Often I wonder and then I read why Smiths take time and all to come and return to Schmiede.

Thank you <3 for this annual moment.  I cannot not share it.

In my fav recorded interview about 12 years ago I said: we touch people.
I guess that sums it up, but too simple at the same time. find below a more diverse look.

here are the unfiltered answers:
pic by Maria Contreras  of Maria Nalbantova @Schmiede24 Werkschau

Question: Why do you want to participate at Schmiede?

Vermehrt Schönes! Wiedersehen, an einem angefangenen Projekt weiterarbeiten, Neue Leute und Ideen

Because it is my 20th anniversary

I want to meet the community again and use the time to get into Strudel.CC

I want to collaborate on interesting projects and meet nice people

Schmiede’s focus on collaborative making and experimentation is very appealing to me. Many of my projects are systems rather than finished objects, and they benefit from being tested and developed in a community of people working across disciplines.

I am interested in the conversations that emerge when artists, engineers, and designers prototype together. Schmiede seems like a place where ideas evolve quickly through shared experimentation and unexpected collaboration.

To integrate with a performative aspect my PhD research that I am developing in a cross experience with FH Salzburg

Always a great space to experiment, learn new things and meet likeminded people

What draws me to Schmiede is its experimental and research-driven approach, as well as its strong connection between theory, artistic practice, and spatial realization. I am specifically looking for an environment that fosters exchange, critical reflection, and collaboration within an artistic research context.

While university settings provide a foundation for dialogue, I have often found it challenging to connect with people who share my specific interests, as my work tends to move beyond the core focus of my study program. To follow my own path to exhibition design and scenography instead of classical retail design I sort of had to fight my own way through this bureaucratic institution. Schmiede offers a unique opportunity to engage with practitioners from diverse artistic fields, which I see as highly enriching especially as preparation for my upcoming Master’s studies. I am particularly motivated by working within defined temporal and conceptual frameworks, as they often enhance my creative process. I expect Schmiede to provide exactly this kind of focused yet open structure.

I bring strong spatial thinking, conceptual clarity, and interdisciplinary experience, along with a deep interest in light, narration, and perceptual processes. I see Schmiede as a space for deepening my practice where I can consolidate my previous work, expand it, and position it within a broader critical and discursive context.

To find new ways to create Art

After I participated for the first time last year, I really want to enjoy this creative timeout this year again.

Also I want to reconnect to all this amazing people I got to know last year

Weils die heiligsten 10 Tage des Jahres sind und ich weiss, dass wenn das Leben immer so wäre, würde ich verrückt werden… aber für diese Zeit ist das kollaborieren und schwadronieren und prominieren und all das einfach wunderbar und bereichernd.

Because it’s cool, fun, and I get to see friends. And we get to do stuff together. We are also willing to set up an animation lab with fellow animators.

Collaborative environments with interesting people new and old. Inspirations and productions and conversations

Lab Leader Wrestling Lab

i like the vibe

best place to be

I want to participate in Schmiede because i want to wider my knowledge from different fields of work. Meet people who work with multi-disciplinary arts and get inspired.

To LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE.

Seriously: to enjoy laughs, inspiration and friendship on a cellular level. <3 Schmiede is where I can do that; it’s like a gigantic supportive family. Schmiede happens right after my exams, too, so hopefully I’ll be decompressing and chilling.

I want to participate in Schmiede because I am highly motivated to dedicate an entire week to focused project work. I am eager to meet new people and gain insight into their diverse working methods. I look forward to exploring a wide range of different topics. Furthermore, I value the sense of community and I am particularly drawn to the opportunity to engage with experimental projects.

I would like to learn something new and exchange about different ideas.

I seek cooperation and connection with other creative people, as diverse as possible, so from all kinds of backgrounds, because this kind of cooperation and collaboration is what inspires me the most

Working on creative projects, meeting all the other Smiths, collaborating and exchanging knowledge, enjoying the space and the company of the others

to Hugo friends in times of wars

To see extended chosen family and do awesome shit

Meet all the nice Schmiede People again and try to finish the projects left behind

because this is the best gathering of amazing people I know. don’t ever want to miss it.

to work there 🙂

I would like to realize an immersive installation that enables my daughter and me to generate sound while exploring space through movement, interaction, and presence. The project envisions a poetic environment in which acoustic textures, resonance, and spatial perception emerge through playful discovery and shared experience.
At its core, the installation is conceived as an intimate dialogue between body, sound, and environment — a living landscape of vibration and atmosphere that invites both participation and contemplation. Through tactile interaction and experimental sonic elements, the work seeks to transform space into an instrument of encounter, curiosity, and emotional connection across generations.

schmiede

projects

Because the people there are nearly as nuts as everybody else.

Because I am a Fan.

Honestly, I was invited by a collaborator I trust who has been there before and said it was the right place to continue working on our project together…

i work there

es ist einfach großartig dort!!

create art and connect with people, exhibit my work

to have a good time and explore possibilities

Because I love Schmiede.

