What is real, what is artificial? What remains human when algorithms take over design? Design Month Graz 2025 is dedicated to the key questions of our time under the focus theme »The New Real«, a time in which reality and virtuality are increasingly merging. Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing design processes, communication, media, and markets. The impacts on creativity, responsibility, and social action are profound — and will be intensively discussed, experienced, and brought to life during this year’s Design Month.
The Festival Centre, Hornig Areal, will once again serve as the main venue for this exploration. Where coffee was still being produced just a few years ago, a space between past and future will open in May 2025. The raw, open architecture of the former industrial site provides the perfect backdrop for exploring the new realities opened up by AI, virtual reality, and algorithmically generated worlds.
Reality in transition — the Hornig Areal as a stage for the new
At the Festival Centre, »The New Real« will be brought to life in a variety of ways: AI-generated video contributions will challenge notions of what is considered authentic today. Installations and light design will dissolve the boundaries between real and virtual spaces. Discussions, workshops, and presentations will invite visitors to actively engage with the future of design. The focus is not only on technology, but also on attitude: How can design help to set new ethical standards? How can it navigate between authenticity and manipulation?
With its open halls, free spaces, and improvised structures, the Hornig Areal offers the perfect platform for this purpose. For one month, it will become a meeting place for designers, creatives, students, companies, and everyone interested in shaping the future. Admission is free, the venue is easily accessible by public transport, and open daily from 11.00 to 18.00. Amidst the archaic industrial architecture, ideas, discussions, and experiments will converge — once again turning Graz into a vibrant stage for contemporary design and forward-looking discourse.
