A two-day forum on art and artificial intelligence
November 21–22, 2025
Amsterdam 1077 WX
Netherlands
Hartwig Art Foundation presents Digital Cosmos, a two-day forum at De Thomas, Amsterdam on November 21–22 2025. The event will critically examine the role of art amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and its planetary transformation. Speakers to date include Yuk Hui, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Marina Otero, Benjamin Bratton, John Gerrard, Holly Herndon, Cory Arcangel, and Lukas Likavčan (more to be announced).
Digital Cosmos explores the current, unprecedented moment in time, in which artificial intelligence has diversified into a myriad of forms and applications, both inside our devices and in the world around us. It is evolving so rapidly that we might already be living in an “extended reality”, a cosmos of hybrid spaces and life forms. This extended reality is only possible because of a planetary network of computers and countless data centers that store the digital remnants of human memory on which AI is trained, consuming vast amounts of energy and water.
This two-day event brings together visionary artists, thinkers, and technologists to collectively navigate the convergences of artificial intelligence, life and art and explore key questions: What happens when life, intelligence, and technology become indistinguishable? How do artistic practices engage with the ethical, social, and environmental implications of artificial intelligence? And when artificial worlds blossom and organic life crumbles, how can we nurture the web of life and shape the future of this increasingly digital cosmos?
Following the first international conference Art in the Age of the Metaverse in 2023, we’re calling our local and global community and our partners back to meet and exchange in Amsterdam at De Thomas, a Brutalist church located just steps away from Hartwig Proxy and the future site of the Hartwig Museum.
Programme
Friday, November 21: evening programme (8–10:30pm)
Presentation and listening session with Holly Herndon.
Saturday, November 22: all day (10:30am–10:30pm)
A full day of keynotes, conversations, and panel talks. The full programme and complete list of speakers will be announced this fall.
Digital Cosmos is commissioned by Hartwig Art Foundation and presented in collaboration with Rijksakademie and Leonardo Dellanoce and Arthur Steiner/Memory Gems.
Early bird tickets available.
Digital Cosmos is a partnership between Hartwig Art Foundation and Leonardo Dellanoce and Arthur Steiner, from Memory Gems. The first international conference Art in the Age of the Metaverse took place from March 10–12, 2023 at De Balie Amsterdam, in collaboration with Rijksakademie.