I forgot

Run my lab, workout our Horizon bid, and this year have time to do other things outside my own stuff…

Austausch mit anderen und auch meine Talente teilen, da ich sehr vielseitig bin. Meinem Künstlerischen Wesen zu mehr Volumen verhelfen.

Its very good

pers. Interesse an Austausch, Ideen und Umsetzung – und: ein pers. Gespräch mit Rüdiger, der mich motiviert: “mach halt mit!”…

Because i find it the right place to let my creativity flow and meet other creative people…

Because i find it the right place to let my creativity flow and meet other creative people…

Im interested in what is happening there and want to take a look, potentially meet people to work with

The possibilities, and the fun of it.

meet everybody

meet friends

Exchange and do pottery

Work

To learn something new and have fun

I like to learn interactive visuals (with processing etc.)

Jamisland

I want to work on a creative project with my friends, getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things

I plan to connect with more artists and expand my artistic horizons by exchanging and participating in workshops offered at Schmiede.

To have 10 days working on a new project

I want smell the Schmiedexperience before life gets complicated (Schulpflicht)

I want to get together with other artists, network, exchange ideas and ideally learn new things and get inspired by likeminded people

I visited last year and it was a lot of fun

Long answer:
I want to participate at Schmiede because it feels like a live version of the problem I study in my PhD! The problem I research is how do strangers, spaces and unfinished ideas start to work together?

In my research, I ask, “when people enter an immersive experience space, how do they learn what to do together?” In public immersive spaces, someone might for instructions, or copies the most confident person, while others become spectators. I am interested in that moment before cooperation happens and when /how play beings.

This is why the X-Reality Lab feels relevant to me. Projection-based XR, spatial sound, Unreal workflows, mozXR and immersive interaction all connect directly to the system I am building in my PhD. My current development already uses Unreal Engine 5, TouchDesigner, depth sensing, OSC streams and GenAI cue.

To be clear, I am not trying to make a GenAI that controls the experience. I am interested in a GenAI layer that proposes audiovisual spatial cues that people can collectively notice, interpret and negotiate, so as to facilitate play.

Lastly, Schmiede matters to me because it is a community of practice! I would bring industry experience from video games and XR production. I would also come as a researcher open to what the making process reveals. I want to build, test, discuss, document and learn with a community where cooperation shines.

—

to see what’s in Rüdiger’s trash bin today

We are bringing a strong and flexible project and are looking to expand it artistically and conceptually…

I’ve heard such good things! Mainly I would just like to get to know the space and the people and hopefully make a fun project.

Last year, I was very focused on finishing an art piece (Hegemony Eroding) for the Werkschau. This year I want to float around more and get involved into several projects with other people.

I get inspired by so many curious and smart people around and want to shift gears for those 10 days.

Because it is an amazing festival, a very inspiring environment and a good opportunity to perform a workshop / co-design session with inspiring artists and hackers

Because we want to be part of it again and because of all the lovely people.

I heard about Schmiede through friends and through an introduction event at the Semmelweisklinik…

I find it a very good place to work for myself and learn from others.

Schmiede brings together people from very different fields and the exchange of ideas, imagination, and mutual support is what makes it special. I’d like to be part of it again.

I heard about it through the subnet community and it sounds like the perfect environment for developing my current projects…

My regular job orbits art but never fully touches it, i would like to make dedicated time for working on art stuff. I find Schmiede perfect for that.

Because two years ago a new world opened up for me…

David Fisselthaler

because it´s fun (and because I promised to take care of the WeAreWall 2026)

work on new projects, network, sound, performance lab

I’ve been at Schmiede a few times. From the first day I arrived there I felt at home straight away…

because is fun

Collaboration & learning New Stuff

prototyping my new artwork, networking, good time

Participating since 2018, Schmiede, with its possibilities and encounters, has become a vital part of my yearly schedule and artistic practice that I’m looking forward to.

I love being creative in communities…

I want to participate in Schmiede because it is an incredible source of inspiration…

I want to participate in Schmiede because it is a unique opportunity to meet inspiring people…

gorke

why not??

Creating Art and to meet new people

there is nothing better than schmiede

For me, the workshop offers a unique opportunity to let my visions and ideas flow within a free yet clear framework…

Xxxx

genJAM

LOVED IT LAST YEAR! + want to develop my toolkit, connect, and have focussed worktime to build something awesome

Fashion lab

because i like the vibe and there is much to learn

I want to create with other Smiths, experience and deepen the connections I made at last year’s Schmiede, and create new ones. I want to be inspired and inspire!

ja weil inspiration halt – I mean, all die gemeinsamen hirnfürze happening

I actually came to Schmiede very briefly – for a few hours…

finally rejoin the smith community :))

I’m a strong proponent of collective, messy, non-formal processes…

it was cool last time

I’ve never done anything like this before and haven’t visited Austria either.

