East 2046 Festival’s second edition is coming to London from 4–12 July 2026 in collaboration with London Data Week.
Themed “Good Luck ~ Bad Luck”, the idea is that, in an age when algorithms are central to everything from what we watch to the answers to our questions, it is important to centre the randomness of luck.
Festival Director of EAST 2046 Dr Lois Liao, explains: “In an age when algorithms approach every answer, we wanted to put ‘luck’ back on the table.” Adding, “Good Luck~ Bad Luck is not fatalism but an invitation: when technology becomes a new ‘invisible hand’, how do we reclaim human agency?”
The programme explores this through three threads: Algorithmic Wealth and Equality, Humanity and the Spiritual Self, and The Ineffable Cosmos. This includes a panel on AI Companionship on July 8th hosted by the LSE Data Science Institute and King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Another highlight is a Party & Performance on July 10th at Anomalous Space featuring artist Lawrence Lek, musician Jude Rees, choreographer Lizzy Tan, and immersive-experience artist Marcus Round.
The full festival will take place from July 4th to July 12th at various locations across London.
There will also be a post-festival event on July 18th, a Podcast Carnival hosted at Imperial College London. It will be London’s first Mandarin-language podcast event, with six leading Chinese-language podcast hosts.
EAST2046 is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that attempts to imagine an “Eastern Future”. They connect creatives, academics, technologists and the public through festivals, exhibitions, courses and community. This is the second edition of their festival, after last year’s August event. Speaking before the first festival, Dr Liao said, “The central theme is to imagine the future from an ESEA perspective, merging technology, art, and culture.”
This year’s festival is held in conjunction with London Data Week, for which EAST2046 serves this year as the official Art Curation Team. London Data Week is a city-wide public data festival founded by the London Office of Technology and Innovation and The Alan Turing Institute. It is supported by the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority.
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