Binetou Sylla is a French-Senegalese executive music producer and author, founder and director of the independent label Wèrè Wèrè Music, which she runs from Paris and Lagos. She spent ten years at the head of Syllart Records, the label founded by her father Ibrahima Sory Sylla, where she rebuilt the contractual base of a catalogue of more than 30,000 tracks, cleared its rights, digitised its masters and brought the label’s YouTube channel close to two million subscribers, and she went on to lead Def Jam Africa for Universal Music France. A former music columnist for Le Monde, co-author of Le Dérangeur and co-producer of the podcast Piment on Radio Nova, she works between Paris and the continent to build lasting structures for African music.

website  instagram

Vladan is the co-founder of Share Foundation and Sharelab, as well as a distinguished professor of arts and design from Novi Sad, Serbia. Over the past few years, his collaborative projects with Kate Crawford gained critical acclaim, with their ground-breaking Calculating Empires research and exhibition being awarded the Silver Lion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2025. His work blends critical and system design, data investigations, counter-cartography, data visualization, and numerous other disciplines, and is included in the permanent collections of the MoMA in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Design Museum in London and the Rijksmuseum in Twenthe, as well as in the permanent exhibition of the Ars Electronica Center.

Profile Sharelab

In Slovenia, Meta Štular led the creation of one of Europe’s largest hubs for sustainable design and manufacturing – Center ROG in Ljubljana – which earned her team the Eurocities Innovation Award. For over 20 years, she specializes in social innovation, public space regeneration, and building sustainable creative ecosystems. Her expertise includes stakeholder engagement, strategy development, participatory design, and the implementation of transformative cultural programs. She will be sharing with us Center ROG’s stories of sustainable approaches to maker culture, and innovative ways of nurturing creative communities.

Profile CenterRog

Damir Gamulin is a designer and researcher trained at the School of Design, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb. His work approaches design as a form of modelling: constructing spatial arrangements, editorial structures, and tools that enable orientation and decision-making in heterogeneous material. This approach is grounded in the development of complex design methods that extend design practice into research, integrating multiple disciplines and scales through both design and non-design tools.

He is the co-founder of OO (Organizirano oblikovanje; with Antun Sevšek), a practice that operates between commissioned work and research-led projects. Their current research includes Magistrala, a long-term investigation of the Adriatic Highway infrastructure developed through linear mapping methods and a custom digital tool (Linear Mapper) for sequencing, annotating, and comparing spatial datasets. He designs and exhibits internationally, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Taipei Biennial, the Milan Triennial, and Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. He has received multiple national and international awards and recognitions.

Profile

Simone Rebaudengo is the co-founder of studio OIO, where his research focuses on exploring the implications of living with networked and somewhat smart products that change, grow, and are intelligent enough to make their own decisions and show a point of view. His works have been published internationally in Wired, Fastcompany, The Atlantic and Designboom, and he has won two 2014 IXDA Interaction Awards for “Addicted Products”, and a 2015-2016 Internet of Things Award for Best Design Fiction for his “Ethical Things” project, to name just a few.

studio OIO

Pierre Bastien builds his own machineries, at the cross between music and visual art that blends live trumpet sounds with screen projections of on-site, mechanical sound sculptures in a very poetic way. His work is described as “a timeless sounding orchestra, both futuristic and slightly dada, conjuring ancient traditions in its surprisingly sensuous music.” Bastien has been called a “mad musical scientist with a celebrity following” by The Guardian. Collaborating in the past with filmmaker Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, singer and composer Robert Wyatt and Aphex Twin (who released three of his albums on his label Rephlex) to name a few, he is one of the most influential experimental musicians working in the field. In 1986 he formed his own self made one man orchestra, Mecanium and made over 30 records over the years

Website

Henriëtte Waal is an artist and designer known for her interdisciplinary work in artistic research, environmental design, and community engagement. She is the artistic leader of Veenweide Atelier and the co-founder of Atelier LUMA, the bio design lab of LUMA Arles in the south of France, focused on bioregional practices and material engineering. She is author of Water Works (Waal & Driessen, Valiz, 2025), a book that positions water infrastructures beyond the mere technical, and explores ecosocial design approaches to freshwater challenges through collaborative, place-based practices. Henriëtte has led fieldwork in Mediterranean wetlands, collaborating with remote wetland communities. Combining a system-level approach with embodied practice, her work spans co-fabrication systems for beverages, footwear, colors, crafts, and spaces, as part of an ongoing search for new ecosocial balance. Her projects have been exhibited internationally, highlighting her dedication to social and environmental resilience.

Marina Batinić is a cultural manager specialising in international cooperation, with academic backgrounds in Art History, English Language and Literature, and Cultural Heritage Management. She is a co-founder of Culture Hub Croatia – Platform for Education, Creativity and Development through Culture and PROSTOR, a creative hub in Split. At CHC-Prostor, she coordinates creative and educational programmes creating opportunities for participation, intercultural dialogue, and community engagement. A strong focus of her work is strategic development, connecting cultural practice and international cooperation projects with local needs, empowering communities to actively shape their cultural and social environments.

Among East Africa’s most exciting DJs and a core member of Kampala’s Nyege Nyege collective, Kampire’s vibrant bass-heavy sets have transported her to bring the best of Ugandan party culture to clubs & festivals across the world. Her Boiler Room set from Nyege Nyege festival 2018 was a legitimate ‘internet moment’, with thousands of shares leading to serious FOMO from electronic music fans watching online. In October 2021 Kampire joined BBC Radio 1’s as one of their esteemed ‘Residency’ host DJs, giving her an even bigger platform for showcasing the best new music from across the diaspora and followed this with a crucial BBC Essential Mix in 2022. Her monthly NTS Radio Residency has continued to see Kampire shine a light on other DJs & artists from Africa and the diaspora, including Authentically Plastic, Chrisman & DJ IV.

