From Aarhus to the world, contemporary artist Esben will take us on his curious journey into the identity and experiences of his generation. Known for his multidisciplinary work in performances and installations from Paris and Berlin to Seoul and Miami, he challenges social norms by blurring the lines between art institutions and everyday culture. Together with Esben, we explored his process at the crossroads between punk and pop, nostalgia and consumerism, psychology and technology.

Luka is a Georgian born activist and writer – now living in Amsterdam to avoid further problems if he enters his country. Luka performed a 15-minute talk and visual performance documenting first-hand the erosion of Georgia from democracy to totalitarian state. This is a story about how Luka and thousands like him have been fighting to stop Georgia’s descent into authoritarianism and witnessing how this shift was made – step by step. It is also a story about hope, creativity and European values. 

Johanne Bruun Rasmussen is part of the creative team at Hello Monday / DEPT®, an agency known for crafting award-winning experiences at the intersection of technology, design, and storytelling. Johanne works to combine design, strategy, aesthetics, and innovation in projects that both inspire and engage audiences.

She shared insights into Hello Monday’s approach to innovation and presented a few of the agency’s most forward-thinking cases — projects that showed how creativity and technology can come together to create meaning and a little bit of magic in the digital world.

Curious Neighbours creator Gus Guerrero and Phil Hall dig into Gus’ exploration of Nordic creative culture.

With more than 200 interviews since 2018 with creatives from all over the Nordics, Gus has an interesting take on what Nordic creative culture is. An outsider’s point of view from inside the region. He explored this, plus gave some insights on international creatives working in Denmark, in a conversation with Phil Hall (former BBC, now Manyone & Glastonbury Festival radio) in a live interview on stage.

Why is this interesting? Because, in our opinion, ”Danish creativity” is in many ways our superpower. Or is it? Gus and Phil will try to shed some light on that.

Have a listen to Curious Neighbours here before the day – spotify.

Welcome to Wonderpanic. It’s a little town we all live in, while we are figuring out the impact AI will have on us as creative thinkers, makers and doers. In his presentation Lars Bastholm showed how to lead the dance with your new artificial friends and create magic results. And who knows – you might just get better at being human in the process.

Lars Bastholm has held senior creative leadership roles at Google, Ogilvy and AKQA, managed large teams (200+ people) across multiple geographies and cultures. Lars’ work as a creative director has garnered a multitude of international awards, including 3 Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Curious by nature and allergic to stagnation, Lars spends much of his time  experimenting with how technology can expand-not replace-the human spark. Whether he’s running workshops, advising studios, or rethinking the future of storytelling, his focus stays the same: making creativity feel thrillingly new again.

In a fast-moving, tech-driven energy industry where competition for talent is fierce, Danske Commodities stands out by balancing human spirit with high performance.

As a globally competitive energy trading company, DC has built a culture where people and progress go hand in hand nurturing curiosity, collaboration, creativity, and human energy while driving world-class business results.

By empowering individuals while cultivating collective performance, DC ensures that high performance is sustainable, and achievements are shared. In doing so, DC continues to set new standards for what it means to be a modern, performance-based company rooted in both purpose and progress.

This session explored how sustainable high performance is cultivated, how human energy fuels creativity and resilience, and how people grow together while shaping the energy of today and tomorrow.

Danske Commodities is a tech-driven energy trading company that trades power and gas across +40 markets. Working for a viable energy future, the company utilizes its trading expertise to connect producers and large-scale consumers to wholesale markets. DC just moved into their new HQ in Akson, Sydhavnen and a locally invested through different initiatives from social inclusivity to supporting local creativity manifesting their interest and role in the future of the neighborhood. 

A session on inclusive design and cultural collaboration – where Girls Got Game showed how democratizing the design process fosters authentic connections – inspiring broad industry innovation by valuing diverse voices.

GGG / Caroline Wich
Caroline Wich is a true Kaospilot (Team 27) with a background that spans university-level basketball in the USA, playing for the danish national women’s team while advancing as a true interdisciplinary designer, creative and entrepreneur.

She is the founder of the NGO Girls Got Game, which focuses on empowering and retaining teenage girls in organised sport, particularly basketball, by creating inclusive environments and improving institutional frameworks.

The Curious Neighbours Listening Club is a series of intentional gatherings designed to spark connection and inspire creative and curious individuals through shared listening and meaningful dialogue.

