That was the
Fö N Festival 2024

Tirol was clearly keen to get active and explore the different levels of creativity. A large part of the Fö N prologue from Monday, 09.09.24 to Thursday, 12.09.24 was quickly sold out. Over 400 people took part in the workshops, lectures, interventions and activities, some of which were free of charge, which also made stops in Hall and Wörgl. The medium of film played an important role in the Fö N prologue, festival organizer Daniel Dlouhy initiated cinema evenings in the Cinematograph, in the Kulturbackstube Bäckerei in cooperation with the WK Fachvertretung Film- u. Musikwirtschaft Tirol, the Tyrolean Film and Music Industry Day took place, the Photographers’ Guild organized workshops and an exhibition, and the Tiroler Filmbase also contributed a specialist lecture for filmmakers. Bernhard Sanders, who runs one of the last “real” manual binderies in Innsbruck, gave insights into his art in a workshop; the barcamp.tirol association organized an innovative creative barcamp in the new Agnes-Heller-Haus of the University of Innsbruck on the Innrain, which was attended by over 50 people. The Tiroler Landesmuseen provided fascinating insights into their extensive collections at the Research and Collection Center in Hall in Tirol, while the Tiroler Landestheater offered an in-depth look behind the scenes as part of a guided tour followed by a visit to a main rehearsal. Architecture, urban development and the common good were on the agenda at a discussion in Innsbruck’s BALE. At the Wörgl city gallery Polylog, a discussion organized by the TKI (Tiroler Kulturinitiativen) explored the question of how art and culture can have a lasting positive impact on rural areas.

>The Fö NProlog program made it clear that creativity has many faces, which makes it difficult to grasp but all the more valuable. Kurt Höretzeder, who launched the Fö N Festival together with Tom Jank, emphasized the unifying value of creative thinking: “Creativity always has two sides that cannot do without each other. Only when the interplay between creative implementers and clients works can a game be created that is fun and results in a good, exciting idea”.

Businesspeople, artists, decision-makers and people with a passion for the future were among the audience at the Fö N-Summit at the Innsbruck Congress. Daniel Dlouhy’s 35-strong team transformed the Tyrolean conference center into the eye of the storm on Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14. The Fö N logo, a flying mountain, turned out to be a much-photographed crowd favorite in the form of a six-meter-high helium balloon, as did the 25 specially designed Fö N furniture pieces, which are now available for rent. The sounds of exceptional cellist Lukas Lauermann floated through the room between the speeches, while in the foyer there was nourishment for the nerves and soul in the form of hand-picked books on creativity, design, research and art. In this setting, moderator Charlotte Bufler had an easy job of bridging the gap between the individual talks: On Friday, Berlin design innovation professor Sascha Friesike explained how creativity is guaranteed to be nipped in the bud under all circumstances; designer Magda Mojsiejuk retold the story of the future; Brand strategist Vera-Maria Glahn opened her “Handbook for non-toxic leadership in the creative industry”; Till Grusche invited people to his “House of beautyful business”, a global network for a “life-centered economy”; musician Albin Paulus took us into completely new spheres with his Jew’s harp and bagp. Philosopher Lisz Hirn followed on from this and posed the question of whether culture is a luxury (which, of course, it is – and then again, it isn’t). The last speaker on the first day of the summit was glaciologist and Austria’s Scientist of the Year Andrea Fischer – she declared the dwindling glaciers to be a symbol of change and called on the scientific community to find creative ways of communicating in order to be heard more in society.