The recent ‘A Dancefloor in Ndola’ compilation curated for Strut Records, saw Kampire return to her roots and bring together a range of different East and Southern African genres from Congolese rumba and soukous to 1980s township bubblegum and the rich guitar-led sounds of Zambian kalindula. “There are styles of music on the compilation which are often considered unsophisticated from rural areas. I and other contemporary African artists and DJs draw inspiration from them; it is part of what makes us ourselves.” Kampire also shines the spotlight on many incredible women in African music from the 80s, including Congolese legends like Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mansia M’bila to V-Mash and Di Groovy Girls from South Africa.

Alongside the release of the compilation, Kampire and Tash LC had an in-depth discussion about digging in the modern age, vinyl collecting and the politics of record-collecting.

As a curator, Kampire’s week-long ‘Club & Care’ Residency at Gessnerallee in Zurich celebrated inclusive nightlife; with workshops, a sober day rave and a club night featuring internationally recognized DJs and local collectives.

Social Links: 

• https://linktr.ee/kkaybie
• instagram.com/kkaybie

Igor Simić blends fine art, cinematography, video games and music into a thought-provoking transmedia entity, developed somewhere between New York and Belgrade. He is the co-founder and creative director of Demagog Studio which, among other things, produces video games with an eco-critical angle. In 2022, his visual art was featured as part of Manifesta 14, while his video game “The Cub” was in the official selection at Tribeca Film Festival. Igor fuses lecture, cinema, art and performance into a unique format. His performative lecture Everything is Content will give us a provocative look at the impact that the ubiquity of platformized content has on our daily lives.

Demagog Studio Profile 

Olivia is a designer and an education specialist for SDG creative, hands-on activities using technology and design, for kids and adults. She has 16 years of experience in the education sector as a senior lecturer, consultant, educational designer, coordinator, manager, head of department in university. She is passionate about creative projects encouraging critical thinking, interdisciplinarity and empathy and I advocate the SDGs by generating creative sessions for meaningful making, value-driven activities that promote sustainability, inclusion and well being. Being active in the Fab Lab network since 2009 and after having initiated Fab Labs in Europe, her latest project is SYN Fab Lab (2021), the first mobile Fab Lab in Greece that focuses on co-creating societal change all around the country.

Instagram

Silvia Brandi is an architect, cultural manager and co-founder of FarmLab, a rural creative hub in Southeast Austria that combines traditional crafts, digital fabrication and nature-based practices. Originally from Italy, she spent almost twenty years in Barcelona working at the intersection of architecture, education, innovation and culture. Her previous roles include faculty member and General Manager at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Director of the international Fixing the Future Festival, and Director of Educational Projects at Abacus Cooperativa.
Today, Silvia develops artistic residencies, workshops and international collaborations at FarmLab, exploring how creativity, local resources and emerging technologies can contribute to more resilient and regenerative futures. Her current work focuses on the relationship between making, learning and the seasonal cycles that shape rural life.

FarmLab Instagram Profile

Tom is director of The Making Rooms, a multidisciplinary makerspace in Blackburn England, featuring labs in ceramics, textiles, device repair, plastic recycling and a full Fab Lab that opens to the public for free every weekend. He is currently leading a £1.5m expansion of the building to support growing demand and further develop these labs.
Being involved with makerspaces since volunteering at the UK’s first Fab Lab, Tom has since visited over 50 makerspaces to share experiences. With a degree in Computer Science and background in educational electronics development, Tom helped to develop the BBC micro:bit, CodeBug, and PiFace platforms – supporting millions of learners worldwide.
He has since led his team in creating projects with university researchers, local and international partners. In the last 4 years, he has focused the space towards training and sustainability research.
In 2023 he led a week-long workshop in Blackburn for 15 ECHN hub leaders from 11 countries to learn from his team, their local partners and each other – distilling this into the ECHN Makerspace Toolkit. As an ECHN board member, Tom leads the Makerspace cluster.
Tom has led the development of youth makerspaces in 8 towns across England with more in development. He has long supported young people into making and sustainability, this forming the topic of his recent TEDx talk.

The Making Rooms

Ariel Facundo Uzal is co-founder and the lead maker at TransfoLAB BCN. Faku is a versatile professional, and his experience extends from photography and filmmaking (his vocation by education), audio-visual production, design and construction of custom-made high-end vehicles and professional carpentry. In the last 16 years his primary focus is on development of environmentally friendly production methods in fabrication (metalwork, carpentry, plastic moulding…), through the application of upcycling, reuse, transformation, and circular economy. Faku was also the co-founder of Transfodesign (2009 – 2019), an architectural studio focused on circular economy, and the founder of FaKuZa image&design (2010 – 2015), studio focused on photography and audio-visual production.

TransfoLAB BCN

Nada Tozija is co-founder of TransfoLAB BCN and in charge of circularity and sustainable design. A graduate architect, Nada has completed master’s studies in Entrepreneurship and International Trade at the Université d’Orleans, France, as well as master’s degree in Independent Program studies by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA) and Universitad Autonoma de Barcelona. Her 18 years of international experience extends from short architectural projects in Tunisia, Brazil, and Wales, to urban development projects in the United States of America, villa design in Mallorca and housing and interior design projects in North Macedonia. Having had experience in the contemporary practices of design and production, she shifted her focus towards sustainability, circular economy and making, first by co-founding her studio Transfodesign (2009-2019), and later by co-founding TransfoLAB BCN and TransfoLAB ATH, the first Center for Trash Investigation. Nada currently holds a position within the Managing Board of Ensemble – the Network of Productive and Collaborative Spaces in Barcelona, and is co-leading the Makers Cluster within ECHN.

