Creative thought leaders, artificial intelligence, culture start-ups and robots

Tickets starting from 62 euros till 30 September and 68 euros afterwards

Frankfurt, 29.09.2017 – What effects does digitalisation have on the culture and creative industries? What role does artificial intelligence play and how does virtual reality change our perception? For five days, these topics will be the focus of THE ARTS+, the business festival that takes place parallel to the Frankfurter Buchmesse (11-15 October 2017).

Inspiring speakers
On Wednesday, 11 October 2017, at 10.15 a.m., THE ARTS+ area will open with “Voices for a united world of creativity”, featuring the Minister of Economic Affairs of the State of Hesse Tarek Al-Wazir, Artistic Director of the Volksbühne Berlin Chris Dercon, Chairman and CEO of ZKM (Center for Art and Media) Karlsruhe Peter Weibel as well as the Founder of THE ARTS+ Holger Volland.
Other high-profile speakers will follow: On Wednesday, Donald Potard, former CEO of Jean-Paul Gaultier, will investigate the growing connection between haute couture and technology, with a view to design, production and distribution. Other speakers include Caroline Atkinson, former Senior Adviser to Obama and Head of Global Public Policy at Google, Astrid Welter of the Fondazione Prada as well as artists such as John Craig Freeman and Jeremy Bailey. https://theartsplus.com/review/_2017/speakers/

New formats for new perspectives
The event formats will be just as dynamic as the developments in the creative industries that they examine. In short pitches, start-ups will present their business models at the intersection of creativity and technology. The “Brainfood” series will introduce future trends on a daily basis. And, to complement these events, various workshops, co-presented by Europeana, will be held on topics including digital strategies, investors, audience development and innovation management for museums and cultural institutions.
On Wednesday, in cooperation with institutions from politics, the creative industry and culture from all across Europe, the full-day THE ARTS+ Innovation Summit will take place: A group of experts including start-up professionals, entrepreneurs, politicians, scientists as well as representatives of intermediary organisations will discuss basic conditions for technologically driven innovation in the European creative industry.

Artificial intelligence and art
With the project “manifest”, visitors to THE ARTS+ will experience a robot that, with the help of algorithms, generates theses on art, ethics, philosophy and human-machine society. Every day, it produces up to 80 different texts. There will also be an exhibition of computer-generated images, presented by the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of Rutgers University. And the documenta archive will present an audio-visual contribution of selected performances from documenta 14.

At the partner event “Sonophilia Spark” (Friday, 13 October, 2.00-6.30 p.m.) pianist Seda Röder will prove that transformation is only ever really about one thing: creativity. Among others, she has invited AI iconoclast Ahmed Elgammal, founder of Jukedeck Ed Rex, neuroscientist Matthias Bethge and AI pioneer Chris Boos to speak at the event. (For tickets go to: http://www.sonophilia.com)

At the weekend, both THE ARTS+ and the Frankfurter Buchmesse open their doors to private visitors. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors to THE ARTS+ area can discover a completely new approach to art and culture in the Pop-up Museum. At “Innovation made in Germany”, young entrepreneurs, start-ups and creatives from Germany show just how much innovative capacity and future viability they possess. Directly afterwards, THE ARTS+ and evrbit invite guests to a VR cinema right next to THE ARTS+ Runway. On Sunday, a fashion show will combine creativity and technology, with a total of 20 creations to be presented by the FRANKstyleaward. On Sunday, those interested in the relationship between analogue music and digital technology can experience three musicians from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra live at “KLASSIK underground”.

Tickets to THE ARTS+ are available now at www.theartsplus.com starting from 62 euros till 30 September and 68 Euros afterwards. Tickets for the Sonophilia Spark event are available at sonophilia.com.

About THE ARTS+
THE ARTS+ is a creative business festival and international meeting place for the culture and creative industries, launched in October 2016 during the Frankfurter Buchmesse. The goal of the new format is to exploit the potential of digitalisation for creative content and to develop new business areas. International artists, opinion leaders and experts as well as an impressive range of exhibitors present innovative approaches from the fields of publishing, museums, architecture and design, brands and agencies. THE ARTS+ is organized in the framework of ALDUS – European Book Fairs’ Network and is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. https://theartsplus.com/

About the Frankfurter Buchmesse
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with over 7,150 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, around 278,000 visitors, over 4,000 events and approximately 10,000 accredited journalists and bloggers - in attendance. It also gathers key players from other media, including the film and games industries. Since 1976, the Frankfurter Buchmesse has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. The Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. With its Business Club, the Frankfurter Buchmesse offers essential services and an ideal setting for the activities of publishers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, experts and visionaries. The Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. www.book-fair.com

Contact for the media:
Press & Corporate Communications Frankfurter Buchmesse
Katja Böhne, Vice President Marketing & Communications, tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-138, press@book-fair.com
Jördis Hille, PR Manager, tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-271, hille@book-fair.com
> Press information online >www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-releases
> Photos in print quality >www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-material