or send your offer to ds@culttech.at.
This year, all participants and guests with valid tickets can host their Roundtables at no additional cost.
5 min – intro by Roundtable curator/initiator. Presentation (if applicable).
3 min x 5 speakers opinion
25 min – open discussion moderated by Roundtable curator
15 min – preparations for the following Roundtable
No, you can propose only 1 Roundtable per ticket.
If you find a topic similar to yours, we recommend joining the already proposed Roundtable as a speaker.
The more participants a Roundtable attracts — and the sooner they register — the higher its chances of being admitted. In other words, the decision lies with the community, not us.
Either we haven’t reviewed your proposal yet (please be patient — it may take several days) or it was deemed not relevant.
You can join only one of the proposed Roundtables.
Up to 20 people per room.
No. The format doesn’t allow it — each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak.
Your vote will appear within 10 minutes.
Yes, but please pay attention to the dates. Sessions may run in parallel, and the exact schedule will be available after October 1.
For any technical or other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Community Manager Ilya Lobanov at il@culttech.at
Pre-register now to gain early access to event information and exclusive offers.
Startups are at the core of our ecosystem. As Oliver Holle once put it, startup founders are like artists — except instead of a canvas, they use business plans, investor decks, and way too many Slack channels (who’s not guilty of that). At CultTech, we admire this mindset, especially when it’s built on sustainability, because every great startup needs a strong foundation to last.
At Summit 2024, startup pitches were brought to the stage by our partners at CultTech Accelerator, a program that helps early-stage founders shape their ideas into investable businesses. Divided into two Demo Days, the pitches showcased startups transforming creative productivity, education, cultural networks, and content distribution. From AI-driven music tools to new models for digital art ownership, each team presented their vision for the future of culture-tech in front of investors, aiming to take their business to the next level.
At CultTech Summit, startup pitches aren’t just presentations—they are glimpses into the future of creative industries.
Panels are where ideas collide. Instead of just hearing one perspective, these discussions bring together experts with different backgrounds to explore complex topics from every angle. Moderators guide the conversation, making sure it’s a real exchange — not just a series of separate speeches.
At Summit 2024, we tackled everything from the evolution of museums in a digital-first world to the future of fashion and media storytelling. We questioned whether Web3 is here to stay or just another tech bubble, and we explored new investment models for culture, moving beyond government funding and philanthropy.
Panels don’t just cover industries — they explore how culture reshapes entire systems. So last year, we also looked at how cities and culture influence each other, from Ars Electronica’s role in Linz’s transformation to NEOM’s vision of building culture into a futuristic city from the ground up. Another discussion tackled AI’s growing impact on EU cultural policies, while ‘Making Culture Inclusive’ invited the audience into a live conversation on diversity in tech, art, and creative industries.
From art to policy, from emerging tech to social impact, panels are the pulse of the CultTech Summit — expect even bigger conversations in 2025.
Keynotes set the stage for the Summit. Unlike panels or debates, they give one speaker the floor to present a big idea—something that shifts perspectives and sparks new ways of thinking about culture and technology. They help us step back from day-to-day challenges and ask: Where are we headed?
At Summit 2024, Adriano Picinati di Torcello brought insights from the Deloitte & ArtTactic Art & Finance Report, exploring how financial models are reshaping the creative economy. As a key figure in the art finance sector, he examined what these shifts mean for artists, collectors, and investors alike.
On the other side of the conversation, Sylvain Levy reflected on the evolving role of digital tools in art collecting. His family’s DSLCollection, one of the most forward-thinking private collections of Chinese contemporary art, has embraced virtual museums, AR, and interactive experiences to make art more accessible in the digital age.
Debates at the CultTech Summit are where ideas clash head-on. Unlike panels that explore topics from multiple angles, debates pit experts against each other, each defending opposing viewpoints. This format sharpens the focus on contentious issues, encouraging critical thinking and deeper understanding.
In 2024, we took on some of the most polarizing questions in culture and technology. Is AI Art — Art? brought media artist Stephanie Meisl, who embraces AI in creative expression, into a direct clash with Jan Svenungsson, a visual artist and professor questioning whether AI can ever replicate human intentionality. Moderated by Klaus Speidel, the debate pushed the boundaries of what we define as art.
Meanwhile, in To Learn or to Unlearn, Bistra Kumbaroska argued for breaking away from rigid knowledge structures to foster innovation, while Vivek Velamuri defended structured learning as the foundation of entrepreneurship. With Hannah Scott moderating, the discussion explored how we navigate knowledge in an era of rapid change.
Performances are a great way to reflect culture, and that’s why they are a huge part of the CultTech Summit. We bring together artists who push the limits of music, theatre, and digital arts, often using tech to take things to a new level.
Last time, we had Mahamaya Electronic Devices by Ivan Vyrypaev — a fusion of electronic music, rapid-fire dialogue, and hypnotic visuals. This high-energy performance blurred the lines between theatre, philosophy, and digital art, leaving the audience both mesmerised and deep in thought.
At the closing party of the Summit, Cécile DeLaurentis took the stage, turning sound into a full-on sensory experience. Blending her jazz roots with AI-driven production, she performed using Embodme, a next-gen synthesizer designed by one of the CultTech Accelerator alumni. The result? A performance that felt both futuristic and deeply personal.
For 2025, expect even more performances that push creative and technological boundaries.
The CultTech Summit isn’t just another business conference — we’re here to push boundaries and mix things up. That’s why we put just as much focus on art as we do on tech. Our exhibitions aren’t just something to look at; they challenge, question, and make you see things differently.
Last year, we had Who Smiles Through Me, an exhibition curated by Where Dogs Run, an artist collective known for its experimental approach to art and technology. Their work often plays with perception, human-machine interaction, and the ways digital systems shape our reality. This exhibition explored how our senses—sight, hearing, touch—are being reshaped by technology. Works from artists like Alexandra Dementieva and Aernoudt Jacobs made us ask: how much of what we feel is still ours, and how much is filtered through digital control and media influence?
Networking is at the heart of the CultTech Summit — it’s what makes this community thrive. Bringing together artists, engineers, investors, and founders isn’t just a nice extra — it’s the whole point. The magic happens when these worlds collide, sparking ideas that wouldn’t have come up otherwise.
This year, we’re taking it up with a dedicated networking space — somewhere designed just for those in-person conversations that lead to real opportunities. And of course, it’s not just about formal meetings. From flying dinners to exhibitions and even late-night parties, the Summit is full of moments where connections happen naturally.
Mahamaya Electronic Devices is a performance that addresses all the main current issues of our lives: society, psychology, science, philosophy, and spirituality. This show, featuring electronic music and computer graphics, centers around a unique text by Ivan Vyrypaev, composed entirely of questions and answers, delivered at a fast pace by four actors, attempting to address them before the audience’s eyes. The performance is both a contemporary entertainment show and a psychological training as well as a spiritual experience. According to many viewers from various countries who have seen the performance, in the end, we receive not only the pleasure of the quality of the show but also a truly valuable life experience. What kind of experience? An experience is an experience because it cannot be described in words. One must come and live it.
The performance is conducted in English.
Director and playwright — Ivan Vyrypaev
Graphic designer — the Full Metal Jacket Team
Composer — Jacek Jędrasik