Creativity Rules Festival: The stage belongs to the next creative generation

From 28 to 31 May 2025, Hallein will become a hotspot for creative visions: Students from the Creative Technologies Department at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences are inviting you to the 13th Creativity Rules Festival. For four days, the Alte Saline and the Stadtkino Hallein cinema will be transformed into a stage for pioneering projects in design, film, music, art and interactive media. Included: animated films produced by students for the EXPO 2025 world exhibition, which will celebrate their premiere in Osaka on 26 May.

At the centre of the ‘Creativity Rules’ festival is a showcase of around 80 graduation projects from the MultiMediaArt, MultiMediaTechnology and Realtime Art & Visual Effects degree programmes - impressive proof of the creative and technological diversity of the next generation.

Digital innovations and cinematic highlights

These include the hearow app - a digital navigation aid for blind and visually impaired people that gives them more independence in everyday life. The VR game Botaniverse, in which users can discover their green fingers and create virtual plant worlds, is a playful experience. And the interactive installation Drawtone transforms images drawn by the audience into sounds and music - an experience for the eyes and ears.

A special highlight is the cinema afternoon on 29 May at the Stadtkino Hallein: in addition to commercials and short films, the cinema will also show contributions by students that were created for the EXPO 2025 world exhibition in Osaka. Two animated films, which will be presented as part of concerts by the Mozarteum Orchestra in Japan, put Mozart's legendary original violin centre stage. The result is two independent, detailed short films that impressively visualise the connection between musical tradition and digital creativity. Both films were developed in close collaboration with the Mozarteum University. Under professional production conditions, the students took care of every step - from script development, animation and compositing to sound design.

Inspiration from the creative scene with ADC and CCA

The festival programme will be enriched by inspiring keynotes and talks. On the opening day (28 May), Burkhard Müller, Chairman of the Board of the Art Directors' Club (ADC), will talk about the future of creative agencies in the age of AI. Prior to this, media artists Flavia Mazzanti and Manuel Bonell will provide insights into their work in the field of virtual reality and interactive installations. Special guest director and FH Salzburg graduate Anna Unterweger will be travelling from Berlin. Following the success of her cinema comedy ‘Broke. Alone. A Kinky Love Story’, she will present her film at an exclusive screening followed by a Q&A session at Stadtkino Hallein on Thursday 29 May.

Also on Friday (30 May), the Venus Roadshow of the Creativ Club Austria (CCA) will make a stop at the Alte Saline Hallein and present works from Salzburg that were awarded prizes in the renowned creative competition.

Admission to all festival events is free.
https://creativity-rules.at