Since its first event in 2017, Digital Cultures has grown into an acclaimed platform that brings together digital art creators and world-renowned curators. This year’s edition, Imagined Futures, opens up to a wider audience by venturing, together with the participants, into new territory – an online festival. While its focus lies on the pertinent questions about what lies ahead, the event will also bring back former visions of the future, dismissed as intriguing yet far fetched fantasies a decade or even a few months ago.
Barbara Schabowska, Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the organiser of the event, says: This year’s theme of ‚Imagined Futures’ allows us to bring to you a wealth of artistic programmes and debate, as we aim to understand further and overcome the politics and social barriers of delivering a hybrid festival in today’s climate.
Understanding the challenges of remote participation, the curators have created a 9-day programme, giving the audiences an opportunity to easily attend the Festival without compromising their daily routines. Between the 17th and 25th of October, through the Digital Cultures website they can join a range of interactive events. From panel discussions, a film programme, artist spotlights, and the Best of Poland Forum to workshops, individual consultations, a contemplative audio programme, and shared authoring of the “Imagined Futures Manifesto” – Digital Cultures offers a new approach to online engagement, valuing interaction over presentation. It enables the public to participate, influence, and work together, enhancing the community atmosphere and creating a unique sense of belonging, even more, crucial in these challenging times.
The diversified programme is also a reflection of the curatorial team’s belief in the urgency of viewing art and technology from a range of perspectives. Hence, the Festival is not limited to VR, XR, and computer games. It embraces visual art, film, sound art, graphic design, as well as the social aspects of digital art like inclusiveness, gender, and race.
The curators have invited renowned experts and artists to join them for talks. Brett Gaylor, director of The Internet of Everything, Julia Kaganskiy, the founding director of NEW INC Ingrid LaFleur, Afrofuturist, Charlotte Webb, the founder of the Feminist Internet collective, Anab Jain of Superflux, Tim Maughan, author of Infinite Detail, The Guardian’s sci-fi book of the year, and Anagram among
others: Through active participation, the audience: curators, creators, artists, and enthusiasts will be able to share expectations towards the future, gaining direction while we navigate through the virtual space in ways we never had before.
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