You can think of these gatherings as part listening session, part roundtable discussion, and part of the process of making the forthcoming Curious Neighbours book. Rather than presenting these interviews as finished artifacts, the Listening Club invites participants to become active contributors to their interpretation and evolution.

Together, we discovered which stories resonate most deeply and which perspectives might be hiding between the lines.

A sensory session on creative leadership, courage, and collaboration – where two self-taught chefs demonstrated how innovation can be tasted and felt – and how a TV kitchen can serve as inspiration across entirely different industries.

We joined Kulbroen in the award-winning building TRÆ and got a chance to work on the new Cultural Incubator format, launching in 2026. Kulbroen has set out on a mission to create more professional cultural entrepreneurs. How can we help people thrive with a more commercial mindset without compromising the arts and passion behind it all? Aarhus has experienced a boom in culture compared to just twenty years ago, but why stop here? Let Aarhus become a true frontrunner in producing cultural entrepreneurs.

Kulbroen is a landmark project in Aarhus, combining city development, art, and culture. What started as a grassroots movement 10+ years ago becomes a new cultural development and ambition in the city.

Are you happy with the nightlife scene of Aarhus? Do you feel included, inspired, invited?

The Nightlife Boost project explored what happens when the answer to those questions is No or Maybe – and what happens when you actually ask young people from different cultures what they think about it.

We have insights, provocations and project-examples to share with you, and we would love to know what you would change in the nightlife scene here.

Hosted by Studenterhus Aarhus, Fermaten, Slagteriet and C-Cube.

The Nordic region is one of the darkest in the world. So much of our free time happens after dark. Feeling lonely or included, inspired or dull, at home or an alien depends a lot on how life rolls out in the night.

Yet, we have almost no research, policies or networks dedicated to support, enable, and challenge the thousands of people, groups and organizations making life after dark social.

Inspired by the folks from Nighttime Foundation, we are launching the Danish chapter of Nordic Nights Network – a new platform to investigate, co-create, and innovate the night-time landscape. 

Hosted by Turkis, Aarhus Lyd Forening, Involved, Studenterhus Aarhus, Konnectet and C-Cube.

A narrative tasting of past, present & future with Æblefald

We invited people to an inspiring tasting – a journey through ciders of the past, present, and future.

Æblefald has helped define the language of Nordic cider, shaping a new way of thinking, tasting, and talking about the craft. It’s a journey that has taken us across four European countries and into both Danish and international Michelin restaurants.

Through a sensory time travel across the past five years, we’ll explore how cultural and social trends have been mirrored in our products – and how we’ve chosen to respond to them.

 Finally, we’ll take you into the future – to taste what we believe we’ll all be drinking in 2027, and to imagine how the world of beverages might evolve from here.

Throughout the tasting, we’ll reflect on raw material awareness, innovation, rebranding, patience – and the quiet beauty of slow growth.

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Experience hosted by Sprit & Co x Meyers

Join us for a refreshing afternoon run (or walk!) as we explore Sydhavnen together! 

B Lab Nordics, together with B Corps Meyers and Sprit & Co, invites you to sporty exploration run after a packed conference program. Activate your body and partake in this run to create new realtions, hear about the b-corp way and receive a tasty treat form our b-corp hosts.

Mads Krabat is an artist, a veteran, a surviver, a father. Balancing life with four kids, physical damage (due to an IED impact) and a diagnose of PTSD, he has managed to find his way back after a heavy deroute and is setting creative mile stones with solo exhibitions and hugely ambitious projects.

Mads aka “Krabaten” is larger than life and reminds us that creativity & art can be a healing path and a creative business outlet at the same time. Mads’s battle, art and story is second to none so brace yourself to meet a truly inspiring artist and get a personal deep dive into his story, art works and his atelier situated in Sydhavenen.

Marc Eggen from Kulbroen will be your guide on this tour in the surrounding neighborhood called Sydhavnen (South Harbor). It is undergoing massive changes and the transformation from a industrial area 50+ years ago to a new creative centre in Aarhus is fascinating. You will get a deeper understanding of the enormous redevelopment, including the impact the Kulbroen project has had on the development.

Marc Eggen from Kulbroen will be your guide on this tour where we explore the transformation of a concrete piece of the city’s industrial heritage. You will experience anecdotes and visualizations of what Kulbroen has been – and what it is turning into as a urban space, cultural institution, and heart of the surrounding Sydhavnen district. We will tour this landmark’s past, present, and future while experiencing the process and construction site first-hand.