Rapidly advancing technology enables faster access to, processing of, and sharing of information, transforming all aspects of life—including art. This shift has given rise to digital arts such as data visualization, kinetic art, 3D graphics, and AI. Founded to provide a platform for technology-driven artworks, the Istanbul Digital Art Festival aims to increase their visibility and curate exhibitions that reflect the evolving landscape of contemporary art. It is Turkey’s first and only ongoing festival dedicated exclusively to digital art. Each year, the festival brings cutting-edge new media art to life in a different historic building in Istanbul, showcasing works at the intersection of science, art, and technology.
The exhibition Futures Entangled: Material Intelligence, Memory & Movement, presented within the framework of the festival’s PANIC – yes/no theme, offers a narrative that weaves together the urgencies of migration and ecological crisis. Through installation, VR, and data artworks, it explores the emotional, material, and technological dimensions of displacement, adaptation, and survival.
These works invite audiences into environments where speculative ecologies, nonhuman data, and alternative systems of exchange come to life—proposing new sensibilities for how we sense, share, and sustain in a rapidly transforming world. By engaging with both planetary and personal scales of crisis, the exhibition asks: How do we navigate panic—not just as fear, but as a potential for transformation?
