The Network Activation event is held in the framework of EXCENTRIC—a pioneering initiative dedicated to transforming the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI) through digital innovation by developing, adopting, and integrating collaborative data-driven tools and practices for smart digital operations. The event marks the establishment of a vast network of experts around the project. In this inaugural event, we bring together policymakers, sector advocates, and the project’s own piloting institutions. Following a first day of networking, artistic input, and dynamic exchange, participants will gather for a second day that includes a discursive programme with cultural sector experts and a hands-on futuring workshop in which real-life challenges inspire the design of transformational paths at an organisational, sector, and policymaking level.
Photo: Ars Electronica / Martin Hieslmair
Networking Event
Excentric Network Activation Event
POSTCITY
Info //
Invitation only.
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Photo: Rasa Bocyte
Rasa Bocyte
Rasa Bocyte is a cultural heritage professional with a passion for forging cross-sectoral collaborations underpinned by creative and critical approaches. She advocates for sustainable innovation practices that prioritize public values, slowness and care. In her current role at the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, she leads the development and execution of international research and innovation projects.
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Photo: Paolo Cenciarelli
Claudia Cottrer
Claudia Cottrer is a cultural manager with 15+ years of experience in arts marketing, fundraising, digital strategy, and EU projects. Head of Marketing & Development at Fondazione Romaeuropa, she also coordinates the Festival box office. She holds a Master’s in Cultural Management (GIOCA, Bologna) and studied at City University London.
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Photo: Catherine Franche
Catherine Franche
Catherine Franche is the Executive Director of Ecsite, the European Network of Science Centres and Museums which has 350 member organisations including science centres, museums, aquariums, science festivals, universities and more besides. Originally from Quebec, Canada, Catherine brings over two decades of experience to her Brussels-based role. Her passion lies in fostering collaboration among informal science learning organisations, policymakers, and the public to promote science engagement and education across Europe. Under her guidance, Ecsite has flourished as a hub for innovation and excellence in science engagement, advocating for the enhanced communication of science with citizens and the sharing of best practices among its diverse membership.
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Photo: Studio Madonna
Natalie Giorgadze
Natalie Giorgadze is a General Director of Culture Action Europe. She is responsible for designing and implementing the network’s strategy. Her focus lies in community development, knowledge creation and transfer, as well as strategic communications. Natalie’s background in NGOs includes roles within human rights and environmental networks. Natalie trained as a journalist and social psychologist.
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Photo: Vikki Jones
Vikki Jones
Vikki Jones is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Institute for Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Her research explores the communication of ideas of value in the arts, creative industries, creative practice, and cultural policy, and examines the language, tensions, and contexts of digital and data-driven cultural production.
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Photo: Mara von Kummer
Stefan Kaegi
Stefan Kaegi co-produces works with Helgard Haug and Daniel Wetzel, under the label “Rimini Protokoll”. Recent works include Utopolis for public spaces, the Conference of the Absent for stages or their installation win win for museums. Stefan Kaegi also converted a truck into a mobile audience room (Cargo Sofia-X). He adapted the collective audiotour Remote X to dozens of cities. At Ars Electronica 2023 he showed Uncanny Valley, a monologue for a humanoid robot.
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Photo: Thomas Lenden
Edit Kaldor
Edit Kaldor is a theatre-maker, writer, researcher, and associate professor and head of the MA Performing Arts as Critical Practice at Lund University in Sweden. Her performances, which often integrate digital media and focus on intimate processes of day-to-day human-machine sociality, have been presented in over 30 countries worldwide.
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Frank Kimenai
Frank Kimenai is a researcher and senior consultant at KEA, specializing in the music sector and broader cultural and creative industries (CCIs). He has 25 years experience in the music sector and a formal background in ecology. He is pursuing a PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam, researching the resilience of music ecosystems. Frank is a regular public speaker at major conferences and in his free time he hosts a country music radio show while converting his family's farmland into a forest.
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Photo: Susanne Diesner
Marcus Lobbes
Marcus Lobbes is Director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality in Dortmund. With his background also in theater and education, he is in demand locally, nationally, and internationally as a director for lectures and discussion formats. He is particularly interested in establishing and promoting various networks for the performing arts and communicating artistic research in connection with the latest technologies to theater and educational institutions, politicians, and the general public.
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Photo: Philippe Denis
Carla Meller
Carla Meller works at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, Germany, where she is responsible for setting up a wide variety of international collaborations and projects. Before joining the team of the Academy, Carla worked for ten seasons in various positions at the Residenztheater in Munich. Her academic background includes a degree in political, economic, and social sciences from Sciences Po Paris and McGill University in Canada, as well as a master’s degree in cultural management.
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Photo: Mila Hamp
Vero Róza Risnovska
Vero Róza is a digital theater maker, narrative designer, and researcher, working with DIY media to create participatory theatre and games that present news worlds and systems. Together with her collective Gut && Günstig she received an honorary mention from Ars Electronica in 2024. She works as a project manager at the European Theatre Convention.
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Photo: Ernest Meholli
Margherita Soldati
Margherita Soldati is a concept developer at Waag and an artist exploring food, health, and material perception. Her work intersects art, science, and sensory research to investigate contamination, resilience and the impact of increasing sterility in our environments.
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Photo: Tuan Trinh
Tuan Trinh
Tuan Trinh is the Regional Director for DACH & CEE at EIT Digital, a leading European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation. Tuan has been a visiting scientist at various institutions, including Ericsson Research, and Oxford University. He teaches courses at BME, University of Bern, and University of Luxembourg.
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Photo: Ambra Trotto
Ambra Trotto
Ambra Trotto is Director of Transformation and RIS at the EIT Culture & Creativity and associate professor at the Umeå Institute of Design. Responsible of the NEB activities within the organisation, she promotes systemic and sustainable societal transformation with strategic initiatives that harvest the imaginative power of culture and creativity.
