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xCoAx 2025 took place at V&A Dundee and venues across the city over three days in July
A major international conference exploring the intersection of art, technology, and culture returned to Scotland for the first time in a decade, with Abertay University playing a leading role in organising the globally-recognised event.
The 13th edition of the Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (known as xCoAx), was held from Wednesday 9 to Friday 11 July - bringing artists, researchers, computer scientists, and media practitioners from around the world to Dundee, Scotland’s UNESCO City of Design.
Hosted at V&A Dundee and a series of venues across the city, including Water’s Edge and Beat Generator, the three-day event featured nearly 100 contributors, and offered a vibrant programme of talks, exhibitions and live performances showcasing ground-breaking work at the cutting edge of digital creativity.
Highlights from the programme included keynote addresses by Professor Rebecca Fiebrink (University of the Arts London) and pioneering media artist Shu Lea Cheang, alongside a series of bold, experimental performances that blended sound, movement, and technology in unexpected and innovative ways.
In its exhibition programme, the conference showcased thought-provoking installations and interactive works that explored how digital tools are shaping everything from creative expression and identity to data, ethics, and the way we interact with the world around us.
A new addition to the programme this year was the Experimental Media Lab, developed in collaboration with the CoSTAR RealTime Lab, which gave media artists access to the state-of-the-art virtual production (VP) facilities at Water's Edge in Dundee
Led in part by CoSTAR researchers from Abertay University and the University of Edinburgh, the Experimental Media Lab explored creative uses of virtual production and motion capture technologies ahead of the conference, culminating in a public presentation on opening day.
On Thursday 10 July, Professor James Bown, Dean of Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business at Abertay University, welcomed delegates to the conference ahead of the day’s keynote address.
Professor Bown said:
It has been a pleasure to welcome the xCoAx community to Dundee. The conference reflects Abertay’s ongoing commitment to innovation at the intersection of art, technology and society, and it’s fantastic to see the city buzzing with ideas, creativity and new collaborations.
Dr Jung In Jung, Lecturer in Creative Computing at Abertay University and a member of the xCoAx 2025 local organising committee, said:
It was a real honour to bring xCoAx back to Scotland and to welcome such a diverse and inspiring group of thinkers and creators to our city. Hosting the conference was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Abertay’s role in shaping the future of creative technology. The energy across the three days was incredible, and it was exciting to see new conversations and collaborations sparked right here in Dundee.
The organising committee also included Dr Martin Zeilinger, Ecem Ince, and Shaun Gilchrist from Abertay University; Dr Johanna Linsley from the University of Dundee; Dr Deniz Johns from Lancaster University; and Louis McHugh from the University of Edinburgh, whose hard work and dedication helped make the event a success.
