Creativity is a strange thing. Most organizations claim that they would like to have more of it, but at the same time they go to great lengths to nip their employees’ creativity in the bud. If you really want to prevent creativity, then you have to understand how it works and how you could promote it, what levers there actually are and why people want to be creative. And once you have understood all this, you can put in place successful measures to prevent the whole thing from happening.

Sascha Friesike is Professor of Digital Innovation Design at the Berlin University of the Arts and Director of the Weizenbaum Institute. He is also an associated researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute. Friesike is an industrial engineer and holds a doctorate from the University of St. Gallen. In his research, he focuses on the role that the digital plays when new things are created. He investigates the role of digitalization in science and looks at how creative people work.

Science fiction in film, television and video games offers a treasure trove of insights that can enrich our daily design and problem-solving practice. Magda Mojsiejuk, designer and creator of future artifacts, offers a unique perspective with her work. She analyzes past and current phenomena from the field of science fiction and shows how they shape our (desired and undesired) visions of the future. Using examples such as InTENSE, a lifestyle magazine for the year 2030+, and other speculative projects, she builds a bridge between unimaginable futures and tangible, practical solutions. (Lecture in English)

Magda Mojsiejuk is a creative director, designer and researcher, translating trends, scientific findings and innovations into fascinating visions, prototypes and experiences. As Lead Artifact Designer at Futurity Systems, a Barcelona-based consultancy, she creates prototypes for future products and services. She has also initiated inTENSE, a speculative lifestyle magazine that explores life in 2030 and beyond. Her background in industrial and stage design has led to award-winning work presented at design festivals worldwide. In collaboration with Warsaw-based Studio Prognoza, she creates unique culinary experiences that aim to democratize conversations about our shared future of growing, preparing and enjoying food. Her work focuses on changing imaginations and creating diverse visions of possible futures.

In the economy in general and in many companies, there is often talk of “excellence” and “creative genius”. They are seen as crucial for innovation and new products. – She poses the question: Do we talk enough about how we do things? – Vera-Maria Glahn believes that we don’t. Her project, the “Handbook of Non-Toxic Leadership”, is a collaborative compendium of methods and mechanisms for founders, creative leaders and artists. It is presented in the form of an online glossary that grows in real time. In a time facing more radical, faster and overlapping socio-economic, technological and environmental challenges, Vera believes in the power of creative thinkers, designers and artists to foster positive change and innovation. She emphasizes our responsibility to harness this power.

Vera-Maria Glahn became involved in media arts and experimental design early on, both as an assistant curator and project manager at European festivals and at the Kunsthochschule Kassel in Germany. She later founded the independent creative studio Field.io, which specializes in digital art, generative design and new forms of brand experience. She has brought her experience in brand communication, creative technology, new formats of brand experience and creative collaborations to such well-known companies as Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Nike, adidas and Mercedes-Benz. She is a speaker and panelist at design conferences worldwide and supports female and diverse voices in the creative industry with mentoring and strategic workshops.

The world is undergoing fundamental change. The many crises of our time make it clear that carrying on as before is no longer enough. To be successful in this new reality, we need a new language, a new North Star, a new framework for business and life. A model that is not hard, but soft and gentle. Not rigid, but fluid and flexible. Not toxically positive, but melancholic. Not number-oriented, but poetic. Not risk-averse, but imaginative. Not efficient, but sustainable. Not “people-centered”, but human. Not omniscient, but willing to ask beautiful questions. In a word: one that is beautiful – The House of Beautiful Business. The House of Beautiful Business and its 50,000 members inspire and empower organizations and individuals to build a more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful future. It is a rapidly growing experiment, a global community working together to create an economy that is more purposeful, inclusive and sustainable.

