FACT 2026 Program
Tickets
All orders incur $1 online booking fee which will be added to your cart. ACMI Members don't pay fees, join today.
When
Wed 11, Thu 12 & Fri 13 Feb 2026
9am – 5.30pm
Day one: Contemporary Digital Culture
Wed 11 Feb 2026, 9am – 5.30pm
Day one looks at what digital culture is from the perspective of the second quarter of the 21st century. The Internet, social media, and pervasive mobile devices, have changed our lives in ways that were unimaginable from the utopian dreams of the 1990s and early 2000s.
8.15am Registration Open
9am Welcome to Country and FACT introduction
Session 1 - Preserving evidence of the present
9.20am Keynote: Jason Scott (Internet Archive, USA).
10.30am Coffee break
Session 2 - Preserving evidence of the present cont.
Moderated by Prof. Sarah Teasley (RMIT University).
As culture and society is ever more reliant on constantly updating software systems and fragile monolithic technology platforms, how are artists, researchers, musicians, creative technologists and organisations working to ensure we have evidence of the present, not just for now but for long into the future. How are we ensuring the present is not just recorded as static snapshots, but as operational systems?
11am Presentation: Challenges for Collecting Digital Media, Jessica Walthew (University of Glasgow, UK).
11.15am Presentation: Preserving Contemporary Music, Michael Brown & Amelia Berry (National Library of New Zealand, Aotearoa).
11.30am Panel discussion: Jessica Walthew, Michael Brown with Amelia Berry (Amamelia), Robin Fox (MESS) & Claire Evans (Junior Major).
12.30pm BYO lunch break
Session 3 – Internet and Digital Cultures
1.30pm Keynote: Is AI Making Us Cyborgs?, Ruby Justice Thelot (Cyberethnographer, artist and designer, NYU, USA).
2.20pm Presentation: Dr Christen Cornell (Creative Australia)
2.35pm In Conversation + Q&A: Ruby Justice Thelot, Dr Christen Cornell & Indigo Holcombe-James (ACMI)
3pm Break
Session 4 – Games and contemporary cultures
Videogames are one of the most influential cultural forms of the present yet they are absent from most institutions. How do videogames challenge institutional practices and forms, and how do they differ between Australia, Europe and East Asia.
3.30pm Keynote: Videogames Transforming Lives, John O’Shea (National Videogames Museum, UK).
4.15pm Panel discussion: Moderated by Lise Leitner (VicScreen), with Hugh Davies (RMIT), Emily Sexton (ACMI) and John O'Shea (National Videogames Museum, UK).
5.15pm Day one closing remarks
5.30pm Networking drinks, Experimenta showcase & Game Worlds exhibition viewing
Hang out and chat with other FACT attendees and speakers while trialing vibro-tactile haptic vests presented by ACMI X resident organisation Experimenta, and wander through Game Worlds: ACMI’s summer exhibition that covers the last 50 years of design of videogame worlds.
Day two: Institutional, Creative and Collective Actions
Thu 12 Feb 2026, 9am – 5.30pm
Day two looks at how different cultural institutions and practitioners in different parts of the world are finding new ways to work through the complexities and uncertainties of the contemporary moment. How might we learn from different artforms, and different regions of the world, to move forward.
8.15am Registration
9am Day two welcome
9.10am Keynote: The Nervous Age, Sofia Widmann (Museum Booster, Austria).
10.10am Coffee Break
10.30am Panel: Perspectives from Europe & North America
Moderated by Prof. Vince Dziekan (Monash University & Institute for Digital Culture, University of Leicester).
Professor Vince Dziekan leads a discussion with mid-career practitioners Megan Lawrence, Australian Museum, Janice Falsone, Gallery Director at the South East Centre for Contemporary Art, Bega, independent curator Edwina Green about their observations of the differences in approach emerging from their 2025 AMaGA fellowships in Europe and Canada.
Speakers: Vince Dziekan, Janice Falsone, Megan Lawrence & Edwina Green.
11.40am A Toolkit for Qualitative Audience Engagement – Caitlin McGrane & Jacina Leong (RMIT University).
Caitlin McGrane and Jacina Leong announce an upcoming free toolkit supporting institutions to develop meaningful approaches to gathering and using audience insights.
11.55am Creative Workplaces announcement
12pm BYO lunch
1pm Panel: Perspectives from Asia & the Pacific
Moderated by Sewon Chung (M+)
Join Sewon Chung, (M+ Hong Kong), Ryuta Aoki, (Japan) & Ra Smith, Weta Workshop (Aotearoa) for a discussion of emergent practices and technological expertise in the East Asian and Pacific region. What new approaches, new cross-disciplinary collaborations, working methods and new funding models are emerging to support groundbreaking work.
Speakers: Sewon Chung, Ryuta Aoki & Ra Smith.
2.15pm Break
2.45pm Panel: Climate, Culture & Technology
Moderated by Sophie Lieberman, PhD.
Sophie Lieberman leads a discussion of where climate and culture intersect with Jen Rae of Centre for Reworlding, Tim Shiel of Green Music Australia, Nell Whitley of Marshmallow Laser Feast, and Troy Innocent of the Australian Posthuman Summer Lab.
Speakers: Jen Rae, Tim Shiel, Nell Whitley & Troy Innocent.
4pm Panel: How We Get to Next
Moderated by Sophie Lieberman, PhD.
This panel of experienced Australian changemakers looks at the challenges of organisations who are aware of the need for change but struggle to make headway in this turbulent period for financial, infrastructural, and cultural reasons.
Speakers: Samuel Cairnduff, Kate Larsen & Nicholas Pickard.
5pm Closing remarks
5.30pm Networking drinks & No Harm Done
Hang out and chat with other FACT attendees and speakers in ACMI’s bar or attend No Harm Done. Co-chaired by Prof. Chris Speed and Prof. Dan Hill, No Harm Done is a groundbreaking event series explores ethical, sustainable pathways for AI through thoughtful design with (and by) data. Guest speakers to be announced.
No Harm Done tickets are an additional $10 (incl GST) and available here.
Day three: Creative Industries & Artificial Intelligence (Closed Session)
Fri 13 Feb, 9am – 5.30pm
ACMI is partnering with Creative Victoria to host a one-day participatory forum exploring AI and the complex web of opportunities and challenges it presents for the creative industries. This session will bring together 120 invited policy makers, educators, cultural leaders, artists and creators representing different parts of Victoria’s creative ecosystem.
Moderated by Angela Stengel and featuring a performance from Worlds Only, this invitation-only session will encompass all creative domains including writing and publishing, music, design, performance, screen, games and VFX. Attendees will learn about the impacts – perceived and material – of artificial intelligence and automation on existing and emerging creative practices, and discuss practical ways forward.
The EOI for this forum has closed.
All applicants have now been notified of the outcome of their applications.
This forum is being presented as part of the Victorian Government’s Creative State 2028 strategy.