Sónar+D 2025 is set to showcase over a hundred activities designed to inspire, educate, and connect creators, professionals, and the general public. This cutting-edge event will serve as a dynamic platform for fostering and promoting both local and international talent across a range of disciplines.
This year’s program is structured around three core themes: AI + Creativity, exploring the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and artistic production; Futuring the Creative Industries, which reflects on changes and opportunities shaping the creative sector; and Worlds to Come, an exploration of emerging scenarios that will redefine the intersection of technology, culture, and society.
Attendees can immerse themselves in interactive forums, roundtable discussions, master classes, performative conferences, workshops, multidisciplinary performances, and an expansive exhibition space featuring dozens of forward-thinking projects.
Among the esteemed participants in Sónar+D 2025 are Libby Heaney (UK) presented by SEIDOR, Tega Brain (AU), Rebecca Fiebrink (UK), Xin Liu (CN), yaboihanoi (TH), Albert.DATA (ES), Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley (UK), Forensis & Bill Kouligas (INT), YESSI PERSE & laSADCUM (ES), and the world premiere of ‘Ama’, the latest project by Maria Arnal (ES).
Expanding Global Collaborations
Sónar+D continues to strengthen its partnerships with leading cultural, academic, and scientific institutions worldwide. This year’s collaborators include the New Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Tabakalera, the Onassis Foundation, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, University of the Arts London, IRCAM, IASLab at La Salle-URL, Stability AI, Google Magenta, and AI pioneers AudioStellar.
Beyond artificial intelligence, Sónar+D 2025 broadens its scope to address critical contemporary themes such as digital sustainability, non-binary futurism, terraformation, space exploration, neurohacking, and emerging internet culture trends—including incisive critiques of techno-feudalism.
Key Themes and Highlights
AI + Creativity: Pushing the Boundaries of Art and Technology
For nearly a decade, Sónar+D has been at the forefront of exploring artificial intelligence’s impact on the arts. This year’s program dives into innovative tools, unconventional approaches, and groundbreaking applications of AI across music, audiovisual arts, interface design, and live performance.
Key sessions include:
- ‘Introducing AI & Music’ powered by S+T+ARTS, an international gathering of AI and music experts featuring Stability AI, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and University of the Arts London.
- +RAIN Film Festival, the AI-driven film festival co-produced by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, showcasing groundbreaking audiovisual works created entirely with AI.
- Rebecca Fiebrink’s ‘Design Your Dream Music AI Tool’, exploring accessible AI-driven music creation.
- yaboihanoi’s ‘Lemongrass & Bass: A Thai Recipe for AI Music’, merging traditional Thai music with AI composition tools.
- AudioStellar’s ‘Emerging Sound Territories’, an experimental AI music performance blending dance, visuals, and sound.
- Maria Arnal’s ‘Ama’, a live AI-infused musical performance premiering at Sónar+D.
- The AI Performance Playground, an AI hacklab where selected artists collaborate to create new works.
Futuring the Creative Industries: New Perspectives and Learnings for Industry Professionals
Designed for professionals across the creative sector, this section offers insights into cultural management, digital arts curation, and the evolving landscape of creative industries.
Notable sessions include:
- ‘How to Future the Creative Industries’, featuring top cultural institutions like the New Museum, Serpentine Gallery, and the Onassis Foundation.
- ‘Transformation and the Future of Cultural Curation’, with curators from Le Guess Who?, FOC/Jokkoo Collective, Sónar, and MACBA.
- ‘Hacking the World’, a workshop exploring digital transformation, led by Berta Segura and Francesca Tur.
- ‘Lux Mundi’, a digital reinterpretation of Romanesque frescoes by contemporary digital artists.
- TIMES European Network, presenting cutting-edge interdisciplinary projects supported by the European Union.
- MusicTech Europe, featuring a startup pitch session and discussions on data-driven innovation in the music industry.
Worlds to Come: Imagining the Future Through Radical Creativity
This thematic block envisions future realities through immersive experiences, radical performances, and speculative storytelling.
Standout events include:
- ‘Eat My Multiverse’ by Libby Heaney, exploring quantum computing and non-binary futurism.
- ‘Cosmic Metabolism’ by Xin Liu, an audiovisual journey into extraterrestrial exploration.
- ‘SYNAPTICON’ by Albert.DATA, an experimental neurohacking performance using brain-computer interfaces.
- ‘WE CAN’T PRETEND ANYMORE’ by Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley, an interactive digital narrative on Black trans history.
- ‘Questions of Automation’ by Tega Brain, addressing digital sustainability and alternative technological futures.
- ‘Listen, the Stars Are Talking’, a live ritual by Alice Sparkly Kat & Manuka Honey exploring astrology’s role in pop culture.
- ‘The Drum and the Bird’ by Forensis & Bill Kouligas, an investigative audiovisual piece on colonialism.
- ‘Math Thrash’, a discussion on post-digital aesthetics by Julieta Wibel, Mike Fernández, Samantha Hudson, and YESSI PERSE.
- ‘CYBERMEDIEVAL’, a satire on techno-feudalism by YESSI PERSE & laSADCUM.
- Innovative live performances, including Dania & Mau Morgó’s ‘replica — relic’, Animistic Beliefs & Jeisson Drenth’s ‘Thức Tỉnh’, and Safety Trance’s ‘DESTRUCCIÓN’.
Sónar+D 2025: A Festival of Discovery and Innovation
Sónar+D 2025 will take place on June 12, 13, and 14 at the Palau de Congressos de Fira Montjuïc, running alongside Sónar by Day. Attendees will have access to a diverse program of discussions, performances, and exhibitions from 10:00 AM, alongside more than 50 concerts and DJ sets.
With an expansive lineup of artists, researchers, and industry leaders, Sónar+D 2025 promises to be a transformative experience, offering fresh perspectives on the ever-evolving creative landscape. Stay tuned for further announcements as the festival unveils its final program.