Till Grusche is co-founder of the House of Beautiful Business, a global network of over 50,000 professionals – business leaders, academics, innovators, artists and activists, all united by the dream of a better future and an economy that honors all ways of life. Till has spent the majority of his career at leading design and creative firms in Amsterdam, San Francisco, London, Berlin and Munich. He was Global Head of Marketing at Frog, VP Marketing & Business Development at Huge and drove strategic growth at IXDS. He was also CMO at Carpooling, Europe’s largest ride-sharing platform, and spent almost half of his life singing in a punk rock band.

A pure sound experience from yodeling to world music, from early music to acoustic techno. Albin Paulus is an international award-winning bagpipe player, jew’s harp world virtuoso, experimental yodeller, vocal acrobat, composer and wordplay poet. In his new solo program “pur”, he explores the origins of musical sound. And this exploration takes him into unimagined new territory: from the voice as the most direct expression, to the jew’s harp as an intimate sound wonder, to newly created otherworldly instruments such as the wooblephone, including body percussion. In an energetic one-man performance, Albin Paulus takes listening habits ad absurdum in a tongue-in-cheek and entertaining manner. All of his musical activities are carried by an extraordinary joy of playing, with a touch of mischief.

Albin Paulus, born in Germany with Austrian roots, has been playing the jew’s harp and yodeling since early childhood. After classical clarinet training in Braunschweig and musicology studies in Vienna and Cremona, he made a name for himself internationally as a Jew’s harp virtuoso, including the first recording of all of J. G. Albrechtsberger’s Jew’s harp concertos. His busy concert and teaching schedule has taken him all over Europe as well as to Asia, North Africa and America, not least with the group HOTEL PALINDRONE. Albin plays in numerous “early music” ensembles such as “Schikaneders Jugend” (A) Ensemble Baroque de Limoges (F), Musica Romana (D), Clemencic Consort (A) Concilium Musicum Wien (A) as well as in theater productions.

Awareness of the fundamental importance of culture for the well-being of a society seems to be lacking not only among the majority of politicians. This is precisely why we are now facing a tough confrontation: the dispute between an understanding of culture that is based on the idea of high culture as the true cultural memory of a society and its major institutions, and an experimental or avant-garde art scene that sees itself as a social and political intervention in its cultural work. – Which of these is systemically relevant and what if both were not?

Lisz Hirn, born in 1984, studied philosophy and singing in Graz, Paris, Vienna and Kathmandu. She works as a publicist and philosopher in youth and adult education, including on the university course “Philosophical Practice” at the University of Vienna. Articles in various Austrian media. Published by Zsolnay in 2023 Der überschätzte Mensch. Anthropology of vulnerability. Further publications: Wer braucht Superhelden (2020) and Macht Politik böse? (2022).

The retreat of glaciers is the most memorable sign of climate change and also a symbol of the changes we are facing. A weakening of the Gulf Stream with significant changes in weather patterns, heavy precipitation, mudslides, heat waves and dying protective forests are the scenarios that are on the horizon. On the one hand, it is important to be prepared to cope well with these changes – because the only constant is change. As recently as 12,000 years ago, the glaciers had not yet cleared the Alpine valleys; 18,000 years ago, huge ice streams rolled into the pre-Alpine lakes. The cause of these large-scale climate changes lies in natural cycles of radiation caused by the Earth’s slight wobble around the sun. Now the man-made climate has been added as an additional driver of the climate system, and instead of a phase of cooling, temperatures are rising. We can still succeed in limiting the man-made rise in temperature to a level that lies within the fluctuation range of the natural system. Why we produce so many greenhouse gases is linked to the rapid changes in the way we live and do business. The bad news is that no one can solve this problem except ourselves. The good news is that we can see climate change as an opportunity to improve our lifestyle for everyone AND ourselves. Like the fresh glacier wind, like the Föhn wind that stirs up the air stratification in the valley, cleaning out cold air lakes and inversion blankets.

