Theme: Look again

Life is about perspectives – the way the world is seen, the way an individual sees himself and others, paradigms of thought. All these influence and shape our value system. What seems like a mountain to an ant, is a small stone to a human being. As a matter of fact, in most cases, the problem is not the problem; the problem is the person confronting the problem. Accept that you can’t change the content, you can only change the context. Expand your mental capacity. Face the problem with the attitude that there is a way out and you will find that exact way out. Our lives are changing constantly – and sometimes they change with the blink of an eye. A decision or solution that seemed to be right a few minutes ago might be outdated in the next. We have to reconsider steps we took in our past, and before we take our next step we have to look again, just to be sure – but can we ever really be sure?

Schleppe Brewery - Event Hall
Schleppeplatz 1
Klagenfurt, Kärnten, 9020
Austria

The Clairvoyants

Mentalists

The mystical duo Thommy Ten & Amélie van Tass, both born in Austria, have performed all across the globe with the largest magic show THE ILLUSIONISTS. In 2016 America voted them a second place in America's Got Talent show. “The German Champions of Mentalism,” “Magicians of the Year 2015,” and also “World Champions of Mentalism,” awarded couple might not change your believes, but they will definitely blow your mind.

Anneke Lucas

Founder of Liberation Prison Yoga

Anneke Lucas was born in Belgium where she was sold into a sex trafficking ring at the age of six. She was abused and tortured extensively before she escaped at age eleven. After living in London, Paris and New York as a young adult, she moved to Los Angeles where she began therapy, yoga and meditation. Today, she is the founder and Executive Director of Liberation Prison Yoga, a non-profit organization based in New York.

Baptiste Grève

Baptiste Grève believes that there is a way how we can strongly improve the capacity of the human brain with the help of Virtual Reality. He is the founder of the largest platform for VR educational experiences Unimersiv that allows you, for instance, to explore the Roman Colosseum as it was 2000 years ago and be more than prepared for your next history test.

Brian Baker

Priest

For 25 years Brian has been an Episcopal priest. As Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, California, he has been striving to make the world more loving and accepting. He was an advocate for marriage equality in California and internationally, facilitating LGBT conferences in Kenya and Ghana. He led the Episcopal Church’s effort to create same-sex marriage ceremonies. Currently he is active building bridges between Christians and Muslims in Sacramento. He has also facilitated a conversation with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Chris handpan

Musician

Chris is a handpan, drum and percussion player based in Vienna, playing diverse international environments with different projects and genres. Strongly related to rock, hip hop and funk music he got addicted to the Hang in 2007 and is since diving constantly into new projects with international artists. With his instruments he creates mystic, minimal sounds with outstanding compositions that touch the audience deep in the heart and soul.

Dejan Stojanovic

Dejan Stojanovic is an Entrepreneur & Failure Evangelist, who coaches entrepreneurs on how to perceive business failure as a potential learning experience. In 2014 he started an Austrian version of FuckUp Nights Vienna. Together with Salomé Wagner, he introduced the U.S. perspective of healthier startup culture, where people are more open to trying something new even if their initial business idea failed. Dejan believes that rethinking the culture of failure will to avoid the prejudice that is often connected with starting our own businesses.

Emanuel Andel

Emanuel Andel uses the tools of new media arts for both, artistic and commercial purposes. As an artist he won several international awards (Transmediale Award Berlin, Japan Media Arts Festival). His company THISPLAY implements the latest technical developments into interactive presentation systems.

Georg Viktor Emmanuel

Musician

Georg Viktor Emmanuel is a great example of what a person can produce by only using his mount as an instrument. In 2012, he quit his job to travel the world and follow his passion as a vocal live looping artist. Georg played street shows, festivals, and clubs in 18 countries in Europe, North America and the Middle East. He creates music live on the spot, using elements of beatboxing, vocal sounds and a loop station to provide a unique mix of multiple genres, such as DnB, Hip Hop, and Electro Pop.

Ivana Stjepanović

Founder of Bosnia grows Organic

Ivana Stjepanovic is a Bosnian refugee, who returned to her home country Bosnia after three decades. At age 10 she had to flee to Austria due to the imminent war that left her homeland in a complete destruction of houses, lives, and ethics. With a big dream in her heart, she decided to run a project that grows pure, organic herbs on land leased to her organization by Bosnian families and thus bring the land back to the life from the overgrowth and ruins. Having 40 hectares leased, 10 hectares cleaned and 5 hectares planted with organic herbs and medicinal plants, she is a real proof that even a snowflake can make a change.

James Ehrlich

Founder of ReGen Villages & Professor at Stanford University

James Ehrlich is the Founder of ReGen Villages, a Stanford University spin-off company, which aims to develop the “Tesla of Ecovillages“ with an infrastructure that creates a surplus energy, water, and organic food. As a Senior Technologist at Stanford University, Senior Fellow at Opus Novum consortium at NASA Ames Research Center and an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Stanford Peace Innovation Lab at the Center for Design Research he is indeed an expert in the area of sustainable development.

Jana Studnicka

Professional Cuddler

Jana Studnicka is a professional cuddler and member of Die Kuschel Kiste. Professional cuddling is becoming a popular form of alternative touch therapy in America and this young woman is striving hard to bring its healing powers to Europe. Jana lives in Vienna where she offers her cuddle sessions that are good both for your body and soul.

Jon Gomm

Singer-Songwriter

Jon Gomm is an English singer-songwriter and performer or to put it in better words he is a one man band all by himself. What he achieves on stage alone using a single acoustic guitar to create drum sounds, bass lines and melodies simultaneously, his songs draw on a range of influences and styles including blues, soul, rock and even metal puts other full multiple member bands to shame.

Kevin Schawinski

Astrophysicist & professor at ETH Zurich

Kevin Schawinski, the proud alumnus of Cornell University, University of Oxford, and Yale University, is an astrophysicist from Switzerland who specializes in understanding and quantifying the role of growing black holes in the formation and evolution of galaxies. He currently works at the ETH Zürich.

Mostafa Salameh

Explorer & Author

Mostafa Salameh is the first Jordanian and one of only 15 people in the world to complete the Explorers Grand Slam (Seven Summits including Mount Everest and the two Poles). Mostafa has climbed the highest mountains on each continent, he skied Greenland and the South Pole after reaching the North Pole in 2014. His next big goal is to go to space.

Samira Hayat

Researcher at University of Klagenfurt

Samira Hayat, the Pakistani engineer does research on drones at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, redefines not only the conventional taboos by working in a male-dominated tech profession but also the role drones play in society. Samira doesn't see drones as the killermachines described in the newspaper articles. She focuses on the positive aspects, the opportunities that lie within this technology.

Sara De Santis

Sara is a choreographer, dancer and performer. She began developing her own work as independent artist and choreographed in 2009. In her practice she analyzes how the environment as well as the culture influence perception and movement. Moreover, she is a gyrotonic and yoga instructor.