Thematic Group: Reimagining International Cultural Relations Through Futures Thinking

What could international cultural relations look like in the future, and what would make them more reciprocal, fair, and sustainable? In a world marked by multiple crises, geopolitical tensions, and persistent inequalities in access to funding and mobility, imagining new ways to work, exchange, and share across borders has become increasingly urgent. This workgroup builds on a set of future scenarios developed by cultural practitioners, researchers, and policymakers from Asia and Europe, that are part of ASEF LinkUp | Asia-Europe Cultural Diplomacy Lab 2026, organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in partnership with Motovila Institute. Walk through a Futures Gallery, challenge the scenarios with your own experiences, and reshape them together with peers from different contexts. It is a hands-on opportunity to try scenario-based futures thinking and bring it back into your own practice. Open to anyone working in international cultural cooperation; no prior experience with futures thinking is needed.

***

The working group is moderated by Dea Vidović.

Dea Vidović is a Senior Research Assistant in the Culture and Communication Department of the Institute for Development and International Relations (Zagreb, Croatia). She was Director of the Kultura Nova Foundation (2012-2024). She served as Chair of the Philea Arts & Culture Funders Forum (2022–2024) and as Vice-Chair of the ENCATC Board (2021–2023), and was a member of the Steering Committee of Global Cultural Relations (2022) and the Board of the İzmir Mediterranean Academy (2023–2024). Her research and professional work focus on the intersections of cultural development and infrastructure, cultural governance, management and leadership, and international cultural relations. She is particularly interested in justice, power, and reciprocity in culture, and how they shape cultural policies, actors, institutions, and practices.