In 2025, Sónar+D will once again convene a boundary-pushing gathering of artists, technologists, scientists, musicians, engineers, and radical thinkers from around the world. Under the banner of “new horizons of music, creativity, and the arts in an era of omnipresent AI”, the upcoming Sónar+D aims to examine the most provocative frontiers and latest breakthroughs at the intersection of human ingenuity and artificial intelligence. Sónar+D 2025 will be held on June 12, 13, and 14 at the Palau de Congressos de Fira Montjuïc, within Sónar by Day, offering attendees access to dozens of talks, debates, and performances from 10:00 AM, as well as more than 50 concerts and DJ sets.
A Platform for Innovation
From its inception, Sónar+D has fostered dialogue among diverse fields such as design, visual arts, digital culture, and emerging technologies. In 2025, this mission remains at the core:
- Artists and Musicians will debut AI-enabled performances, new experimental tools for composition, and immersive audio-visual experiences that seamlessly merge human creativity with advanced machine learning.
- Engineers and Technologists will present novel ideas in data-driven artistry, human-machine interface design, and generative visual systems that reshape how audiences experience live events.
- Scientists and Visionaries from quantum computing, biology, and neuroscience will reveal how we might tap into new computational paradigms and break creative barriers by applying discoveries from other disciplines to art and music.
The Transformative Potential of AI
Over the last decade, AI has rapidly evolved from an academic field of study into a ubiquitous companion—present in everything from personal devices to large-scale cultural production. At Sónar+D 2025, expect critical discussions and explorations around:
- Creative Co-Creation: Is AI now a collaborator rather than a tool? Artists will reflect on their experiences of partnering with algorithms—be it for composition, choreography, or conceptual design—and how these collaborations have expanded the scope of what is possible in music and the arts.
- Democratizing Creativity: With AI-driven tools becoming more accessible, a new generation of creators is emerging. Sessions will investigate how grassroots communities and independent artists harness open-source models, enabling them to produce professional-level works in music and beyond without major studio support.
- Ethics and Authenticity: Sónar+D will engage with the urgent ethical questions around AI’s creative capabilities. Specialists will grapple with issues of originality, copyright, and the role of human authorship when machines become co-creators.
Spotlight on Quantum Computing and Interface Design
Two major focal points at Sónar+D 2025 will be quantum computing and the evolution of interface design—both of which promise to reshape the creative process in profound ways.
- Quantum Soundscapes
Researchers will demonstrate how quantum computing can be harnessed to generate unprecedented sonic textures. By leveraging quantum bits’ ability to exist in multiple states at once, artists can develop music that transcends classical composition approaches—leading to performances that feel as if they arise from an entirely new dimension of possibility. - Beyond the Screen: The Next Interfaces
From neurofeedback systems that allow wearers to manipulate live visuals via brainwaves, to advanced wearable instruments and immersive environments driven by motion capture, the horizon of interface design is expanding in ways that bridge virtual and physical realms. These new modalities will form the beating heart of immersive installations and performances on display at Sónar+D.
Community and Collaboration
Beyond the main stages, Sónar+D 2025 will be a hub for interactive workshops, hands-on labs, and collaborative sessions. It will offer:
- Labs & Hackathons: Rapid prototyping sessions where cross-disciplinary teams experiment with state-of-the-art technologies to spark new ideas in audiovisual performance, modular synthesis, and interactive art.
- Seminars & Roundtables: Forums for ethical debate, open discussion on societal impact, and brainstorming about how new technologies can serve human creativity (rather than eclipse it).
- Networking & Inspiration: A global gathering of music producers, software developers, and digital culture enthusiasts, all keen to learn from each other and forge networks that will shape the future of art.
Sonar + D Highlights
- Among this year’s invited figures are Libby Heaney (UK) presented by SEIDOR, Tega Brain (AU), Rebecca Fiebrink (UK), Xin Liu (CN), yaboihanoi (TH), Albert.DATA (ES), Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley (UK), Forensis & Bill Kouligas (INT), YESSI PERSE & laSADCUM (ES), and the premiere of ‘Ama’, the new project by Maria Arnal (ES).
- The festival expands its collaborations at a local and global level with renowned cultural, academic, and scientific entities such as the New Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Tabakalera, the Onassis Foundation, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, University of the Arts London, IRCAM, IASLab at La Salle-URL; companies like Stability AI and Google Magenta, and pioneering AI projects like AudioStellar.