Andrea Fischer studied physics and environmental systems science at the University of Graz from 1991 to 1999. From 1999 to 2003, she completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Innsbruck; she wrote her dissertation on Icedynamics of Vatnajökull investigated by means of ERS-SAR interferometry. After completing her doctorate in 2003, Andrea Fischer remained at the University of Innsbruck for several years, first as a project collaborator, then as project leader. In 2010, she moved to the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where she is now deputy director. – In 2011, Andrea Fischer was awarded a teaching license by the University of Innsbruck. Since then, she has been a private lecturer at the University of Innsbruck and a senior researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Innsbruck. She was elected a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2014 and a full member in 2022. Fischer is a national correspondent of the World Glacier Monitoring Service, a board member of the Austrian Geophysical Society and was head of the Austrian Alpine Association’s glacier monitoring service until 2016.

We live in the digital age – but our school system is stuck in the industrial age. So how can creativity be encouraged in 21st century education – what can schools actually learn from the creative industries? As part of the CLASSROOM THINKTANK initiative, Leonard Sommer invited more than 100 creative and educational thinkers in 35 countries to think about this. In order to make the jointly developed ideas accessible to anyone who has children or is involved in learning at school, Leonard Sommer decided to publish this book about the project. His project presents an analysis of the dilemma, norm-breaking ideas and concrete practical methods. Innovative approaches, learning culture, the role of teachers and parents, innovative teaching methods as well as alternative assessment models are discussed. And, of course, 10 future-oriented schools that have already made the change.

Leonard Sommer is married and the father of two children. His professional career in the creative industry began immediately after studying communication design in Florence as an entrepreneur on the advertising agency side. Together with his brother Gordon Sommer, he founded the creative agency SOMMER+SOMMER in 1994. The agency develops international and national campaigns for brands such as Nintendo, Unilever, UHU, Novartis and Katjes. SOMMER+SOMMER is best known for its “brain test”, which reaches over 75 million users worldwide in just 6 months. Since 2023, Leonard Sommer has been Vice President Marketing & Sales at the provider of the immersive augmented reality platform ZAUBAR in Berlin. He is also Executive Advisor to the Hamburg agency PlayTheHype, which advises brands on creative communication for GenZ. He holds an EMBA in Creative Leadership from the Berlin School Of Creative Leadership.

Curiosity is the most important economic stimulus and prosperity program. And it began with a quote from journalist and author Wolf Lotters: “If anything, we need a Ministry of Curiosity. One that promotes and encourages the spirit of discovery in all fields. Katharina Ehrenmüller was inspired by these words. As an experienced management consultant, she knows that curiosity is the most important driver of innovation. In 2022, she and Patrick Rammerstorfer founded the “Ministry for Curiosity and Future Spirit” at Tabakfabrik Linz. – This initiative offers a space in which curiosity and (co-)creativity can be experimentally encouraged, new ideas can be developed and playfully tested. Today, the ministry has over 500 ambassadors in German-speaking countries and beyond. “Use it or lose it” is the key motto for our brains – they love to discover new things, but generally become a little more comfortable with age. When organizations stimulate their employees, the brain remains efficient, active, creative and eager to learn. Variety is also fun, breaks familiar patterns and prevents a one-sided perspective. When organizations stimulate people, our brains remain efficient, active, creative and eager to learn.” We have five tips for people and organizations to encourage curiosity:

Katharina Ehrenmüller is an “ambassador” for curiosity and a passion for the future. She studied tourism management at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences and has specialized in innovation, especially human-centered innovation and service design thinking, since 2010. She supports companies in their digital transformation and has been a member of the international Service Design Network since 2012 as well as the Service Design Chapter Austria, where she has been on the board since 2013. She teaches at the Danube University Krems, the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems and the University of Graz in the fields of digital transformation and human-centered innovation. Ehrenmüller is Co-CEO of Pro Active GmbH, lives with her family in Vienna and is interested in art, design and sustainable lifestyles.