TransfoLAB BCN

Klinical, the alias of Dan Paget, is a British drum and bass producer and DJ hailing from Melksham, Wiltshire. He began his musical journey in 2015 while studying film production at university in Southampton, where he also co-promoted drum and bass nights alongside fellow artist Kanine. Initially producing jump-up tracks, Klinical’s exposure to minimal drum and bass artists like Arkaik, Amoss, and Fre4knc in 2014 inspired him to explore deeper, more minimalistic sounds within the genre.

Over the years, Klinical has developed a distinctive style characterised by deep, sub-loaded basslines and stripped-back constructions. His productions have been released on respected labels such as Lifestyle Music, Overview Music, and Context Audio. Notable tracks include Science and Rotate, which garnered significant attention after being featured on Noisia Radio, marking a pivotal moment in his career.

Klinical’s relocation to Bristol, a city renowned for its vibrant bass music scene, has further influenced his musical trajectory. Immersed in an environment pulsating with musical diversity, he has collaborated with artists like Spektiv and Killa P, expanding his repertoire to include explorations into 140 bpm dubstep. As a DJ, Klinical has performed at various events and venues, captivating audiences with his deep and minimalistic sets. His commitment to pushing the boundaries of drum and bass, combined with his innovative approach to production, continues to solidify his reputation as a forward-thinking artist within the electronic music landscape.

Instagram

Youtube

Jeremy Morris is an English, South African and Swiss architect and visual artist. Traveling along with his camera, analysing the built environment and witnessing different contexts as a result of his multicultural background. He created a social and environmental awareness that drives him in his projects. Fahrenheit.works (also operating as Fahrenheit 180º) is an architectural collective and design studio founded by Jeremy and Portuguese-Swiss architect Luca Carlisle. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, they focus on regenerative architecture, ecological design, and building with alternative, earth-based materials. Their headquarters are based in Lisbon, Portugal.

Fahrenheit.works

Neda is the co-founder of TransfoLAB ATH/BCN, Centers of Trash Investigation exploring circular economy, sustainable design/fabrication, and material innovation. With over 20 years of experience in product, project, and organizational management, she has worked across telecommunications, technology, and innovation, managing key products for T-Mobile Macedonia and leading international multidisciplinary teams delivering digital solutions for global brands including Microsoft, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, and Verizon.

Today, her work focuses on rethinking how products, projects, and organizations are designed and managed through the lens of circularity and sustainability. By combining systems thinking, innovation, and practical implementation, she develops approaches and projects that generate positive social and environmental impact.

TransfoLAB BCN

Rafael Calado is a Portuguese architect, innovation strategist, and community builder working at the intersection of the bioeconomy, circular economy, digital fabrication, design, and citizen innovation. He coordinated FabLab Lisboa (2014–2021), co-founded Repair Café Lisboa in 2016, and has developed international residencies, courses, and workshops with institutions including RISD, The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), and ATÖLYE Istanbul.

In 2022, Rafael founded BioLab Lisboa, Portugal’s first Citizen Lab, established through a partnership between Lisbon City Council, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and FCiências.ID Association. He promotes international residencies, internships, workshops, research, and community-driven innovation projects. He received two Participatory Budget awards supporting maker entrepreneurship for people with disabilities and the creation of a Circular Economy Hub. Rafael is a former Maker Ambassador at Maker Faire Rome and a former Fellow of Urban Arenas for Just and Sustainable Cities. He is a founding member of the Vulca Association and the European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN).

BioLab Lisboa

Athanasios Moutsopoulos studied at the National Technical University (NTUA). Master of Design Studies at Harvard University, and PhD at NTUA. He is also an Adj. assistant professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Patras, Greece.

He teaches History and Theory of Art and Architecture at the School of Architecture, NTUA. Collaborated with many reviews (Mute, Archis,…) He was appointed commissioner for the Greek Pavilion (Athens 2002: Absolut Realism) at the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2002). He was the artistic director for the Photosyngyria exhibition, an international photography event in Thessaloniki, Greece (February 2005) and Visual Arts in Greece 2005 at the Contemporary Art Museum in Thessaloniki. He curated a great number of group shows in several museums in Greece.

Profile

Guillermo Orduña is co-founder of Munkun, a design and research studio working at the intersection of art, science, design, technology and learning. Before Munkun, he spent over twenty years as a science communicator, translating complex research into stories, formats and campaigns that reach the public. At Munkun he leads narrative strategy, proposal architecture and long-term partnerships across European research and cultural ecosystems specially the New European Bauhaus.

Munkun

Agustín Jamardo manages Anceu Coliving, a rural coliving in Anceu (Galicia, Spain) for remote workers and creatives. The community shares coworking spaces, communal dinners and everyday village life, connecting local rural culture with an international creative community.

Anceu Coliving

Dilara Güney is an architect, researcher, and R&S coordinator at Aks Creative Hub, where she develops international collaborations across architecture, culture, and sustainability. Her work focuses on designing participatory processes, fostering cross-sector partnerships, and creating platforms that bring together public institutions, academia, creative professionals, and local communities to tackle urban and environmental challenges through innovation and participation. Alongside her work at Aks, she is pursuing a PhD in Architecture, exploring participatory design and just urban transitions. Her work bridges research and practice, turning ideas into collaborative projects with real-world impact.

Aks Creative Hub 

Ninu Dramis has worked across fashion and communication design, co-founded two creative studios, and was part of the label Maars. Drawing on her broad experience in the fashion industry in several fields, she works as a Creative Director. Since 2024, she has been strategically building FABRIC, where she leads Concept, Collaboration, and Program Curation.

Fabric Hamburg 

Lisa Spelge is working at the intersection of cultural management and urban development. Having spent several years at Hamburg’s Cultural Funding Agency (Kreativ Gesellschaft), where she coordinated real estate projects and networks for stakeholders in the creative industries, she has worked as a project manager for the FABRIC Future Fashion Lab since 2026. She is particularly interested in how creative ecosystems, new usage concepts, and strong communities can contribute to sustainable urban development processes.

