A vision of the future; presentation of the festival.

The complexity of the modern world is reflected, among other things, in the impact of the rapid development of science and technology on the lives of individuals and society as a whole. This year, the 28th International Festival of Computer Arts highlights themes under the common title The Expansion of the Possible and the Complexity of Consciousness and opens the door to (also) young artists who reflect on the possible future and vision of the development of computer art and a digital society intertwined with robotics and connected through the interconnected web. How do we see it as inhabitants of the planet, where do we want to go as a society and how can art help to build a safe path?

The festival's structure maintains the guidelines it has set itself in previous years, while the structure defining the individual segments of the festival is established as a framework to which the individual units are attached.

The main exhibition, which highlights some of the key and important creators, theorists and researchers who have made a visible contribution to the development of computer art in Slovenia, and thus to the Festival, will this time be dedicated to Janez Strehovec, Slovenian philosopher, associate professor of new media theory and researcher in new media and electronic literature. We will introduce the author by reviewing his books, journal articles and lecture recordings. On the occasion of this festival edition, Narvika Bovcon, new media artist, curator, reviewer and university professor, will prepare an in-depth account of his work, while Mojca Puncer, PhD in philosophy, assistant professor at the University of Maribor, lecturer in aesthetics and theory of contemporary art, will record a conversation with the author, which will be broadcast as part of the exhibition in the upper foyer of the Vetrinjski dvor. As last year, there will be a festival centre and information point. The hall will host concerts and sound performances by local and international artists and performers. Simon Macuh and Estela Žutić, Simon Whetham and Jata C.

At the end of the week, a round table will be held at the same venue to reflect on the vision and possible future of computer art and digital society. The panellists will be women artists participating in this year's festival.

The main exhibition will also occupy the lower space of the Vetrinjski dvor, where Jasna Hribernik, Stevan Kojić and Betina Habjanič will present their works, as well as several other locations around the city. The installation works will be on display in a condensed form in the windows of the former Fashion House and the windows of the E2RD, Bags&Moore and Polzela stores. Zvonka T. Simčič, Monika Pocrnjić, Valerie Wolf Gang , Melissa Ghazale, Larisa Blazić, Martin Bricelj Baraga and Sara Bezovšek will exhibit their works. Lavoslava Benčič will present her installation on the Main Square and in the empty shop windows on Koroška Street. The Cultural Incubator will serve as an exhibition space for the presentation of visual and sound projects by younger artists Dalea Kovačec, Lazar Mihajlović and Vid Merlak. Aphra Tesla and Stefan Doepner's inter-media project will also be on show in the Synagogue, while the artist Toni Soprano Meneglejte will be presenting her work in GT22 as part of the accompanying programme. Within this strand, there will also be a theatre performance by Apophenia/1/, the opening of work at the Jewish Street Gallery and an exhibition by Miranda Moss and Daniel Brownell.

In addition to the main and accompanying exhibition programme, concerts and performances, and theoretical work, the festival is once again associated with RTV Slovenia, specifically with the Ars programme of Radio Slovenia and the Maribor Television Unit. Every year, there will be workshops for young people and children, organised by KonS, and the student prizes will be awarded, and the winners will have their work displayed in an exhibition at the Media Nox gallery.