Theme: What if...

"What if..." forces us to (re)evaluate our current actions in the present, in regard of the future we are simultaneously shaping. What if? is a constant state of questioning and underlying doubt. What if things were different, go horribly wrong, or are simply better? Everything is frighteningly possible.

Volkstheater Vienna
Neustiftgasse 1
Vienna, Wien, 1070
Austria

Opening Performance

The four performance artists Anna de Carlo (led different actions for the center of political beauty), Maryam Zaree (actress and filmmaker), Johanna Wolff (actress) and Gwen Pare (student) do not want to leave their grandchildren’s questions unanswered. They invite contemporary witnesses from the future to testify how our times will be cherished.

Alexander Betts

Academic Refugee Activist

Alexander Betts is Professor of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. He is the author of several books and founder of the Humanitarian Innovation Project.

Christian Felber

Dancing Economist

Christian Felber rocks the establishment with a fresh alternative which changes everything: The Economy for the Common Good. At the age of 42 he has written 15 books but is also a passionate dancer and friend of nature.

Cosmo Scharf

Virtual Reality Pioneer

Cosmo Scharf co-founded VRLA, the world's largest virtual reality expo, the Proto Awards, the first award show for VR, and Visionary VR, a start-up building software for storytelling in VR.

Eduardo Kac

Telepresence/Bio Artist

Eduardo Kac is internationally recognized for his telepresence and bio art. His artistic practice explores the boundaries between the human and the non-human, the living and the non-living, the local and the remote.

Eugenia Cheng

Pure Mathematician

Eugenia is a pure mathematician, concert pianist and author of "Cakes, Custard and Category Theory". She is Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her math YouTube videos have around a million views.

Filip Malinowski

Film Director

Through a camera Filip dives into existential aspects of reality. As the grandson of archaeologists but educated as a photographer his documentary films inspect the core ideas of how we live together as a global society.

Gabriela Barreto Lemos

Quantum Physicist

Gabriela is a researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and an explorer of the tiny unseen world. Through the lens of quantum images she will show you that reality is not as banal as it seems. What is real anyway?

George Nimeh

Entrepreneur

George is a digital entrepreneur and an award-winning innovator in advertising and communications. He has worked with top brands, global agencies and startups for 20 years. And probably like you, he doesn’t like most advertising he sees online.

Gernot Grömer

Space Explorer

Dr. Grömer researches exploration astrobiology and has led eleven Mars field simulations. He has logged 94 hours of spacesuit activities as analogue astronaut and 30 minutes of zero gravity.

Jannike Stöhr

Profession(al) Pioneer

Because of doubts during her career in the industry Jannike started the project "30 jobs in one year" to find her calling. She sold her possessions, gave up her apartment and went on a journey through the work world.

Katharina Unger

Home Insect Breeder

Katharina grew up raising chickens, cows and horses. Noticing the dramatic state of our food system while living in Hong Kong, she is now determined to "design nature for humans", her first product is a desktop insect farm.

Kyle MacDonald

Social Adventurer

Kyle MacDonald started with a red paperclip and traded it for a pen. Then traded the pen for a doorknob. And so on!

Lalita Prasida

Young Scientist

Lalita is 14 years old and lives in Damanjodi, India. She came to know about the low utilization of corncobs, which inspired her to find ways to use this agricultural waste. She recently won the Scientific American’s Community Impact Award at the prestigious Google Science Fair.

Matt Wall

Cognitive Neuroscientist

Matt is a neuroscientist with interests in vision, pain, psychopharmacology, and functional MRI methodology. As well as his academic work he has written for Slate, The Conversation, and The Guardian.

Matthew Cooke

Actor and Filmmaker

Matthew Cooke is an actor and filmmaker. He is known for his films ‘Deliver us from evil’ (Academy Award nomination for best documentary film), ‘How to make money selling drugs’ (Best Writing Award) and ‘Survivors guide to prison’.

Michael Herold

Character Animator

Born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, no-one was sure how Michael's life would unfold as he grew up. Three decades later, he is a character animator on award-winning Kid's TV-Shows. He is still far from being grown up.

Mike Rugnetta

Internet Professional

Mike is a composer, programmer and web show host. He is one third of the live, lecture-based performance art trio MemeFactory, which makes fast-paced work inspired by the intersection of technology and culture. He is the writer and host of the award-winning Idea Channel.

Olga Murray

Social Activist

You can live a joyful, fulfilling life at any age. In 1984, approaching 60 and retirement, lawyer Olga Murray discovered a country and a cause that transformed her own life and the lives of 45,000 poor children in Nepal.

Oskar Aszmann

Reconstructive Surgeon

Oskar is Associate Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Both his research and clinical focus have always been peripheral nerve reconstruction and extremity/hand rehabilitation. His core interest is the recovery and rehabilitation of patients with impaired extremity function.

Paul Knoepfler

Biologist & Writer

Paul Knoepfler is a biomedical scientist and writer, focusing on stem cells and genetics. He is author of the forthcoming book, “GMO Sapiens”, and is an influential voice in the global debate on human genetic modification.

Salah Ammo

Syrian Kurdish Musician

Salah arrived in Vienna as a refugee in 2013 with only his instrument and small suitcase. In 2014, he was a finalist of the 'Austrian World Music Award’ and his Album ASSI was nominated for the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik'.

Vanessa Kisuule

Spoken Word Artist

Vanessa's poetry is personal but always extends itself into something universal: the need to be heard and understood by each other. Vanessa feels that poetry provides an alternate history beyond the textbooks; one altogether more nuanced and more human.