The JKU was one of 86 Ars Electronica “Gardens”, featuring installations, concerts and more, focusing on engaging with people, technology, and the future of both. Over 15,000 came to the JKU and the program included engaging with artificial intelligence by submitting to a ‘trust test’ and bacterial that could create fashion. How can we "fix" the digital world, meaning deal with problems but still prevent increasingly visible advances of a power-political crackdown? What kinds of skills and expertise do we need, where and how will we be able to acquire these skills, and where and how will we educate the experts we will need? What are our roles in all of this? Artists, educators and the audience addressed these questions and more while asking themselves, “ … what does a "A New Digital Deal" mean to me…?”.

The JKU Festival Center on campus brought all this and more to life as the Kepler Hall, the Learning Center, and at the Circus of Knowledge served as platforms and stages where art and sciences could be fused with technology.