Fabric Hamburg 

Selection of Work 2015-present
• 2019-2026 Senior Expert for CreativeFLIP, involved in Work Packages on funding, transformation, leading Work Package on working conditions and co-curating the final report of CreativeFLIP, developed working conditions portal This is How We Work on CreativesUnite.eu
• 2024 Co-author for overview report voor European Parliament on culture and media policies • 2022-now EU advisor for The Dutch Labour Market Platform for the CCS, setting up the European Network on Fair Practice
• 2023-2026 Member Advisory Board Cyanotypes project
• 2023 Member Advisory Group on Arts in Health Whitepaper, cooperation between universities, health and arts institutions
• 2023-2026 Member Advisory Board for SIA-Raak Research project on risk management for performing arts institutions
• 2022-2023 Organising four round tables with experts from the CCS on the social value of the art/ists, resulting in opinion articles in national newspapers
• 2022-2023 Expert for EU OMC-working group on working conditions, representing The Dutch Labour Market Platform for the CCS, member of the drafting group
• 2018-2024 Member Advisory Committee Impulsgelden (subsidies for cultural entrepreneurship and social impact) Province of Brabant, NL
• 2021 Co-author of report for European Parliament on effects of Covid-crisis on the CCS • 2020 Developing research proposal on risk management and governance in the cultural sector
• 2020 Developing new strategy for Het Wilde Westen, creative hub for art and wellbeing in Utrecht
• 2020 Member Advisory Committee City of Rotterdam for 4-year subsidies for cultural institutions
• 2019-2021 External expert policy development RegionArts, Interreg project on ICT and Arts for Baltan Laboratories Eindhoven
• 2018-2019 Research coordinator Financing Creatives, cooperative research project between Amsterdam University of the Applied Sciences, Utrecht School of the Arts and Cultuur+Ondernemen
• 2017-2018 Research and Writing a book chapter for the EU-financed NXT-project Making a Living from the Arts by ELIA (European Leaugue of Institutes of Arts Education) on Creative Hubs
• 2018 Guest lecturer for the Master at Arts Academy Riga, Latvia
• 2015-2017 External Expert for IDEA-Consult for EU-pilot project Crowdunding4Culture

Values of Culture & Creativity

Renata is leading Ljubljana’s flagship creative hub for design, craftsmanship, architecture, and applied arts, established by the City of Ljubljana in 2021. Since its inception, she has led the development of the institution from concept to operation, overseeing the transformation of a former industrial complex into one of the region’s most ambitious public infrastructures for creativity and innovation. Center Rog opened to the public in 2023 and has become a platform for production, learning, entrepreneurship, and international collaboration across the creative industries.

With more than two decades of experience across the cultural and creative sectors, she has held senior leadership roles in publishing, cultural policy, and public administration. As Managing Director of the Slovenian Book Agency, she led the internationalisation of Slovenia’s literary sector. She also contributed to Ljubljana’s candidature for the European Capital of Culture 2025, focusing on governance and organisational models for large-scale cultural initiatives.

She has served as an external evaluator for the European Commission, is a member of the UNESCO Expert Group for the World Book Capital network, and regularly contributes to discussions on cultural policy and creative-sector development at the European level. Renata holds degrees in Journalism, Philosophy, and General Linguistics from the University of Ljubljana.

Center Rog

Angeliki is engaged in the exploration of digital culture, in dialogue with new formats of the performative. Her research concerns new media dramaturgy, the poetization of technology, new media archives and the Commons. She is a member of Medea Electronique Art Collective, focusing on curation and dramaturgy. From 2017 to 2019 she was the academic curator of the EU Programme “Ancient Drama: Interdisciplinary and inter-artistic approaches” at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation in Athens.
As curator and dramaturg she has collaborated with independent artists and art institutions in France and in Greece (French Institute, Documenta 14, National Theatre, Stegi Onassis, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Artec, Lab’bel, Mirfestival, etc.).

She holds a PhD thesis on new media and ancient Greek drama (2017, Co-direction: University Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III & National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). After graduating from the Media Department of the Kapodistrian and National University of Athens, she pursued an MA in Performing Arts (University Sorbonne Nouvelle-Pars III).

Profile

Chris has a background in journalism and the nonprofit sector. He has reported from several countries across Africa as a freelance journalist with his work published by The Guardian, BBC, The Economist and Vice, among others. More recently, he has worked on research and communications for an international human rights charity and an environmental investigations NGO in the UK. Chris lives in London. Investigate Europe

Themis Glyka is a professional based in Athens with a specialized background in arts and heritage management. She holds an MA in Arts and Culture from Maastricht University , focusing on Arts and Heritage: Policy, Management, and Education, with fieldwork research at the Centre Céramique and a thesis on the persuasive communication mechanisms of eco-documentaries. This is complemented by a BA in Sociology (Panteion University, Honors) and volunteer work supporting accessibility in cultural institutions, where she created alt-text descriptions for images and diagrams in academic and cultural texts. Fluent in English (C2) and native in Greek, Themis brings a cross-cultural, research-driven perspective shaped by her studies and experience across Europe.

Odyssea 

Dimitris Papadatos, aka Jay Glass Dubs, is a Greek-American composer, musician and sound artist, and a key figure in experimental dub electronics and the Bokeh Versions collective.

His work explores spirituality and transformation through a stripped-down, experimental approach to dub, focusing on rhythm, bass, vocals and effects. He has released extensively on labels including Bokeh Versions, DFA Records, Ecstatic and Berceuse Heroique, and collaborated with artists such as Not Waving, Guerilla Toss and Leslie Winer. His work has been presented internationally at institutions and festivals including Berlin Atonal, Meakusma Festival and documenta 14, as well as venues across Europe. His music has also been featured and broadcast by NTS Radio, BBC Radio 3, WFMU, dublab and Resonance FM.

