Sónar+D, Sónar festival’s innovation and digital culture lab, announces its 14th edition for Thursday 18th and Friday 19th June 2026 at Barcelona’s majestic neoclassical Llotja de Mar – a new city center venue. Over the two days (from 10am-9pm each day), the Sónar+D will include lectures, panels, workshops, experimental performances, interactive installations, and community takeovers that highlight creativity, the exchange of technology, and critical thinking about digital culture. The three theme areas for Sónar+D this year are: AI & Music (exploring how we navigate creativity in a post-AI world); Beyond the Screen (helping to reconnect with tangible and human experiences within digital artworks); and Digital Gardens and Dark Forests (creating visions of internet alternatives that are free from corporate control.)
Key Highlights by Category
Sónar+D 2026 continues to be structured around its four defining pillars: Talks, Exhibition, Community and Performance – a framework that brings together artists, technologists, scientists and creatives from across disciplines.
Talks and Panels
From all over the globe, leaders in technology come together to discuss and dissect the impact that technology has on our culture. Australian branding strategist Eugene Healey, through sharing real–world examples, helps to erase the line between marketing, strategy, and pop culture with a presentation that combines all three fields into one. Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler discusses ways for Artists to reclaim control over the internet from gatekeepers using their own creative methods. In her presentation, Singaporean digital artist niceaunties introduces an artist who incorporates her love of kawaii culture into her contemporary and surreal artwork illustrating everyday experiences through portraiture. Internationally recognized new media artist Mónica Rikić explores how robotics could be used to provide care in various industries, demonstrating this idea through live demonstrations of robotic devices on–stage. AV pioneer Daito Manabe discusses how music and visual creativity will shape the future of AI while performing a live audiovisual set with his collaborator, Google Deepmind DJ JC++ (Jeff Chang). Mindy Seu uses her mobile phones as instruments for collective readings of her book A Sexual History of the Internet, in which she discusses and explores the sexual history of the internet. Catalan research scholar Joana Moll discusses the use of creativity in the exploration of digital conservation by presenting her concept called “Digital Ecosystems”, which won her the 2025 Premi Ciutat award.
Workshops
Interactive sessions provide students with the opportunity to create new skills and futures. Chia Amisola, Figma designer and web artist, will be leading a session where participants will create their own personal “digital gardens,” exploring the handmade nature of the internet. Collective Keiken (led by Hana Omori) will facilitate a workshop titled Perception Game, where participants will explore how we see and create speculative worlds through gaming and performance. 0xSalon will run FAU0X Salon, a tarot-RPG hybrid that will help students visualize alternative digital realities. The visual duo desilence will share their collaborative creative process, which provides an overview of the entire pipeline, from brainstorming and creating to executing the final piece. Developer-Artist Internet2 will gamify their anxiety surrounding being surveilled through the use of smart devices in their project, The Wishlist, which has previously been shown at Sónar. The Glad Scientist in Barcelona will provide playful TouchDesigner tutorials for professionals using quantum physics as a guide. Luca Cingolani (Outer) will demonstrate generative AI for live visuals based on the material created in his previous collaboration with Sónar.
Performances
The experimental scene exposes the raw, physical, embodied edge of reclaim technology. Sound artist Evicshen creates an aggressive, noisy environment using home-built prosthetic musical instruments and turns the venue into a chaotic, battleground of sound. Performance artist Fitnesss collaborates with dancer Riusforza in a custom, exoskeleton driven light/sound/muscle spectacle. Shoeg uses a tactile setup with 3D controllers and modular synthesizers along with motion sensors to present a hypnotizing performance that rejects A.I. Dadabots enter the space with loud, fast, generative, live audio chaos. Catalan jazz pianist Ignasi Terraza performs with an evolved A.I. interactive system developed by Philippe Salembier as the first performance of the Piano & A.I. concert series (S+T+ARTS powered). Hacklab alumni conclude the A.I. Performance Playground with collective chaos.
Exhibitions (Expo+D)
The immersive installations that are now on display in several Rooms at Llotja de Mar have been selected through the Open Call process. The showcase by Arts Korea Lab for their third year in a row features a range of South Korean artists who are visualizing what tomorrow’s creative technology will look like. The From0 by Belgian studio Superbe creates melodious compositions that are composed of the voices of a crowd using a microphone in conjunction with 12 swinging pendulums that create beautiful sonic, visual and motion poetry. The Astral Twin enjoys its debut in the courtyard of Volvox Labs (Brooklyn); the articulated robotic arms create a continually repeating light field of LEDs through a series of choreographed movements that alternate between mechanical precision/ organic whimsy, also created in collaboration with OFFF. The neon tentacles of the cyber-dystopian AUSGANG (Berlin) will be deployed at Àgora+D. The first-ever digital art pieces commissioned for Sónica+D will be on display at Fira Gran Via; the announcement for full reveals is forthcoming.
Communities+D
Pati+D (a way to continue the Lounge+D experience outdoors) and Àgora+D will continue to support the grassroots collaborative activities. The Barcelona Music Tech Hub is bringing back its Startups Pitch event, which will highlight the work of new innovators. The Generative Art Museum will be showcasing an exhibition of creative programming with the help of many of our long-standing partners from Sónar+D. There will be more community-focused activations coming up soon as well based off the success of last year’s premiere activations.
