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. This two-day event (10am-9pm daily) packs talks, panels, workshops, experimental performances, interactive exhibitions, community takeovers, and installations celebrating creativity, technology exchange, and critical thinking. Three core themes drive it: AI & Music (navigating creativity in a post-AI world), Beyond the Screen (restoring physicality and humanity to digital art), and Digital Gardens and Dark Forests (envisioning internet alternatives free from corporate dominance).

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

Global voices converge to dissect tech’s cultural ripple effects. Australian brand strategist Eugene Healey dissolves boundaries between marketing, strategy, and pop culture in a talk blending real-world case studies. Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler shares tactics for artists to seize back internet control from gatekeepers. Singaporean digital artist niceaunties unveils her kawaii-tinged, surreal portraits redefining everyday femininity. Renowned new media artist Mónica Rikić probes robotics’ role in care sectors, demoing bots live onstage. AV pioneer Daito Manabe joins Google DeepMind’s Jeff Chang (aka progressive house DJ JC++) to unpack AI’s magic in his upcoming audiovisual live set. Technologist Mindy Seu orchestrates a phone-powered collective reading from her provocative A Sexual History of the Internet. Catalan researcher Joana Moll (fresh off her 2025 Premi Ciutat win) dives into digital ecosystems with unconventional flair.

Workshops

Interactive sessions empower participants to build skills and futures. Web artist and Figma designer Chia Amisola guides crafting personal “digital gardens” evoking the web’s handmade roots. Collective Keiken (led by Hana Omori) hosts Perception Game, a workshop probing how we sense and shape speculative worlds through games and performance. Online provocateurs 0xSalon run FAU0X Salon, a tarot-RPG hybrid for envisioning alternate digital realities. Visual duo desilence breaks down their end-to-end creative pipelines. Developer-artist Internet2’s The Wishlist gamifies surveillance anxieties tied to smart devices. Barcelona’s The Glad Scientist twists quantum physics into playful TouchDesigner tutorials for pros. Luca Cingolani (Outer) demos generative AI for live visuals, drawing from his prior Sónar collab.

Performances

Experimental shows reclaim tech’s raw, bodily edge. Sound artist Evicshen unleashes confrontational noise via homemade prosthetic instruments, turning the room into a chaotic sonic battlefield. Performance artist Fitnesss teams with dancer Riusforza for a bespoke exoskeleton-driven spectacle of light, sound, and muscle. Producer Shoeg rejects AI for a tactile rig of controllers, modular synths, and motion sensors in a hypnotic set. Anarchic duo Dadabots storms with live generative audio mayhem. Catalan jazz pianist Ignasi Terraza duets with Philippe Salembier’s evolved AI system in the opening Piano & AI concert (S+T+ARTS powered). Hacklab alums cap the AI Performance Playground with collaborative chaos.

Exhibitions (Expo+D)

Immersive installs spread across Llotja de Mar’s rooms via Open Call selections. Arts Korea Lab’s third-year showcase spotlights South Korean visions of tomorrow’s creative tech. Belgian studio Superbe’s From0 weaves crowd microphone input into melodies echoed by 12 swinging pendulums – sonic, visual, kinetic poetry. Brooklyn’s Volvox Labs debuts Astral Twin in the courtyard: robotic arms in eternal LED choreography balancing machine precision and organic whimsy (OFFF collab). Berlin’s AUSGANG studio deploys cyber-dystopian neon tentacles at Àgora+D. First-ever Sónar+D outposts at Fira Gran Via promise commissioned digital art; full reveals imminent.

Communities+D

Pati+D (outdoor evolution of Lounge+D) and Àgora+D host grassroots takeovers. Barcelona Music Tech Hub revives its Startups Pitch for emerging innovators. The Generative Art Museum curates a Creative Coding showcase with longtime Sónar+D allies. More community-led activations to drop soon, building on last year’s breakout debut.

New venue for Sónar+D 2026, the 800-year-old Llotja de Mar

Arts Korea Lab — Photo Credit: Nerea Coll

Theme Deep Dives

AI & Music

S+T+ARTS marks its third year probing post-AI tensions as music normalises AI workflows – what’s next? Kicks off Thursday morning with Ignasi Terraza’s emotive AI piano duet, latest from Philippe Salembier’s 2021 S+T+ARTS Fest project. Opening Forum spotlights Rob Clouth’s multidisciplinary flair, ex-Sony/Spotify AI guru François Pachet, Neutone founder Nao Tokui, and Queen Mary’s Anna Xambó (C4DM Computational Sonic Arts Lab head). Magda Polo (UB EKHO) + IDIBELL’s Dr. Miquel Àngel Pujana sonify DNA sequences. Daito Manabe preps his Fira show via DeepMind chat. LaSalle-URL IASLab hacklab fuels AI Performance Playground takeover. Dadabots’ generative frenzy closes Friday.

Beyond the Screen

Screens ruled the 2010s with hyper-polished perfection – now backlash demands tactility. niceaunties reframes ‘auntie’ icons at Stage+D with fantasy-kawaii vibes. Keiken doubles down: worldbuilding talk + participatory Perception Game. Internet2 gamifies ad-tracking dread; Glad Scientist quantum-hacks TouchDesigner; desilence demystifies visuals; Outer live-AI’s generative tricks. Mónica Rikić stages robot-care debates live; Roxanne Harris projects live code; Eneritz Tejada weaves wearables into body-electronics fusion.

Digital Gardens and Dark Forests

Web’s utopian roots curdled into metric-choked corporatism – time for escape hatches. Yancey Strickler (back since Kickstarter pitch) launches Friday with interactive Theory of The Internet, guest-packed. Joana Moll’s The User and The Beast twists telecom history interactively. Mindy Seu crowd-sources her book’s steamy web chronicle via phones. 0xSalon’s FAU0X RPG divines futures since 2020. Chia Amisola evokes Geocities-era soul in talk + build-your-garden workshop. Mario Santamaría maps ‘zombie infrastructure’ – forgotten undersea cables and tunnels. Eugene Healey rails against algo-shattered attention in Social Media: A Fight With a God We Cannot Name.

Photo Credit: Nerea Coll

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

Volvox Labs’ Astral Twin — Photo Credit: Kamil Nawratil

Tickets and Logistics

Breakthrough standalone access: Sónar+D 2-Day Tickets and Day Tickets price entry to Llotja de Mar alone, welcoming newcomers affordably. SonarPass+D unlocks full Sónar+D + Sónar 2026 (Fira Gran Via, 18-20 June) headliners like The Prodigy, Charlotte de Witte’s AURA with Amelie Lens, Chris Stussy, Cabaret Voltaire, Daito Manabe, Reinier Zonneveld’s R2, and Speedy J’s STOOR SonarCar takeover. SonarBus shuttles zip between venues. All folds into Sónar Week 2026 with OFFSónar (Poble Espanyol) and Sónar District (Parc del Fòrum, incl. Sónar Kids).

Event Conclusion

Sónar+D 2026 stands as a vital counterpoint to tech’s relentless march, urging us to reclaim agency through Ignasi Terraza’s haunting AI piano duet, Evicshen’s visceral noise prosthetics, and Yancey Strickler’s blueprint for an artist-led internet – all unfolding in Llotja de Mar’s storied halls on 18-19 June. From Superbe’s hypnotic pendulum symphonies to Chia Amisola’s digital garden workshops, this edition fuses provocation and possibility, making standalone tickets a no-brainer gateway to Sónar Week’s broader sonic revolution.