Website

Aïnhoa Jean-Calmettes is a journalist, editor, and curator who has worked in French cultural journalism since 2013. As a performing arts writer for Libération and CND Magazine and a literature and ideas editor at Mouvement magazine, she has previously written for Trois Couleurs and Stylist. Her radio and podcast work includes “L’esprit critique” for Mediapart (2025), “Zoom Zoom Zen” for France Inter (2024), and “La critique” and “La vignette” for France Culture (2021 and 2019). She has also edited books since 2022, including Des villes en mieux (Le Pommier, 2026), Tour and De marbre (Éditions Secondes, 2022 and 2023), and content for Theconversation.fr

Since 2026, she has been a curatorial advisor to the Littérature Live Festival, Nouvelles Hybrides Festival, and Manufacture d’idées, and she has run a book club with the Biennale de la danse de Lyon and Littérature Live since 2025. She has programmed public talks at venues including Villa Gillet, Institut français d’Athènes, and DOC! Paris since 2017. Her teaching and critical-practice work includes organising a live radio broadcast of amateur critics at Festival Matières vives (2026), founding a critics’ collective at La Bellone in Brussels (2020–2022), running critical writing workshops, and lecturing at institutions including Université de Saint-Étienne, ENSIBB Lyon, UCO Niort, and IFP Paris. She holds master’s degrees in Journalism (ESJ Lille), Philosophy, and Political Science (both Université Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne).

Mouvement

Nacho Márquez is co-founder and president of Rural Hackers, a hub based in a village of 102 inhabitants in Galicia (Spain), working against rural depopulation through technology, creativity and community. Rural Hackers leads programmes in AI literacy, entrepreneurship and creative residencies across rural areas.

Rural Hackers 

Ilias Saltiel is the co-founder and Director of Athens Makerspace, a non-profit makerspace founded in 2016. He grew up in Athens and studied Mechanical Engineering (BEng) at the University of Edinburgh, later worked in Bulgaria as a supervisor on photovoltaic park foundations for a project led by Aktor S.A. Inspired by a visit to the HackSpace in London and further research into the international Maker Movement, he set out to bring the democratization of tools and fabrication technology to Athens.

In the winter of 2015 he took part in the “Entrepreneurship in Action” seminar and competition at the University of Athens, placing second, and shortly after founded Athens Makerspace with an educational vision and a social mission. Under his leadership, Athens Makerspace has grown into a hands-on hub for both traditional and digital fabrication — 3D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, electronics, CNC, and more — with a particular focus on turning plastic waste into useful products through its Precious Plastic Lab. Ilias brings a practical, collaborative approach to making — bridging design, fabrication, and circular economy principles — and is always open to new partnerships that push sustainable making forward.

AthensMakerspace 

Ivan has been running Republikken for 18 years. He started as a community manager, and is now in a shared CEO position. His main focus was community to begin with, and learning from peers through the ECHN was one of the sources of the community engagement. In recent years, prop tech has filled his time, together with automation, optimising a small organisation and business development. He has a background in History and years of playing music. When arriving in a new city, record shopping is high on the to-do list. Next is local food and drinks. Born in Chile – but he is Danish.

Republikken

Anna Járai, a Budapest-based artist and filmmaker, explores embodiment and memory from a feminist critical perspective, creating research- and performance-based, cross-genre works including films, photographs and installations. She draws inspiration from folklore, family history and local history, which she frequently references in ritualistic reinterpretations.
In 2022, she graduated from the Film programme at Falmouth University in the UK, and in 2026, she graduated with an MA in Fine Art from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. Her work has screened and exhibited internationally, including at Encounters Film Festival, Millennium Film Workshop, and Mayfair Art Weekend. Following group shows at Tér-Kép Gallery and Turbina Cultural Centre, her debut solo exhibition, Habitus, opens this September at Cairo Contemporary in Budapest. In the spring of 2026, she was a fellow of the School of Artivism residency programme in Palermo, where she explored the themes of artistic activism and translocal solidarity. In early July, at the 5th Urban Camp organised by Tranzit, she led a participatory art workshop based on the theories of Silvia Federici, in which participants created experimental animations around the social significance of gossip.

Instagram

One of the co-founders of Nova Iskra, where from the very beginning she is actively engaged in creating special educational programs for the wider community of our hub and the general public. Nana is devoted to creating special educational programs with the aim to provide young professionals with the skill sets necessary in an increasingly fluid and shifting job market, as well as challenging economic and social circumstances, not only on the local but on the global level. Nana is designing programs, projects and partnerships which are contributing to empowering individuals and teams through education, one that expands our knowledge and experience, improves skills, and contributes to our overall personal improvement and development.

Nana holds an MA in Management in Culture, Interculturalism and Mediation in Balkans (University of the Arts Belgrade) and BA in Art History (Philosophical Faculty of Belgrade University). She has great professional experience in public, private and civil society organizations in the fields of art, culture and cultural industries. She is also the founder of the KidsPatch festival for children, and was a guest professor at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, as well as one of the mentors in the Creative Mentorship program.

Nova Iskra

Anna sees culture as a practice and creativity as both an expression of personal needs and a response to them. With a degree in Information Design, studies in Art History, and over a decade of experience in the arts and creative industries, she has worked at the intersection of established cultural institutions and grassroots initiatives. After contributing to institutions such as MAK, mumok, Vienna Design Week, and neunerhaus in Vienna, she returned to South Tyrol in 2022, where she has worked with Museion, BASIS Vinschgau Venosta, Allianz der Kultur, Museion Art Club, and Cultura Libera Freie Kultur, alongside her independent practice. As an independent cultural manager and communication strategist, she works as an external Project Curator for BASIS and represents the organization on its board. A self-described militant crocheter and fiber activist, she advocates for the social and political potential of craft, encouraging everyone to embrace and share their creativity—regardless of skill level. Interested in simple subversive practices and sociopolitical cultural expression, she is an untangler of the tangible.

