Talks

In an era of AI doom-scrolling and hustle-culture-induced burnout, it’s hard not to feel like your creative brain is perpetually running on fumes. As a professional overthinker and empath who feels things deeply, the pressure to be creative and make big, meaningful work can often feel impossible.

In an era where AI generates images, composes symphonies, and even tells stories, the line between human creativity and machine output becomes increasingly blurred.

At KIKK, I’d like to weave a narrative that connects planned obsolescence, material glitch, and tech-rural affect—asking: How does the failure of technology expose its politics?

Barnaby Steel is an artist and creative director of London-based experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast. Barnaby’s art practice centres on the senses; enticing audiences into states of expanded perception, a space where the boundaries between bodies blur.

Yuri Suzuki's practice often incorporates AI, machine learning, and participatory sound-making as tools to foster connection and empathy.

Moritz Simon Geist asks: can machines convey empathy and emotions on stage like human performers?

Explore how art, design, and technology spark joy, resilience, and community in times of crisis through creative and meaningful work.

A self-taught inventor, he moved from cartooning to building satirical, interactive machines. Now 74, he continues creating automata displayed in his own arcades in Southwold and London.

Vera van de Seyp is a computational designer who merges code and graphic design to create generative, experimental works at the intersection of art and technology.

At Bakken & Bæck, Amelie Dinh and Iris Cuppen explore the strategic and narrative dimensions of emerging technologies, with a focus on AI and its cultural impact.

Matt Locke is a digital media expert and founder of the content agency Storythings, with over 20 years of leadership in cultural and educational institutions.

Rebecca Fiebrink is a Professor of Creative Computing whose research combines human-computer interaction, machine learning, and the arts to develop new forms of expression and accessibility.

Antfood believe in sound’s ability to move people — blending deep audio expertise with strategic thinking and a restless curiosity for innovation to evoke emotion and bring stories to life.

Emmy-winning director Tamara Shogaolu blends film, animation, and immersive tech to tell powerful stories on identity and memory. Shown at MoMA, Tribeca, and IDFA, her work—like Anouschka at SXSW 2025—challenges narratives and reimagines history through play and innovation.

Designer and Pentagram partner Eddie Opara shapes bold identities and immersive digital worlds for brands like Samsung and Rivian. A MoMA-exhibited artist, RCA Fellow, and Yale critic, he bridges design and innovation.

Barcelona-based artist Mónica Rikić crafts interactive works that blend creative coding, handmade electronics, and critical thinking. For over a decade, her poetic robots and philosophical devices have been exhibited and awarded worldwide.

From circus stages to robot labs, Dutch artist Daniel Simu blends performance and tech. A juggler, clown, and Dutch champion, he now builds whimsical robots after launching his first Acrobot in 2022.

Designer, director, and BAFTA-nominated producer, Liam Young creates visionary films that blend fiction and future-thinking. Called “the man designing our futures” by the BBC, his work explores environmental futures and is featured from Tribeca to the MoMA and Venice Biennale.

Ioana Vreme Moser generates sound through raw circuits and natural elements, exploring personal narratives and the toxic impact of electronics.

In this talk, Niccolò Miranda, explores how XR will reshape the way we craft, sense, and live digital experiences.

Internationally recognized digital artist, Ines Alpha turns makeup into 3D art. A former beauty art director, she crafts futuristic, ethereal visions that merge tech and aesthetics into speculative beauty worlds.

For 7 years, Aurélia de Azambuja has brought clarity, structure, and spark to Base Brussels. As a senior designer, she leads bold, thoughtful work with a strong conceptual vision—driven by her belief in design as a tool for change.

This talk is about what happens when the work we’ve built our lives around is suddenly effortless, endless, and automated. It’s not a rejection of the creative potential for AI. It’s an attempt to understand where our creative value lives when machines can generate anything instantly.

hérétique is a Parisian organization that operates at the crossroads between a think-tank, a development studio and a publishing house to imagine, craft and share digital alternatives.