Dr. Juergen Hagler is an academic researcher and curator working at the interface of animation, game and media art. He studied art education, experimental visual design and cultural studies at the University for Art and Design in Linz, Austria. Currently, he is a Professor for Computer Animation and Media Studies in the Digital Media department at the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. He became the academic coordinator for the Digital Arts master’s degree programme in 2009. Since 2014 he is the co-head of the research group Playful Interactive Environments with a focus on the investigation of new and natural playful forms of interaction and the use of playful mechanisms to encourage specific behavioral patterns. He has been involved in the activities of Ars Electronica since 1997 in a series of different functions. Since 2017 he is the director of the Ars Electronica Animation Festival and initiator and organizer of the symposium Expanded Animation.

Graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Applied Arts in 2010. in the class of professor Rastko Ćirić, specializing in illustration and animation. Worked as an artist in Mad Head Games since 2013. Dabbles in comics, animation, portraits, caricature, miniature sculpting, FX makeup, propmaking, cosplay, scale modelling, art dolls and has too many hobbies.

Alex’s extensive experience with 3ds Max dates right the way back to high school where he gave his first demo of 3D Studio R3 in 1993. Since then, Alex has worked with a huge amount of customers mainly in the games and design visualization industry. Along the way he has produced real-time projects for Volkswagen, event agencies and medical institutes. Today Alex focuses on the optimal use of 3ds Max and Autodesk M&E software by supporting companies to optimize their creative processes.

Ivan Bereš and Igor Zarol, co-founders of Origin Tales, an award-winning, independent animation studio founded in 2015, located in Novi Sad, Serbia. Studio is recognized for captivating our audience with bold and powerful visual stories across multiple platforms. What we bring to the world is our experience in storytelling, character creation and adaption of IP for various entertainment media.

Educator, Improvising Musician-saxophonist, Composer Jasna graduated from “Franc Liszt” Music Academy in Budapest, Jazz saxophone performance and teaching, received MA in Music Composition from York University in Toronto. Currently, she is enrolled in Doctoral Transdisciplinary Studies in Contemporary Arts and Media in Belgrade, focusing on free improvised music. Jasna performed her original work around Europe, USA and Canada on many national and international festivals. She teaches music and music methodology on University level, leads NGO projects in non-formal education and female artists’ affirmation.

Electrical and biomedical engineer with research focus on medical instrumentation design and its evaluation in clinical environment. Employed as an Assistant Professor at Signals and Systems Department at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. Interested in software-designed instrumentation, medical image acquisition and analysis, neural engineering. Honoured with awards: Bimef 2003, Siemens 2004, Etran 2005 and 2014, Telfor 2013, BCNM 2015, 2nd prize on International Medical Olympiad 2017. Launched Balkan Open Competition in Software-designed Instrumentation. Promotes project-based learning concept in education.

Petar is an adviser in the Department of international cooperation at Center for the Promotion of Science mostly involved in projects on the intersection of art, technology and society. Using art these projects are trying to open up a conversation and change the narrative around artificial intelligence by going beyond the technical aspects to the social, ecological and political implications of this defining technology of our time. Parallel to his work on science communication he is an active researcher at the Institute of nuclear sciences “Vinca”. His research is in the domain of energy storage and renewable energy sources with a focus on supercapacitors and fuel cells.