Day two of the Fö N-Summit began with Leonard Sommer and his call to put the education sector on a better footing; his initiative called on 100 creative professionals around the world to think about the learning culture of the future. Transformation expert Katharina Ehrenmüller presented her “Ministry for Curiosity and Future Spirit”, which now has more than 700 ambassadors based in the Linz tobacco factory. Reality and fantasy homogenized with the Berlin artist Via Lewandowsky to a courageous “Huh?” and thus to the realization that misunderstanding and rejection can become a bubbling source of creative work. The graphic designer Clemens Schedler pleaded for more self-reflection and humility in creative practice in his lecture “Werkt das Zeug oder zeugt das Werk” (“Does the stuff work or does the work produce”), while the artist Angelika Wischermann shared the findings of her experimental research into the transport behavior of wood ants. Sociologist and aerospace engineer Stefan Selke opened the door to distant worlds: his concept “Poetry of Hope” is a plea for a “critical” but nevertheless courageous euphoria about the future as fuel for our society. Film composer and self-proclaimed “AI nerd” Tom Batoy also painted a positive picture of tomorrow with his lecture on artificial intelligence and said: “Creativity is when man and machine dream together.” – A first example of this was the “Fö N-Hymn” at the end of the summit, which Batoy’s AI helper hallucinated virtually in real time on site.

The summit concluded with remarkable projects from Tyrol, which were presented as part of a stage-time format: The architect Gertrud Tauber showed her project architektur:lokal, which she runs together with Andreas Semler and deals with the revitalization, renovation and development of buildings and places in rural areas. Thomas Bonora presented the BALE in Innsbruck as a place for collaboration and exchange on topics relating to sustainability and social innovation – a project that unfortunately currently also serves as an example of how opportunities to establish a flagship project for the creative industries are once again (and despite a promising start) going unused in Innsbruck. Katharina Schmermbeck from the University of Innsbruck presented the INNklusion project, which aims to use university teaching and research and create synergies to break down barriers and strengthen inclusion in the long term. Michaela Senn from Theater Praesent in Innsbruck impressively described the development of the off-theater, which will now move into its new venue at Tschamlerstraße 3 (formerly Utopia / Weekender) in the 2024/25 season – and can thus remain true to its motto “small & resistant” in the future; Flo Ennemoser from Büro Maisengasse from Landeck presented the “wiegon” project, in which innovative digital solutions in waste management are developed together with municipalities, cities and companies; the information designer Christian Mariacher has dedicated himself for years to the challenge of making teaching materials more understandable and beautiful through better design; Vinzenz Mell presented the Speis von morgen project, which is being implemented in the St. Nikolaus/Mariahilf in Innsbruck, which has set up a cooperative local grocery store offering organic, regional and seasonal food from local producers. All of the projects are examples of passionate, creative people and applied creativity that go far beyond just nice “ideas” and take into account both the design and social aspects of sustainability.

Further concrete contributions to a creative vision for Tirol were a tangible concern of the festival: As part of the festival, Lebensraum Tirol Holding presented its new “Atlas of Art, Culture and the Creative Industries”. The 64-page work, hot off the press, sheds light on the current situation, with eleven top-class authors highlighting possible perspectives and viable paths, presenting good examples from other regions and shedding light on the potential of art, culture and the creative industries in Tirol as a tourist destination. The “School of Ideas”, which held its first “Pilot Day” as part of the festival, aims to promote creative thinking and action in the future and provide young people at the interface to their professional future with tools and methods to improve their problem-solving skills.

Like its elemental namesake, the Fö N Festival 2024 stirred up dust, pushed open windows into the open air and created draughts between the synapses. If the organizing team has its way, it will continue with all the positive feedback it has received. The festival sees itself as a creative process that is constantly changing. Its central task is to make creativity in the country more visible and more effective and, as the most important resource for transformation, to bring it to the attention of those in political decision-making positions.

So we need formats like the Fö N Festival – as a momentum against gravity and stagnation, as a counterforce to those who take the breath away from the future. The festival gives us courage for tomorrow. In a world in which mountains are eroding, old certainties are a thing of the past, war has returned to Europe and artificial intelligence oscillates between fears and hopes, we need creativity more urgently than ever. Simply repeating the old familiar does not get us anywhere – creativity does. As an intrinsic human ability, it continues to write the large and small narratives that make us believe in the future and not only drives ideas, but also brings us joyfully into action. And for this to have a broad impact, we all need to be creative. Fö N speaker Till Grusche finally put it in a nutshell: “Creativity is the energy that drives our world forward. We can see how relevant this force is at every level. In business, it is the source of innovation. In society, it is what gives higher meaning and creates community. And on a personal level, creativity is how we connect with our innermost selves – which in turn helps us to create real connections with others.”