BASIS Vinschgau Venosta

Joana Carvalho is an architect and founder of DINAMO10 Creative Hub. She started this community with the belief that collaboration and cooperation are the fundamentals for creative work and business success. After 4 years abroad, she returned to her hometown to establish her studio and to kickstart one of the first co-work spaces in Portugal in 2010, aiming to scale on impact rather than in size. Recently, she has combined her architectural expertise with creative-community management to deliver 360º consultancy for collaborative spaces.

DINAMO10

Selin Anzerlioğlu is an Industrial Design Intern at BioLab Lisboa. She recently graduated from Özyeğin University with a BSc in Industrial Design and a minor in Communication Design. During two years at OPENFAB ÖzÜ, she contributed to interdisciplinary projects involving biomaterials, digital fabrication, AI-supported design, and workshop development, while supporting collaborations with stuDesigners, Türkiye’s nationwide industrial design student community.

Her material-driven practice begins by exploring materials through experimentation and translating these findings into products, workshops, and collaborative design experiences. Her work combines material research, prototyping, and hands-on learning within an iterative design process. It has been presented at the ACM CHI Conference 2026 in Barcelona and exhibited at Milan Design Week. She is currently developing a bio-based material project under patent application while continuing to explore material innovation, circular design, and open knowledge sharing.

BioLab Lisboa 

Tessa Moroder together with her sister Arianna is the founder of Lottozero textile laboratories, a center for textile design, art and culture with an open lab for textile production, experimentation and research, in Prato Italy. After graduating in economics, statistics and social sciences, at Bocconi University in Milan, she worked as a business consultant in various sectors (automotive, wine, television) and later as the CFO of a cultural communications company before founding Lottozero in 2014.
As of 2022, Tessa Moroder serves on the Board of Directors of European Creative Hubs Network and in 2026 she pursued a master’s degree in social entrepreneurship.

Lottozero

Maria Shirshova is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Sami Residence in Tbilisi, Georgia. For almost five years, she has been exploring how language can bring people together and help them build a new life in a new country.
What started as a Georgian language school has grown into a vibrant community where more than 3,500 migrants and newcomers have found friends, launched projects, built collaborations, and discovered a sense of belonging. Maria is also the founder of the social enterprises My Sisters and Remarka, supporting women artisans and displaced communities through creativity, design, and entrepreneurship. She believes that language is only the beginning. Real change happens when people feel connected, valued, and part of a community. In a rapidly changing world, she sees human relationships as one of the most sustainable resources we have.

Sami Residence

Sanna Lilie is the Managing Director of STPLN, a hub for independent creators, where she leads the organization’s vision and strategic direction to foster sustainable, inclusive, and community-driven environments. Her background spans culture-led urban development, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and strategic project management, with extensive experience driving cross-sector collaborations across the public sector, non-profit initiatives, and business. Over her career, she has spearheaded regional creative initiatives, produced international knowledge hubs such as WorldPride House, and advised organizations on inclusive organizational culture and leadership. With an academic foundation in the social, behavioral, and gender sciences, Sanna’s work bridges strategic vision and community practice to build spaces where creative capacity and social innovation can thrive.

STPLN

Edo Sadikovic started Sende, pioneer of rural coworking & coliving space. Located in the Spanish mountains, Sende became a second village for world creatives. Later on Edo started a second space in Portugal, a coliving camp for creative events. Constantly involved in creating new concepts and building new creative spaces with people from all over the world. Edo is also an educator with a background in conflict-transformation and working with people from conflict stricken countries.

Sende

Joanne Attard Mallia is an archaeologist, cultural manager and Head of the Valletta Design Cluster, a community hub in Malta that combines design, social innovation, community and maker-culture. She has spent over two decades working at the intersection of cultural production, heritage, and community engagement. In her previous roles she led the programming and production of cultural and artistic projects for Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture and the Valletta Cultural Agency and served as Curator of World Heritage Sites at Heritage Malta.

Today, Joanne develops workshops, public engagement initiatives, and international collaborations at the VDC, exploring how creativity, strategic partnerships, and maker practices can contribute to more resilient and vibrant urban environments. Her current work focuses on the relationship between hands-on making, collaborative learning, and the participatory practices that shape community life.

Valletta Design Cluster 

Viv is creating a rural Coliving in the English Lake District in the north of England. She is transforming a family farmhouse into a welcoming home and collaborative workspace for digital nomads, freelancers, remote workers, visiting creatives and local people. It will be a rural space for creativity, work, and community. Viv also runs her own business as a consultant in individual leadership and team development in organisations.

Viv’s Coliving

Hannes Götsch is a social entrepreneur and developer of transdisciplinary strategy processes, a music enthusiast, and a lifelong advocate for nightlife as a catalyst for social change. For over two decades, he has been active within the regional and international club and subcultural networks, co-founding initiatives, festivals, and collectives such as SPUNK, Kognitiv, and Revoltekk. As an insomniac, he brought his deep jungle / drum and bass selections to dance floors across Europe. As founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the hybrid hub “BASIS Vinschgau Venosta”, Hannes continues to shape the organization’s future while championing the transformative power of culture. Through the multifunctional studio venue “KASINO”, he creates spaces where nightlife, community and creativity intersect, driven by the belief that shared cultural practices and the switch from pure consumption to production can connect layers and inspire lasting socio- ecological change and wealth distribution.

BASIS website

Alba Fernández Arias is an architect and founder of Espazo A Maceta, a creative and innovation hub in Muros (Galicia) where culture, entrepreneurship, and sustainability come together to strengthen local communities. With an international career in architecture, heritage regeneration, and sustainable design, she returned to her hometown to reimagine how creativity and collaboration can drive rural development and community regeneration.

Drawing on participatory methodologies, cultural innovation, and creative entrepreneurship, she designs and leads initiatives that empower women, activate rural territories, and foster collaboration between local communities and European networks. Her work explores how creativity can become a driver for regeneration, resilience, and meaningful social change.