The colloquial, casual “huh?” is a stumble, a basic burp, speechlessly multilingual and largely toxic. It is an expression of incomprehension and supposed incomprehension with simultaneous rejection and disparagement of what is understood. The artist repeatedly encounters this allegorical “what do you mean?” in his work and sometimes he quite obviously searches for precisely these points of irritation that trigger a “huh”. Because not understanding, misunderstanding, misconception are potential fields of energy for the confrontations in artistic practice that lead to new knowledge, perceptions and insights. – In Via Lewandowsky’s works, the allegorical “hä” is one of the guiding threads that leads through the themes of language, concepts and literal words. A three-meter-high font can shine into the night sky with the message of a self-evident fact and yet becomes a momentous mind game due to the technical defect of a letter in the neon sign. Again and again, what is believed to be certain is subjected to a universal reality test. The result is the reversal of the outdated slogan WYSIWYG: What you see is not what it is. It is better. — “Each of his works is per se a motion of mistrust – towards himself and all spectators on the sidelines of human inadequacy.” (Christoph Tannert, 2006)

Via Lewandowsky, born in 1963, is a German artist who works with various media such as photography, performance, painting, drawing, object art and sound. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he organized subversive performances with the avant-garde group “Autoperforationsartisten”, which undermined the official art scene. Shortly before reunification, he left the GDR and moved to West Berlin. This was followed by longer stays abroad, including in New York, Rome, Beijing, Moscow, Los Angeles, participation in documenta 9 and museum exhibitions. Among his art projects in public spaces, his “Red Carpet”, also known as the “Bomb Carpet” at the Ministry of Defense in Berlin, is one of his most important works. His works have also been shown in Tyrol, including the 2006 provincial exhibition entitled “Das Hotel. The Future of Nature” at Salzlager Hall (artistic director) and the installation “GOOG GOD” in Innsbruck Cathedral (2020).

A reflection on the change from unconscious self-expression to conscious devotion to the essence of design. – For the first twenty years of my professional life, I was up to my neck in the field of tension between the core violation of my self-worth and the supposed compensation through performance. I was an artificial figure of my social conditioning: I wanted to finally be seen, stand out, shine and excel. Unconnected with myself, I was unable to experience a creative task in its depth of essence and to listen to what it needed in order to solve it coherently and appropriately. – I spent the second twenty years consciously realizing this attitude, so aptly formulated by Friedrich Kiesler, for a soulful life design: “Every task, large or small, requires tremendous humility – the humility to allow it to tell us what it expects of us, and not to tell the task how it should be solved. It develops from its own inner concept, which we must listen to and understand.” (Friedrich Kiesler | Austrian architect | 1890-1965; in the original the term “problem” is used – here replaced by the word “task”).

Clemens Theobert Schedler was born in 1962 in a suburb of Munich, grew up in Vorarlberg, emigrated to Vienna at the age of 21 and staggered out of the Höhere Graphische Bundes-, Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt after four years as a commercial graphic designer. After working as a freelancer and founding offices for graphic design and graphic design, he opened his office for concrete design in 1997 [concrete = real (existing), tangible as something sensually given, firmly defined, vividly and clearly expressed]. — http://a-g-i.org/user/clethesche

An extensive network of paths emanates from the forest ant colonies. They use this network to move from their nest into the forest. Unfortunately, remote forest ants have hardly any infrastructure available for exploration, food and material procurement. As a result, they lead a rather arduous life and are unable to fully exploit their work potential. In order to speed up the work processes of the industrious workers, transportation conditions are being improved: roads are being built from the nest so that the ants have fewer obstacles to overcome and can climb trees more easily (of course, only regional and natural materials are used for the construction work and the nest is not damaged in any way). Angelika Wischermann has been researching and investigating the infrastructure requirements and transport behavior of wood ants for two years now. Last spring, a colony was selected for the conversion work: The path network was marked out and the traffic conditions of the central main roads were improved. Subsequently, the surroundings of the ant nest and the conversion measures that have taken place will be recorded and mapped. In addition, two sister states and a landfill site are to be connected to the road network.

