On Sunday, 18 May, Vienna Digital Cultures will host a lineup of talks on the politics of technology, language, and future societies, curated by Spike.

13.00–14.00
Alex Quicho, Sycophancy

London-based theorist Alex Quicho draws on feminized aesthetics and AI performativity to link the deferential tendencies of large language models – their habit of flattering – to similar dynamics in animal behavior, political rhetoric, and social performance.

14.00–15.00
Wassim Z. Alsindi, Collapse of Nations: Technocapital Utopias and their Reactionary Shadows

Convener of 0xSalon, a Berlin based counter-institutional collective critically engaging with technology through art and philosophy, Wassim Z. Alsindi overviews the new forms of imperialism – charter cities, network states, et al – and asks what the defense of democracy might learn not only from the Athenian polis, but the governance of pirates.


15.00–16.00
Günseli Yalcinkaya, Age of Aquarius

London-based writer Günseli Yalcinkaya unpacks the role that AI and quantum have played in shaping our perception of reality, where rational and technoscientific paradigms disintegrate into a freaky collision of accelerationism and psychedelic renaissance – giving rise to magical thinking both good and bad.

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Vienna Digital Cultures is a new festival jointly organized by Foto Arsenal Wien and Kunsthalle Wien. It consolidates both institutions’ commitment to exploring how new technologies impact culture, via a two-week program of art, performance and discourse. Curated by Nadim Samman, the theme for the 2025 edition is Model Collapse.