Project Theme 2024
Building Soulful Media
The Challenge: To imagine media futures that can both inspire and aspire to be more equitable and inclusive through fostering a sense of belonging, in the age of machines.
Description: Groups discussed and deliberated on various aspects of the media’s future. They collectively prioritized the most pressing areas in which exponential impact can be achieved to actualize a more inclusive and equitable future- one where the media is more soulful and encourages a sense of belonging in the world at large. With this goal, students envisioned these futures of different media formats and charted a path to reach there via transformative experiences that include but are not limited to education and entertainment, activism and advocacy, policy and public participation, democratization of physical and digital resources, etc.
The task: Students, visiting scholars, and faculty respondents incorporated media and AI literacies, futures literacies, and ethics of empathy, care, and belonging — that they encountered in the pre-academy work as well as in person at Salzburg via lectures, seminars, and discussions with peers outside the classroom- to envision a more inclusive and equitable world 50 years from today, i.e., the year 2074.
Groups created several art and AI outputs, short media productions, and experimented with formats and narratives such as documentaries, podcasts, live streams, AI-generated visuals etc from the future in 2074, and that document the journey from 2024 to 2074.
Finally, groups presented their experiences as their final presentations for the media academy faculty and peers.