- “IA + Creativity”: +RAIN Film Festival (INT) | AI Performance Playground (INT) | AudioStellar presents ‘Territorios sonoros emergentes’ (AR) | Introducing AI & Music (INT) | Joanne Armitage ‘Automating Bodies: Power, Music and AI’ (UK) | Jordi Pons ‘Artistic trends in Music AI’ (ES) | Maria Arnal presents ‘Ama’ (ES) | Marije Baalman (NL) | R-010 & Venerandi presents ‘Phenomena’ (ES) | Rebecca Fiebrink ‘Design your dream music AI tool’ (UK) | Ville Haimala presents ‘Hyporeal’ (FI/DE) | yaboihanoi ‘Lemongrass & Bass: A Thai Recipe for AI Music’ (TH)
- “Futuring the Creative Industries”:‘Aquelarre Futurista’ with Berta Segura & Francesca Tur (ES) | Chris Watson & Izabella Dłużyk presenta ‘Białowieża’ (UK/(PL) | ‘Hacking the world’ with Berta Segura & Francesca Tur (ES) | Heith, James K and Günseli Yalcinkaya present ‘The Talk’ live AV (EU) | How to future the creative industries (INT) | ‘Lux Mundi’ (ES) | ‘MAT(H)RASH: un nuevo manifesto del arte’ de Julieta Wibel y Mike Fernández con Samantha Hudson y YESSi PERSE (ES) | Music Tech Europe Academy: Startups Pitch Session (EU/ES) | Music Tech Dialogues: Creative Economy Data + DEMODAY (EU/ES) | Saint Abdullah, Eomac and Rebecca Salvadori present ‘A Forbidden Distance’ (INT) | Salome Asega ‘Architect or Gardener’ (US)
- “Worlds To Come”: Albert.DATA ‘SYNAPTICON’ (ES) | Animistic Beliefs and Jeisson Drenth present ‘Thức Tỉnh’ AV (NL) | Dania + Mau Morgó present ‘replica — relic’ (IQ-AU/ES) | Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley ‘WE CAN’T PRETEND ANYMORE’ (UK) | Forensis and Bill Kouligas present ‘The Drum and The Bird’ (INT) | Libby Heaney ‘Eat my Multiverse’ (UK) Presented by SEIDOR | Alice Sparkly Kat and Manuka Honey ‘Listen, the stars are talking’ (US/UK) | Safety Trance presents ‘DESTRUCCIÓN’ (VE) | Tega Brain ‘Questions of Automation’ (AU) | Vica Pacheco presents ‘ITA’ AV (MX) | Xin Liu ‘Cosmic Metabolism’ (CN) | YESSi PERSE & laSADCUM present ‘CYBERMEDIEVAL’ (ES)
- Rebecca Fiebrink and Accessibility in Musical AI: Professor of Creative Computing at University of the Arts London, a pioneer in AI and music, and the creator of the innovative AI platform Wekinator (2008). Professor Fiebrink will present ‘Design Your Dream Music AI Tool’, a talk guiding attendees in designing personalized AI tools for music creation, highlighting how machine learning can empower artists without prior technical knowledge.
- Groundbreaking Performances: Innovative Proposals Connecting Music, Visual Art, Dance, and Performance. Musician Dania and visual artist Mau Morgó will use instruments created with 3D scans of Mesopotamian artifacts from the British Museum to question our commitment to decolonization in the world premiere of their radical live collaboration ‘replica — relic’. The rave duo Animistic Beliefs and Jeisson Drenth explore mixed cultural identity in ‘Thức Tỉnh’, combining traditional sounds with contemporary perspectives. Luis Garbán (Cardopusher) debuts his audiovisual project Safety Trance with ‘DESTRUCCIÓN’, a show that fuses reggaeton, industrial, and breakcore. Vica Pacheco merges electroacoustic composition with her own 3D animations in ‘ITA’. Finally, Alice Sparkly Kat collaborates with local collective Akuyte on an audiovisual performance specially created for Sónar.
Looking Ahead
Sónar+D 2025 underscores a reality in which AI is no longer a distant novelty but a tangible, ever-present force that challenges the very notion of what it means to create. Through AI-driven music performance, immersive installations, and forward-thinking conversations, this edition of Sónar+D will illustrate how we stand on the cusp of a new era—one in which humans and intelligent machines collaborate seamlessly to expand the boundaries of artistic expression.
Attendees can anticipate awe-inspiring spectacles of audiovisual alchemy, provocative debates on ethics and authorship, and a unique vantage point on technology’s power to reshape cultural landscapes. As Sónar+D 2025 boldly charts these new pathways, it invites creators, dreamers, and critical voices alike to explore, question, and celebrate the transformative potential of AI-driven innovation in the arts.