LONDON.- This September, Creative Intelligence takes over the Southbank Centre for a weekend-long festival exploring the future of technology and creativity.

Over three days (11-13 September), the Southbank Centre will become a playground for creative technologies, exploring how human agency and imagination interact and intertwine with technology and innovation. The festival programme encompasses art, performance, live gigs, demos, and debate, with space for play and experimentation alongside learning and discussion. The offer ranges from hands-on activities for curious newcomers, to in-depth, specialist talks tailored for creatives and industry experts. Inspired by the spirit of innovation which powered the Festival of Britain in 1951, Creative Intelligence explores how art and technologies, including AI, are combining to shape the future. This is the first edition of an ambitious annual festival that will host debate, play, art, and technology. Creative Intelligence is commissioned and produced by the Southbank Centre and is curated with PACT (Planetary Art Culture Technology).

Running across the entire weekend, Peckham Digital – an annual, community-led festival and creative technology organisation in south-east London – will take over the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer to showcase London’s grassroots creative computing communities. Through a vibrant, three-day lineup of collaborative workshops, interactive drop-in sessions, and peer-learning activations, the takeover offers accessible pathways for anyone curious about art and technology.

This weekend also includes a Creative Summit (Friday 11 September), designed for the artists, writers, designers and engineers working at the intersection of art, creativity and technology. This summit is an opportunity to ask big questions and to explore what we know, what we want to know, and how to make sense of it all. Through talks, panel discussions and performances, the programme will showcase the ideas and people at the forefront of this ever-evolving field – with expertise covering everything from beauty and quantum computing to venture capital for art, film, and music.

After the discussions, attendees are invited to an evening listening session with pioneering artist Holly Herndon. A trailblazer at the frontier of music and AI, Herndon’s decade-long practice explores the idea that training an AI model is a profound act of creativity. Rather than just using AI to generate final tracks, Herndon and collaborator Mat Dryhurst meticulously compose their own training material and shape their own datasets, treating every step of the process as a form of authorship. Audiences will hear complete pieces alongside the raw source material, offering an insight into Herndon’s unique practice.

Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, said: ‘Creative Intelligence captures the very essence of what the Southbank Centre aims to be in our 75th anniversary year: a democratic space where radical ideas and new technologies meet. Just as the 1951 Festival of Britain used science, design and new technologies to imagine a brighter future, this event is for both the curious and the creative, bringing the public, technologists and creatives together to explore the future. We’re thrilled to partner with PACT to turn our site into a creative playground, leaping into the world-changing possibilities of the next 75 years.’

Keri Elmsly, PACT, said: ‘As a global capital city, it is time for London to have a major annual festival and platform for future-facing artistic, cultural, and creative practices that drive and challenge technology - where human agency, embodiment, and process are center stage. Southbank Centre was born of 'art for all' and built as a site of optimism and invention. Creative Intelligence is an experimental three-day takeover and public prototype for arts and technology where everyone is invited.’

Also part of Creative Intelligence weekend is Playing with Fire: Yuja Wang (9 September 2026 - 3 January 2027). Playing with Fire: Yuja Wang is a multisensory, mixed-reality concert charting the world-renowned pianist’s artistic journey and featuring a digital avatar of Wang performing within an immersive environment. Playing With Fire: Yuja Wang is produced by VIVE Arts and Atlas V, in collaboration with production partner Lightroom, and is supported by Steinway & Sons, the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée) and Pictanovo.

Creative Intelligence weekend joins a landmark 2026 season at the Southbank Centre. Channelling the founding spirit of the 1951 Festival of Britain, a moment of national renewal and optimistic energy, the 75th anniversary season also includes Harry Styles’ Meltdown (11 - 21 June), London Literature Festival (21 October - 1 November) curated by Dua Lipa, Goalhanger: The Rest Is Fest (4 - 6 September) and Anish Kapoor returning to the Hayward Gallery (16 June - 18 October). The Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary also includes a national programme of art, literature and music – aiming to reach one million people in over 40 towns and cities across all four nations of the UK.