Event: AI & Creativity
- 8. October 2025
- 18:00
- Otto Wagner-Postsparkasse, Wien
How can diversity and freedom of cultural expressions be protected in post-digital societies, and how can transparency and access be strengthened? The conference opens up shared spaces for reflection for actors from the fields of art, culture, science, and activism, and attempts to decipher existing power relations and find common approaches to change them.
In cooperation with AIL, EDUCULT, and the Cultural Studies Research Department of the Diplomatic Academy
With contributions by Ali Nikrang, Carina Zehetmair, Clemens Apprich, Eva Fischer, Magdalena Reiter and Sofia Braga.
How can diversity and freedom of cultural expression be protected in post-digital societies, and how can transparency and access be strengthened? Should attributes such as creativity, self-determination, and freedom be attributed exclusively to (certain) human beings? The conference marks the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions with a one-day exchange to discuss the importance of cultural diversity in the digital environment for democratic societies and to raise awareness of its protection in the context of artificial intelligence. The event is part of the series (Re)imagining freedom of expression in postdigital societies.
With financial support from Stadt Wien, Kultur, und das Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Kunst, Kultur, Medien und Sport
4:00 p.m.: Policy Round Table (German)
This expert exchange brings together people from the arts, culture, administration, science, and technology to discuss policy recommendations for protecting the diversity of cultural expressions in the context of AI. The discussion will be based on an analysis prepared by Magdalena Reiter, an expert on network policy and cultural worker.
6:00 p.m.: Event AI & Creativity (English)
- A conversation with Magdalena Reiter, expert on network policy and cultural worker and Clemens Apprich, Vice Rector for Research and Digitality and Head of the Department of Media Theory and the Peter Weibel Research Institute for Digital Cultures, University of Applied Arts Vienna
7:00 p.m.: Panel Hybrid Realities with Carina Zehetmair, Ali Nikrang, Eva Fischer, and Sofia Braga (EN), Moderator: Giulia Pelillo
- The digital revolution has the potential to unlearn anthropocentrism and reorganize power relations. The reality is different: market-dominating platforms have privatized the sum of global creative content and skimmed it off for the development of “new” systems. Dead celebrities are supposedly brought back to life post mortem by generative AI—AI-generated likenesses create deceptively real images of people, manipulating reality. The panel “Hybrid Realities” looks at the possibility of interstices and asks how creativity in the face of digital technologies can lead to new visions of alternative, democratic futures.
See below for the save the date for the event. Invitations to the policy round table will be sent out personally. If you have any questions, please contact oeuk@unesco.at.
The event series (Re)imagining freedom of expression in postdigital societies brings together academics, artists, cultural workers and activists to discuss the right to freedom of expression in the context of digitalisation. At a historical moment in which private actors such as large technology companies have become key players in the reshaping of public space and discourse, it is important to reflect together on the values, goals and limits of freedom of expression. Which intellectual tools, which technical and legal infrastructures best serve the needs of democratic societies?
Downloads
- Save the Date GER 571 KB (pdf)
- Save the Date ENG 567 KB (pdf)
- [Translate to English:] 578 KB (pdf)
- [Translate to English:] 572 KB (pdf)
