A friend that you hang around your neck. Device data replacing instinctual understandings of our own bodies. A creative workshop mighty enough to impact an entire nation’s economy. Asteroids coming at our industry from all directions. Radical reframings of intimacy, ethics and care.

The future of art, culture and technology and the future of humanity are intertwined – but that’s not how most people working in the field understand their influence. This was the key insight from last week’s Future of Art, Culture And Technology symposium – or more aptly, FACT.

The fourth of ACMI’s annual symposia, FACT 2026 presented leading practitioners from Australia and around the world to examine how technology shapes the cultural sector. Technology, of course, has long been shaped by creative practitioners; the hand of the maker is still closely associated with authenticity and trust, and this too was an important theme, despite the relentless rush of AI slop…

>>> Read on at The Point

IMAGE: Japanese artist and curator Ryuta Aoki presenting his highly tech-driven practice as deeply embedded in traditional practices that reveal the “invisible structures” framing our interactions as human beings.