Educational Programme
Educational programme is designed for cultural producers — artists, performers, musicians — seeking to engage creatively and critically with emerging technologies and the questions they raise
Digital tools are rapidly reshaping how we create, share, and experience art: the boundaries between presence and distance, narrative and play, performance and computation are constantly shifting. A singer can now lend their voice to others; critical issues can be explored in real-world gaming environments; and digital tools for music creation seem to defy the physical limits of traditional instruments.

In such a rapidly changing world — where no single “correct” path or fixed syllabus exists — we see the value in rhizomatic education and non-hierarchical dialogue. These approaches allow learning to grow organically, like a network of ideas and practices that constantly shifts, expands, and connects in new ways. They empower participants not just to absorb knowledge, but to co-create it together with peers, experts, and technology itself.
What is rhizomatic education and why do we believe in it?
Rhizomatic education is a learning theory and practice that emphasizes interconnectedness, non-linearity, and the learner’s active role in constructing knowledge. Inspired by the biological metaphor of a rhizome — a plant root system with no central point, spreading in all directions — it challenges traditional, hierarchical models. Just as we do in CultTech.
Key principles we use in our work:
  • Interconnectedness
    Knowledge is a living network of ideas and experiences
  • Non-linearity
    There is no single, predetermined learning path
  • Community as curriculum
    The learning community becomes the main source of knowledge
  • Learner agency
    Participants define their goals and learning paths
  • Unstructured learning
    Outcomes emerge through exploration rather than rigid planning
By embedding these principles into the CultTech Lab Educational Programme, we create a space where learning is exploratory, collaborative, and ever-evolving — reflecting the very nature of the technologies and cultural shifts we study
Klaus Speidel
Philosopher and Art Curator
Klaus Speidel connects philosophical inquiry with curatorial practice, challenging participants to question how meaning is created and shared in an era of technological change. In collaboration with the CultTech team and leading technology partners, he co-develops sessions that blend conceptual depth with open-ended experimentation — expanding the programme’s capacity to spark critical thought, foster creative risk-taking, and generate new forms of cultural expression.
The programme is built around four thematic threads:
Production Without Presence
This track explored how production processes are decoupled from physical presence — be it the body, voice, or hand of the artist. From AI-generated voice replicas to automated writing tools and image generation platforms, participants examined what it means to create “without being there” and how artists can critically co-opt these tools without losing their voice.

Partners: Voice-Swap, Exactly.ai
New Modes of Storytelling
What happens to a story when it can be questioned, reshaped, or even co-created in real time? This track looked at how storytelling shifts in immersive, interactive, and emotionally intelligent formats — from gamified approaches to AR/XR environments.

Partners: Escape Fake, Vrisch
Transforming Performance
This track investigated how digital technologies transform performance, particularly in music and movement. Participants explored both the possibilities and challenges of integrating real-time interaction, AI, and machine learning into live or hybrid productions.

Partners: Embodme, Sony CSL
Enhancing Relations
How can technologies deepen, rather than disrupt, our connections — with artworks, audiences, and each other? This track examined how to foster dialogue, co-creation, and presence in increasingly mediated environments.

Partners: MAE, Artivive
Learning Experience
Throughout the programme, participants engaged in hands-on sessions with diverse tech partners, exploring how emerging technologies can reshape artistic practice, storytelling, and audience engagement.

The Residency’s learning journey blends technical exploration, critical debate, and creative experimentation. Each session is designed to move fluidly between hands-on tool use, reflective discussion, and collaborative ideation — ensuring that participants not only understand how technologies work, but also why they matter in cultural and artistic contexts.
  • Understanding the Craft Recognising that emerging technologies only become truly meaningful when grounded in artistic intention and technical skill, avoiding the trap of treating them as magic shortcuts.
  • Ethics & Ownership Exploring the value of creative assets in the digital age, from consent in data use to intellectual property in generative models, and the idea of technology as a unique source of truth.
  • Creative Potential Imagining new artistic possibilities opened up by technology, from multilingual collaboration and hybrid performance formats to immersive storytelling and participatory works.
  • Designing for Impact Combining techniques like augmented and mixed reality, spatial storytelling, and sound design to create works that engage audiences beyond passive consumption and foster deeper emotional and intellectual connection.
  • Critical Reflection Questioning whether technological layers meaningfully enrich the work or simply add surface appeal, considering intention, context, and method as essential to depth and authenticity.
  • Practical & Ethical Considerations Addressing issues of accessibility, authenticity, cultural context, and the risks of over-reliance on tools — ensuring that technology serves the work, rather than defining it.
Tech Partners & Contributors
Our partners are an essential part of the residency’s collaborative ecosystem. They bring cutting-edge tools, unique creative approaches, and deep expertise in emerging technologies. Each partner contributes through live sessions, hands-on workshops, or collaborative challenges, giving participants direct access to the people shaping the future of culture and tech.
Community as Curriculum/Programme Outcomes
The programme’s most valuable outcome extends beyond the workshops themselves: a living, evolving network of artists, technologists, and cultural practitioners who continue to exchange knowledge long after the sessions end.

  • From Participants to Peers – Participants moved from learning about technologies to co-creating with them, positioning themselves as equal contributors in a horizontal network rather than passive recipients of expertise.
  • Shared Knowledge & Practices – Each meeting generated practical know-how, ethical reflections, and creative prototypes that entered the community’s shared pool of resources. This collective library grows as members adapt, remix, and build on each other’s work.
  • Cross-Pollination of Ideas – The diversity of disciplines represented in the cohort ensured that insights from one field (e.g., voice modelling ethics) could spark innovations in another (e.g., immersive storytelling).
  • Sustained Exchange – A dedicated network map and participant directory (based on the Miro data) visualise ongoing connections, making it easy to find collaborators or revisit ideas from the residency.
  • Empowerment Through Belonging – The programme model reinforces that the residency is not a one-off event but an entry point into a wider movement where members shape the narrative of how culture and technology intersect.
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Join us this October at the CultTech Summit to experience the winning projects — and discover what happens when culture meets tech.