Angelika Wischermann (*1983 in Herdecke, D) is a performance and installation artist who lives in Innsbruck. She studied sculpture and media art at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts Kiel (2006-2009) and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2009-2013). In addition to her classic exhibition activities, Wischermann is particularly interested in projects and presentations outside of urban centers as well as site-specific work during residencies.

Are we living in hopeless times or is there still reason for optimism despite numerous diagnoses of crisis and exhaustion? Based on studies on resignation and fear of the future, Stefan Selke develops a “poetry of hope”. The fundamental distinction between “future by disaster” and “future by design” is explained using typical narratives of the future. Examples – from civilization experiments to artificial intelligence and space utopias – illustrate weak points and possible solutions. According to the thesis, it would be better than fear-driven process optimization in the context of adaptation narratives to have a new desire for new beginnings – and thus more courage for euphoric and speculative world designs in an open laboratory society. This new attitude also requires the interplay between knowledge of the future and desire for the future. The “missing link” between purely intellectual concepts of the future and the new desire for change is nothing other than euphoria about the future! With this “social fuel”, future wealth can be regained instead of managing future poverty. Of course, euphoria about the future is not a panacea on the road to freedom. But its potential lies in promoting the continuity of the desire for a better world and keeping the longing for change alive.

Stefan Selke teaches “Sociology and Social Change” at Furtwangen University. He has also been a research professor for “Transformative and Public Science” since 2015. In 2023, he was a Research Fellow for Space Flight and Future Narratives at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris, researching the topic of future euphoria. – Selke first studied aerospace engineering and then completed a doctorate in sociology. As a disciplinary border crosser and public scientist, he is a regular speaker, book author and media interlocutor outside of science. – He is the founder of the “Public Science Labs” (www.public-science-lab.de), where innovative methods of knowledge production and dialogical knowledge transfer on socially relevant topics are developed. – In 2021, he was awarded the Wolfgang Heilmann Prize of the Integrata Foundation for his concept of the “NeoUniversity” (Artificial Intelligence in Education) on the topic of “Human Utopia as a Framework for the Post-Corona Society”. – His current areas of work and research revolve around the topic of “utopias”: future technologies, future narratives and future euphoria.

In this lecture, Tom Batoy will shed light on the interaction between creation and AI.Artificial intelligence and creativity are an exciting and complex topic. While AI is capable of impressive creative feats, it remains a tool used and controlled by humans. The true power of AI lies in its ability to support and augment human creativity.
Creativity is one of the most complex and fascinating faculties of the human mind. It is often described as the ability to create something new and valuable, be it in the form of art, music, literature, scientific discovery or innovative problem solving. Creativity requires imagination, originality and the ability to combine seemingly unrelated ideas, and artificial intelligence has made enormous progress in recent decades. From the early days of symbolic AI to modern neural networks and machine learning, we have seen an impressive development. Today’s AI systems are capable of processing huge amounts of data, recognizing patterns and learning from them. But can machines really be creative?
Is what AI does really creativity? AI merely analyzes and combines existing patterns without really developing new ideas. Creativity involves more than just combining data; it requires ingenuity, intuition and often emotional depth that machines lack. One perspective is to see AI not as a substitute, but as a partner in creative processes. Many artists and creatives use AI tools to enhance and enrich their work.

Tom Batoy is a composer, audio producer and AI nerd from Munich. As co-founder and managing director of Giesing Team and Mona Davis Music, Tom Batoy has lived and worked in London, Los Angeles and Berlin. His CV includes numerous international awards as well as music compositions for several feature films and worldwide projects such as the McDonald’s “I’m lovin it” advertising campaign, which has been running for over 20 years. He has worked with Pharell Williams, Snoop Dogg and Konstantin Wecker, among others. Tom Batoy is, among other things, a member of the Art Directors Club Germany/Europe, as well as a member of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, USA.