I met numerous very nice and cool people at Schmiede that tend to return to Schmiede regularly…

I love the community. The vibe, that my mind gets blown a bit 🙂

i want to come back with my family to meet new and old friends…

Viele meiner bisherigen Projekte sind aus Kollaborationen entstanden…

One of the most influential periods of my life was when i basically lived at a flatshare full of scientists and artists and philosophers…

I would love to explore the topics of AI, water, social connection and immigration…

After a long break, I returned to the Schmiede last year…

want to see my family again!

LabLeader Staging Realities at X-Reality-Lab @ Schmiede26

mozXR

As part of the X-Reality-Lab Cooperation

I want to participate in Schmiede because this project needs an experimental environment that welcomes wild, speculative ideas…

I’m coming in through summer sessions 🙂

Lab Team MozXR

It’s an extremely cool and intense event for artistic collaboration…

As part of the Ars Electronica Futurelab Team holding the MozXR workshop (X-Reality-Lab)

I am part of the x-reality Lab team

and as it does not go without AI these years I had to ask. all anonymous, no worries.

The most honest summary of what these answers reveal: Schmiede has succeeded so well at building a creative community that for many participants, the reason to come has shifted from “make something” to “be somewhere.” The making still happens — but it happens inside a social container that people have come to need.

What stands out, and how it maps to what Schmiede actually is:

The “chosen family” thing is real, not marketing

Schmiede describes itself as a place with “no teachers, just around 250 people, experts and students in their professions” — what matters is not who you are but what you want. That philosophy shows up vividly in the answers. The people writing “weils die heiligsten 10 Tage des Jahres sind” or “best gathering of amazing people I know” aren’t being hyperbolic — they’ve internalized that ethos completely. The community has genuinely become the product.

The tension between “work festival” and “social gathering”

Schmiede positions itself explicitly as a work-in-progress festival — “while other festivals focus on finished works, we concentrate on the artist, the act of creation, networking and collaboration.” And yet a striking number of answers are almost entirely social: “meet friends,” “see extended chosen family,” “I forgot.” This isn’t a failure — it’s actually what happens when a creative community matures over 20+ years. The work and the relationships become inseparable.

The venue does psychological work

It takes place in a former salt refinery on the Pernerinsel, and the somewhat isolated location allows participants to focus without distraction. Several answers reference this without naming it — the “escape,” the intensity, the feeling of being suspended outside normal life. The PhD researcher studying how strangers learn to cooperate in immersive spaces picked exactly the right venue to test their ideas.

I think the most striking thing is that very few people primarily come for technology, workshops, infrastructure, or even specific projects.

They come for people.

After reading through the responses, I’d cluster the motivations roughly like this:

1. Community is the core

The strongest recurring words are:

• friends
• family
• community
• people
• chosen family
• reconnect
• meet again
• come back
• belonging

Examples:

“To see extended chosen family”

“It’s like a gigantic supportive family”

“Want to see my family again”

“Meet all the nice Schmiede people again”

“I felt at home from the first day”

“There is nothing better than Schmiede”

This is not typical festival language.

People are describing a temporary home.

2. Schmiede is perceived as a rare social environment

Many responses are variations of:

“I can’t find these people elsewhere.”

Examples:

“likeminded people”

“people from diverse backgrounds”

“interesting people”

“crazy serious beautiful people”

“scientists, artists and philosophers”

“multidisciplinary arts”

People are not looking for a conference.

They’re looking for a rare concentration of curious humans.

3. Inspiration matters more than outcomes

Many people don’t mention a project.

Instead:

inspiration

creative flow

possibilities

exchange

atmosphere

vibe

curiosity

see what happens

That is remarkable.

A lot of cultural funding language assumes people attend to produce outputs.

Participants describe attending to enter a state.

4. Schmiede is a temporary alternative reality

A recurring pattern:

“10 days”

“creative timeout”

“decompress”

“focus”

“escape”

“holy days”

Examples:

“the holiest 10 days of the year”

“creative timeout”

“10 uninterrupted days”

“shift gears for those 10 days”

People describe Schmiede almost like:

• residency
• retreat
• pilgrimage
• summer camp
• temporary autonomous zone

rather than a workshop.

5. Collaboration is more important than networking

Interesting distinction.

Almost nobody says:

networking

Many say:

collaborate

make together

exchange

build together

cooperate

That’s very different.

Networking is transactional.

Collaboration is relational.

6. Failure is accepted

Many responses imply:

experimentation

trying things

uncertainty

unfinished ideas

wild concepts

People are attracted by:

permission to not know

That is actually a rare cultural asset.

7. The strongest emotional words

Recurring emotional vocabulary:

• inspiration
• fun
• friendship
• love
• family
• home
• curiosity
• possibility
• energy
• connection
• freedom

Almost nobody says:

• career
• success
• visibility
• audience
• market
• competition

Which is unusual.

If I had to summarize Schmiede in one sentence based solely on participant responses:

Schmiede is a temporary community of curious people who come together for ten days to experiment, collaborate, reconnect, and remember how creative life can feel when it is not organized around efficiency.