Espazo A Maceta

Giun Trym (he/him) is a speculative social designer and a human rights defender. His work spans from micro-, meso-, to macro-politics as he founded a youth-led organization in the Czech Republic to organize parties for social transformation, while writing human rights violation reports to the UN Human Rights Council. During his free time, Giun also runs a meme page (or the meme page runs him?). As the nature of his work harmonizes between politics, culture, and design, Giun utilizes his background to put abstract theories into real-world politics and diplomacy.

World Bridge Initiatives

K.atou has been the strongest female voice in the local Greek scene for more than a decade. After spending time in London and Berlin, she moved back to Athens in 2009 and established residencies at Six d.o.g.s., co-presented a series of parties under the name “No Expectations”, regular appearances at the queer mobile parties “Qreclaim” and as a resident DJ at PTX Athens with her second moniker “Janet Davis”. Meanwhile, her international DJ schedule blossomed, with performances across Europe, South and North America. She has performed three times at Glastonbury Festival while also she has performed in Zukunft (Zurich), Recyclart (Brussels), Bassiani takeover @ Block (Tel Aviv), Marble Bar (Detroit) to name a few. She also currently holds two residencies on Fade Radio and Movement Radio. With her mind focused on carving this dedicated path through DJing, K.atou maintains her position at the forefront of the electronic music scene. The ingredients of her particular sound can be attributed to the classic realms of the 90s house and techno from Detroit, Chicago and Frankfurt, with a penchant of the trippy, dubbed out and sublime.

Linktr.ee

Manuela is the co-founder of Universosud and Comincenter—a cultural and creative hub where digital innovation, career guidance and territorial development intertwine, collaborating with European networks on digital transition and hybrid skills.

Coming from visual communication and publishing, her experience spans graphic design, brand identity, and the construction of iconographic and color systems. For nine years, she led communications for a bank, redefining its narrative through visual identity, storytelling and digital strategy. Today, Manuela helps companies and organizations integrate generative AI into their creative and marketing processes. Her background in literature and philosophy has taught her that every word constructs reality, every image directs the gaze, and every narrative produces identity. This is why she designs communication strategies and creative pipelines where AI does not replace thought, but amplifies it. As an ASNOR-certified career counselor, she also works on professional transitions and evolving identities.

Today, her work focuses on rethinking how products, projects, and organizations are designed and managed through the lens of circularity and sustainability. By combining systems thinking, innovation, and practical implementation, she develops approaches and projects that generate positive social and environmental impact.

Comincenter
Universosud

Juan Barbed is the co-founder of Rooral, a Creative Hub turning small Spanish villages into regenerative hubs for remote work and rural innovation. After working remotely across 40+ countries, he realized the most powerful human lessons have come from rural areas. Today he and his team design village-based coliving experiences in southern Spain that help digital workers and artists slow down, belong, and co-create impact with local communities, positioning Rooral as a launchpad for new energy in the countryside. Rural is sexy.

Rooral

Oscar Diaz is a Mexican architect working at the intersection of sustainable design, STEAM education, circular making, and community-led innovation. He has over a decade of experience in FabLab management and training within the global Fab Lab Network and currently serves as Education and Operations Manager at Creative Spark in Dundalk, Ireland, where he manages the Enterprise FabLab and Mobile FabLab, develops innovative learning programmes, and coordinates EU-funded collaborations.

He co-founded Fab Lab Yucatán (2016), the first digital fabrication facility in Yucatán, and Fab City Yucatán (2019), localising the Fab City initiative for climate action and regenerative urban futures. As a local instructor, he has facilitated Fab Academy and Fabricademy Diplomas across Mexico and Ireland and co-organised the Fabricademy International Bootcamp in Ireland in 2026. His work has been recognised with a FabLat Kids Scholarship (2017), the Chevron STEM Education Award (2019), an honourable mention in the 2024 Chevron STEM Fellowship, and selection for the Architects in Schools Programme and ECSA Citizen Science Ambassador Programme (2023–2025).

Creative Spark

Raine Heikkinen has an extensive history in supporting and creating art. Originating from squatted buildings and organizing free raves, he has been involved in countless projects. He joined the team of Kaapeli in 2007 and since then he has been in various roles. Today he works as a Head of Property. He has a long history on developing customer experience in creative centers. He is also involved in creative networking in Europe, most importantly in Trans Europe Halles (three terms in the board) and European Creative Hubs Network (Alternate member in the board). Raine has a Master´s Degree in Culture / Event Production from HUMAK, University of Applied Sciences. He has been involved with event production and creative facilitation for more than 25 years. In Kaapelitehdas he administered event spaces over 10 years. Raine is also advocating creative and cultural policies around Europe and has been lecturing in several Universities. He was also deeply involved in establishing EIT Culture & Creativity North and designing and constructing of Dance House Helsinki.

Kaapeli

Insomniac aka honnez rvtk is a jungle – drum & bass DJ and curator of the Italian Alps based collective named Revoltekk [RVTK]. He’s a lifetime music lover and his set spirit crosses many genres from 140, deep, tribal, to neuro and tech influenced bass music. As a local promoter he developed different party series like the TINNITUS, SQUARE or BASSILIKUM projects and was one of few to ignite the South Tyrolean scene.

The last 10 years honnez developed an urban hub with a proper club venue, shared spaces and apartments in an former fascist military barack named BASIS Vinschgau Venosta and KASINO. Together with his team and passionate friends he hosts local, regional and international artists for music exchange, inspiration and incubation. In the idyllic alpine landscape of Venosta valley people love the quality of nature, food and the focus-retreat aspect. From the early 2000s till today he met a lot of true friends in the international circus and his signature selection achieved a worthwhile reputation!

