Day 1
Gen Z: Exhilarated, Alive, and Driven by Transformation
5th October 2026
PERFORMANCE
Slam
PERFORMANCE
Dance
PERFORMANCE
Music
PERFORMANCE
Spoken words
opening words
Day’s presentation
Between Stolen Futures and Opportunities to Dismantle—Mapping the Challenges and Visions of a Generation
The first day of the conference will be dedicated to exploring the diverse commitments of Generation Z, a cohort that, despite a context marked by significant, overlapping challenges—climate change, economic crises, socio-political conflicts—has a remarkable energy and a keen determination to shape its own future. We will address the multifaceted nature of this generation’s experiences, contrasting feelings of uncertainty and perceived limited horizons with strong aspirations for social, ecological, and political renewal. The goal is to paint a nuanced portrait of the issues that drive this generation, identifying both the obstacles and the levers of action available to them.
ROUND TABLE 1
Between the Cracks: Political Projects Beyond Protests
Moving beyond the media attention that typically focuses on the protest dimension of Gen Z activism, this session will examine the political strategies and concrete initiatives that Gen Z is developing to drive change. We will explore how this generation imagines and co-creates alternatives and assess the potential to move beyond mere protest to other visions of the world and the planet. Particular attention will be paid to the use of digital spaces, not only as platforms for mobilization and dissemination of messages, but also as testing grounds for new forms of citizenship, activism, artistic expression, and the development of othered political projects. How do digital tools allow Gen Z to bypass traditional structures, co-create trans-local communities of action, and accommodate diverse voices and pathways? What political projects can capitalize on the glimmers of hope filtering through the cracks in the status quo? Are these projects transformative or regressive?
Speakers
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ROUND TABLE 2
The Evolution of Digital Progress: Access, Aesthetics, and Citizenship
Online spaces offer unprecedented opportunities for empowerment, creativity, and civic participation, but they are also sites of increased surveillance, access control, misinformation, and hate speech, which perpetuate social inequalities. To critically examine our complex relationship with the digital world, in this roundtable we will analyze the various dimensions of our “digital golden age” and ask, how does access to technology and connectivity shape Gen Z’s experiences, and what esthetics are emerging to influence how Gen Z communicates, accesses information, and represents themselves? This roundtable will also explore how social class, gender, and artistic practices influence access to, use of, and interpretation of these digital spaces, creating new forms of citizenship but also new forms of exclusion.
Speakers
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