Coding Heritage
About the panel
Technology doesn't stay in one lane — and neither does the question of what gets preserved, reinvented, or told in an entirely new way once it enters the picture. This panel brings together three very different technological approaches to the same tension: an independent studio using video games and AI to keep cultural heritage alive, an entrepreneur reinventing Belgium's own comic-strip heritage for the smartphone generation, and a festival platform showcasing the newest narrative forms across digital and mixed media.
Moderated by Ghita Amrati, whose own work as a director and screenwriter sits at the heart of shaping Morocco's digital art industry through storytelling, the conversation moves across mediums that rarely compare notes — asking what heritage, storytelling, and cultural memory actually mean once new technology reshapes the way they're told.
Moderator
Ghita Amrati
Director, screenwriter and creative director — ArtCoustic Studio (Morocco)
Ghita Amrati is a Moroccan filmmaker, screenwriter and creative director at Artcoustic Studios in Casablanca, specialising in animation, digital arts and the preservation and promotion of Moroccan cultural heritage.
Speakers
Avinash Kumar
Creative Director — Antariksha Studio / Elsewhere in India (India)
Antariksha Studio is an Indian transmedia collective blending video games, performance and digital art to create inclusive, futuristic narratives rooted in Indian culture, with a focus on Indofuturism, activism, pluralism and sustainability.
Sri Rama Murthy Mallishetty
Artist/Musician/ Researcher — Elsewhere in India (India)
Elsewhere in India explores cultural heritage, digital technology and speculative futures through immersive and multidisciplinary formats, addressing decolonisation, digital repatriation and climate action from a Global South perspective.
David Mendlewicz
Founder — Papegaai (Belgium)
David Mendlewicz is co-founder and CEO of Papegaai, an AI-native entertainment studio developing LUMIX, a vertical, animated and interactive storytelling format designed for mobile.
Diego Iglesias
Co-founder and curator — MMAD
Diego Iglesias Gómez is a Spanish creative director, curator and educator, co-founder of MMMAD, HYPER HOUSE and HYPER STUDIO, working at the intersection of digital culture, contemporary art, design and technology.
Partners