Tracks

Here you find an overview of our tracks and get first ideas about what we find exciting and what you could discuss. Tracks are general topic areas or guiding themes that are there for inspiration and help categorize your session thematically. 

re:publica is a festival for the digital society. This means that we mainly bring topics about the many-sided aspects of digitalisation and its effects onto our stage. Many things now have a digital component, but above all, the exception to the rule applies: re:publica has always been colourful enough to offer a stage for other relevant topics as well. Sustainability is one of them, “CASH”- motto of this year's re:publica Berlin - or socio-political debates.

If you want more inspiration and to know which ideas have been successful, visit the video archive of re:publica Berlin on YouTube or check out the #rp23 program.

Politics & Society

Debates and mutual exchanges about the ever faster evolving digitization and its impact on transforming society(ies) and shifting political dynamics are central to the re:publica. This track is about, among other things, the big and many small debates on net politics and their various issues: In what kind of digital world do we want to live? But also, the numerous other burning social disputes can get a stage with us if you deliver something convincing. We invite activists, civil society and experts to get to the roots of our various challenges and to discuss new digital utopias with us.

Technology & Science

In this track, we explore the underlying synergies of science and technology. We are interested in infrastructures and hardware, the sciences and their disruption by new technologies. How has digitization influenced the latest findings, advancements, and controversies in these respective disciplines?
We look forward to insights from labs, FabLabs, think tanks and universities. From the contributions of biologists, neuroscientists, makers, computer scientists, physicists, hackers, chemists, astronomers, and everyone who works at this intersection – your contributions are more than welcome here.

(Internet)Cultures

From NFT hype to text and image generators, from concept art in Marvel movies to AI poets and VR opera - we want to explore infinite worlds created by the interplay of technology with art and culture. We'd like to figure out new forms of expression through AI and new dimensions of materiality that come with AR and VR. We welcome contributions that discuss the relationship between work and author, original and copy in the digital sphere. We would like to find out how technology changes art production and the purpose of archives, museums and cultural institutions. Last but not least: We want to know how the artistic approach enables scientists of various disciplines to get a new perspective on their scientific endeavors.

Media

Between the platform economy and a whipped-up atmosphere in public discourses, media and journalism face new and old challenges: It's all about the fight for attention and (of course) money: new revenue models, subscriptions and the creator economy. We're interested in how fact-checking and journalism are financed and how data journalism is classified. We want to learn more about the diversity of opinion in newsrooms and talk about our media landscape, non-profit and community journalism – in short, everything relating to texts, sounds and moving images. We provide a forum for the big stories and the most critical research. Whether fiction or non-fiction, we look behind the scenes of investigative docuseries, viral storytelling on TikTok, VR games and podcasts.

Economy & Responsibility

From research to market, from Doughnut economics to degrowth: this track is about alternative economic and business models that provide concrete solutions to address current challenges – whether (economic and social) inequality, climate change, biodiversity loss or resource depletion. It is about new ways of producing, organizing supply chains and collaborating for sustainable solutions. What digital business models breaks with the Silicon Valley mantra, and what kind of financial products break with the Wall Street's gamble? How do we shape a post-growth society? When will companies stop failing at their culture change stories and finally get serious about diversity, sustainability and digitalization? We are interested in solutions, success stories, and the challenges and risks associated with digital transformation concerning business and industry.