Instagram

Souncloud

Cryogenics is a Greek electronic music artist exploring the darker, deeper and more atmospheric sides of drum & bass. Rooted in the energy of oldschool jungle and the raw character of 90s drum & bass, his sound moves between deep, dark and atmospheric territories, blending weighty basslines, intricate breakbeats and immersive soundscapes.
His approach is driven by a fascination with texture, rhythm and atmosphere — creating music that feels both powerful and cinematic, where tension and movement coexist with space and emotion. With a sound that draws from jungle, drum & bass and leftfield electronic music, Cryogenics continues to develop a distinctive sonic identity, balancing the rawness of the underground with a more experimental and atmospheric edge.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/CryogenicsMusic

https://www.youtube.com/@CryogenicsDNB

https://www.instagram.com/cryogenicsdnb

https://www.instagram.com/panant.frames

https://soundcloud.com/cryogenicsmusic

Ivanol is following the trends of anti-music. The noise soundscapes do not use melody, harmony or tempo. Subtle sounds of crackles meet brutal attacks of fuzzed bassy noise. The performance is improvised – you never know what you get. Ivanol is based in Copenhagen and is loosely connected to the noise scene around Mayhem and Supernoise. The performance at Supernoise X in 2025 will be released in the fall of 2026.

Soundcloud

Callum is the creative director of Leigh Works. He’s obsessed with making things, whether that’s building spaces, brands, or tools, whatever a challenge calls for. His proudest project has been turning a tired old building into a home for local makers and businesses, working alongside others and sharing what he knows. He loves the mess of figuring things out together, passing on skills, and seeing people bring their own ideas to life.

Leigh Works 

Yorgos Mouftoglou is an EU Project Manager and grant proposal writer specializing in the Cultural and Creative Sectors. With an academic background in Political Sciences and Legal Theory, he has extensive experience designing and managing European-funded projects. His work focuses on cultural innovation, international cooperation, capacity building, and social impact, supporting artists, cultural organizations, and creative communities across Europe. Alongside his professional work, he is a published poet and cultural researcher exploring the intersections of culture, society, and public policy.

CUBE

Andreas Palmer is a young DJ who grew up and lives in Athens. He is a very active participant of the musical scene in Athens, with numerous shows in Greece (and some abroad) and he infuses his energy continuously in his selections and sets. His main influence is the UK culture, and his selections range from house, breakbeat and bass to IDM, acid, ghetto, hip-hop, even ambient, with everything centering around melody, bass lines and the groove. Recently, he has been preoccupied by mixing different genres with an adventurous approach.

https://soundcloud.com/andreas_palmer

https://www.instagram.com/andreas_palmer/

Adamantios Kafetzis, visual artist, intensive record collector, DJ, owner of the Teranga Beat record label and editor of the Eligo Audio Culture website. Adamantios Kafetzis curates DJ-sets of rare power and true feeling, always presenting unpredictable recordings. After extensive research and regular visits to Senegal and its neighboring countries, he decided to establish Teranga Beat Records, bringing to the fore a well-hidden chapter of West African music. Based in Dakar, Teranga Beat started in 2010, releasing “Diamonoye Tiopité – L’ Epoque De L’Evolution”. To date, Teranga Beat has released 14 releases. Hybrid Grooves from around the world.

Terangabeat Bandcamp

Andrii Sichkovskyi is a cultural manager with a long-time experience in the culture and creative sector. He has worked with various international initiatives, contributing to the development and promotion of contemporary culture and intercultural dialogue through artistic events, educational programs, cross-sectoral collaboration and creative project management. Over the past years he has been focusing on the coordination and implementation of EU funded programs in CCIs as a Project officer at European Creative Hubs Network.

Pepe Peralta Guerrero, originally from Málaga and based between Timişoara and Bucharest, Romania, is an architect, maker, community builder, and bon vivant. His work focuses on two complementary areas: the transformation and reactivation of spaces—exemplified by FABER, the award-winning creative hub he co-founded in a former soap factory—and the cultivation of collective intelligence.

Working at the intersection of digital fabrication, upcycling, and community building, he designs spaces, exhibitions, and scenographies; facilitates collaborative processes and co-creation workshops; manages cultural projects; and connects people, organisations, and ideas across Europe through international networks. He currently serves as an elected board member of VULCA and as Community Manager of the European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN).

Luca Marie Tüshaus is a Project Officer at the European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN) and a cultural researcher. Her work explores atmospheres as aesthetic and organizational phenomena and is guided by a commitment to dialogical ways of working. Addressing both thought and feeling, her writing seeks to take the collaborative production of knowledge and subjectivity seriously.

In 2025, she co-authored Concrete and Water: documenta fifteen as an atmospheric phenomenon, published by transcript Verlag. Alongside her work at ECHN, she is building oikio, a practice exploring space, material culture and world-making through research, design and architecture.

Matthaios Tsimitakis is an experienced digital communication strategist and journalist with over two decades of expertise at the intersection of media, technology, and governance. He holds an MA in the anthropology of media from SOAS, University of London. From 2016 to 2019, Matthaios served as the special advisor to the prime minister of Greece on digital communication, where he designed high-level online strategies, managed international digital diplomacy, and directed crisis communication campaigns during major national events.. His op-eds and reported analyses on the Greek crisis and global current affairs have been featured in premier global outlets, including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Vice. He is currently the Managing Editor of Creatives Unite, developing its editorial agenda.

Creatives Unite Platform

Vasilis Charalampidis is the founder and director of the cultural organization bios, as well as a founding member and President of the Board of Directors of the European Network of Creative Hubs. He is an acclaimed graphic designer and urban planner whose work explores the impact, boundaries, and intersections of culture and creativity within the urban environment. As an expert in the cultural and creative sectors, innovation, and social cohesion, he is actively engaged in policy development and advocacy for these fields.
He is also a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences and has received numerous awards and distinctions for his work in graphic design.

BIOS website  ECHN website