Theme Deep Dives
AI & Music
On the Thursday, the annual S+T+ARTS Festival begins with a performance by Ignasi Terraza featuring AI and piano in an emotional duet, which is part of Philippe Salembier’s project at the 2021 S+T+ARTS festival. The opening forum will highlight Rob Clouth, who is known for his multidisciplinary art; former Sony and Spotify AI expert François Pachet; Neutone’s Nao Tokui; and Anna Xambó from the Computational Sonic Arts Laboratory at Queen Mary University. Additionally, Magda Polo (representing UB EKHO) and IDIBELL’s Dr. Miquel Àngel Pujana will create sonic representations of DNA sequences, and Daito Manabe is preparing for his Fira show using DeepMind’s chat feature. In New York City, LaSalle/ URL’s IASLab Hacklab is taking over the AI Performance Playground. On Friday night, the festival will end with Dadabots’ generative music performance.
Beyond the Screen
In the 2010s we saw an enormous shift from screens being highly stylised and flawless to now experiencing a correspondingly enormous backlash/rage against this and a demand for tactile and practical human-like experiences. As part of this, Niceaunties’ artworks recontextualise icons of ‘auntie’ culture into a new aesthetic of fantasy-kawaii at Stage+D.Keiken has quadrupled down by running a worldbuilding discussion and also their Perception Game – which participants experience in real-time as opposed to having a ‘virtual’ reality as existing in the internet. Internet2 turns the anxiety of ad-tracking (like many things on the internet) into a game; Glad Scientist uses quantum computing to hack TouchDesigner with instant results; desilence provides demystification of all visuals; and Outer live-AI does generative tricks. Mónica Rikić stages live robot carer discussions; Roxanne Harris does a live projection of computer code; and Eneritz Tejada stitches wearables into a combination of body and electronics through kinetic action.
Digital Gardens and Dark Forests
The lofty aspirations for the internet have been sidelined by metrics and business interests, and now is prime time to find ways to escape. Yancey Strickler is rolling out his new interactive version of “Theory of the Internet” on Friday where a ton of guests will be taking part. Joana Moll will give a non-linear version of the telephone through an interactive presentation called “The User and The Beast.” Mindy Seu will crowdsource information for a steamy chronicle of the web via phone. 0xSalon will use their game, FAU0X, which has been at least since 2020, in conjunction with predicting future history. Chia Amisola will evoke the spirit of Geocities-era gardens through a presentation and workshop. Mario Santamaría will create a visual representation of forgotten underwater cables using a visualisation technique called “Zombie Infrastructure.” Eugene Healey will explain how the internet uses social media as an extension of our attention spans in “Social Media: A Fight With A God We Cannot Name” presentation.
Full Lineup
18-19 June 2026 | 10am-9pm | Llotja de Mar
AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS
Anna Xambó | François Pachet | Google DeepMind & Daito Manabe | Magda Polo (Grup EKHO) & Miquel Àngel Pujana (IDIBELL) | Nao Tokui | Rob Clouth
Beyond the Screen
Luca Cingolani (Outer) | desilence | Eneritz Tejada | The Glad Scientist | Internet2 | Keiken | Mónica Rikić | niceaunties | Roxanne Harris
Digital Gardens and Dark Forests
0xSalon | Chia Amisola | Eugene Healey | Joana Moll | Mario Santamaría | Mindy Seu | Yancey Strickler
Performances
AI Performance Playground* | dadabots* | Evicshen | Fitnesss & Riusforza | Ignasi Terraza & Philippe Salembier* | Shoeg
(*AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS)
Exhibitions
Arts Korea Lab | AUSGANG studio | Superbe | Volvox Labs | + more TBA
Communities+D
Barcelona Music Tech Hub | The Generative Art Museum | + more TBA
Tickets and Logistics
Sónar+D 2-day tickets and day tickets allow newcomers to festival access at an affordable price with entry to Llotja de Mar only available for the last two days of the festival. Your purchase of SonarPass+D will grant you access to all of Sónar+D and all of the headliners for Sónar 2026, including The Prodigy, Charlotte de Witte’s AURA featuring Amelie Lens, Chris Stussy, Cabaret Voltaire, Daito Manabe, Reinier Zonneveld’s R2; and Speedy J’s STOOR SonarCar takeover (via SonarBus shuttle transport). In terms of events happening in 2026, everything is connected through Sónar Week 2026 through OFFSónar (Poble Espanyol) and Sónar District (Parc Del Forum, including Sónar Kids).
Event Conclusion
Sónar/D+ 2026 serves as an important response to the ongoing progress of technology by promoting the idea that we can take back control of our lives through Ignasi Terraza’s beautiful AI piano duet; Evicshen’s beastly noise prostheses; and Yancey Strickler’s vision of an internet for artists – all taking place in Llotja de Mar between 18-20 June. This edition will combine both provocation and possibility and offers ticket purchases to help introduce Sónar Week’s overall sonic revolution, with Superbe’s mesmerising pendulum symphonies, and Chia Amisola’s digital garden workshop.
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