‘Art Is Not a Thing’ is the name of the second season of a series of podcasts about art as a practice of critical enquiry, knowledge production, and world-building.

Created at the end of 2023 as part of the EU Digital Deal project, the podcast - previously known as ‘The Digital Deal Podcast’ - investigates modern artistic work and invites artists, researchers, and professionals in areas such as media art, bio-art, sound art, digital activism, speculative design, or data storytelling to reflect, question, and reimagine the positioning and consequences of our actions as a global and digital community. This new venture is the result of a partnership between the Austrian organisation Ars Electronica and the Austrian radio station Radio Ö1.

In the premiere episode of the new season, host and journalist Hannah Balber talks to artist-researcher Sarah Ciston about her project ‘AI War Cloud Database’, recognised with the S+T+ARTS Prize in the field of artistic exploration. Entitled 'Webs of Artificial Intelligence: Connecting homes and battlefields', this first episode reflects on the increasing automation of war, caused by the links between the technology of everyday life and military infrastructures.

The podcast ‘Art Is Not a Thing’ is now available on the Ars Electronica website and on streaming platforms (Apple Podcast, Spotify, etc.).

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The European Digital Deal is a three-year project, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme and managed by a consortium coordinated by Ars Electronica, which includes Braga Media Arts, gnration, LABoral Centro de Arte, Onassis Stegi, Waag Futurelab, Fundación Zaragoza Ciudad del Conocimiento, Centar za promociju nauke, Pro Progressione, Kulturværftet, iMAL Brussels and Kersnikova Institute. From January 2023 to December 2025, the 13 European organisations intend to develop an action plan on how the technological innovation of the future can benefit everyone.