Forward Festival Wien 2026: On October 1 and 2, Gartenbaukino once again becomes a meeting place for the international creative scene. Annie Atkins, Mirko Borsche and more than 25 speakers will explore design, authorship and a question suddenly facing almost every creative profession: What can the machine do – and what still requires a human?
It is a question designers, photographers, artists, architects and agencies can no longer discuss purely in theory. Generative AI produces images within seconds, develops endless variations and imitates aesthetics, transforming not only workflows but our understanding of what creative work is actually worth.
At Forward Festival Wien on October 1 and 2, 2026, this shift becomes the starting point for a wider conversation about the future of creativity.
Following editions in Berlin and Frankfurt, Forward returns to Vienna’s Gartenbaukino for the finale of its 2026 season – and to the city where the festival’s story began in 2015. That first Vienna edition has since grown into 35 festivals across European cities, featuring more than 600 speakers and bringing together around 50,000 creatives from 70 nations.
The Hand Behind the Image
The question of human authorship becomes particularly interesting through two guests whose work is instantly recognisable, even if their names may be less familiar to a wider audience.
Annie Atkins creates the graphic worlds that have become an essential part of Wes Anderson’s unmistakable cinematic aesthetic. Lettering, documents, packaging and countless graphic props are crafted with a precision where the smallest details make all the difference.
Mirko Borsche, meanwhile, is one of the distinctive voices in contemporary editorial and graphic design. His work and collaborations range from Balenciaga, Supreme and Inter Milan to 032c magazine.
Both represent something that suddenly feels remarkably precious in an age of infinitely reproducible imagery: a recognisable human signature.
So what will clients actually be buying when they commission a person rather than a tool? A service? A style? Experience? Judgement? Or perhaps that difficult-to-define ability to make decisions that do not simply emerge from probabilities?
Creativity After Automation
Forward takes the conversation beyond aesthetics. A dedicated panel will examine tangible changes within the creative industries: shifting roles inside studios and agencies, changing client expectations, and questions surrounding authorship and fees when parts of the creative process become automated.
It touches upon something potentially more important than asking whether AI itself can be “creative”.
Tools have always transformed creative work. The more interesting question is how much value we place on human judgement once production itself becomes increasingly effortless.
Alongside Annie Atkins and Mirko Borsche, the programme includes Natasha Jen, Erik Kessels, Cachete Jack, Luna Maurer, Thomas Albdorf, Gabriela Namie, So Me, Jim Stoten and The Mill, among others. Talks will be accompanied by workshops, exhibitions, an expo area, side events and networking.
An Idea Born in Vienna
Behind Forward is founder Othmar Handl. What began in Vienna in 2015 has developed into an international platform for the creative community. Yet its original idea remains surprisingly analogue: bringing people together.
Perhaps that already offers one possible answer to the festival’s central question.
The more capable our machines become, the more interesting those things that cannot be endlessly scaled may become: personality, experience, attitude, encounters – and the courage to turn an idea into something real.
Forward Festival Wien 2026
1.–2. Oktober 2026
Gartenbaukino, Wien
