A MAZE. / Berlin 2026: Full Schedule

Welcome to the A MAZE. / Berlin 2026 program! Add sessions to your profile to get an easy overview of your own schedule!

Program is regularly updated with new sessions.

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10:00 CEST

Coffee & Croissants with*

Friday May 15, 2026 10:00 - 10:30 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

Start your day off right and join Zuraida (A MAZE. program curator) plus guest for Coffee and Croissants! While you sit back, blissfully nomming away your breakfast (byob)*, she’ll fill you in on the latest news about the festival program and highlight the day’s speakers and panel discussions.

*Bring your Own Breakfast

Artists

Zuraida Buter

program curator, A MAZE.

Friday May 15, 2026 10:00 - 10:30 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Conversations

10:30 CEST

Why Computer Games are Puppet Shows

Friday May 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:00 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

Puppet shows are one of the oldest forms of entertainment and computer games are among the newest, but they have much in common!

Running a puppet show? Put up a booth and ready your puppets, your props and your backcloths. You have a story in mind, maybe even a script, and you play it. Making any kind of game with characters? Make your character assets, your props, your backgrounds. You’ve created a world. There may be narrative and pieces of script, but you set the player off with their puppet and tell them: have fun with it.

If you ever play with your toys and send them on adventures you’re playing a game and you’re giving yourself a puppet show. (And if you never send toys on adventures, you’re missing a treat!)

Content warning
A brief mention of mortality, but nothing grizzly or shocking.

Artists

Ben Swithen (she/they)

Ben Swithen is a writer, music-maker and indie game developer who made the game ‘Buy Hyacinths’ (about one of the first sheep to go to a human university) and ‘Trans Theft Horso’ (about gender gladness in the feverish west). They do work for Geeks for Social Change, and in... Read More →

Friday May 15, 2026 10:30 - 11:00 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Talk

11:00 CEST

Aspirational Imperfections - why we care about making digital worlds you can touch

Friday May 15, 2026 11:00 - 12:00 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

This panel will assemble game developers crafting digital games with art made from physical objects. In a medium so centered on technological developments and frame rates, what exactly is the value in making so many small detailed physical objects? How do we handle these handmade objects once they are in these digital worlds? This panel will explore both the logistics and the love of this method of game creation.

Artists

Antonio Kos Pinheiro de Andrade (he/him)

Hapshapen Games

Antonio grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For a while he worked as a full-stack software engineer, then he moved to Brooklyn and started making games. He enjoys horror movies, crossword puzzles and staring wistfully into the ocean. Currently working on Abigail at hapshapen games... Read More →

Biagi (he/him)

Hapshapen Games

Whether he’s building narrative adventures, party games, or systems-driven experiments, Biagi’s work explores the peculiarities of human existence—with humor, with play, and with deep love for the weird little bonds that form when we interact.

Ilena Pegan (they/them)

martianwho studios & Godot Foundation

Ilena is a making a handcrafted solarpunk elder bricklayer game about repairing community. During the day, they work with Godot as a Project Manager.

Isabelle Smith (she/her)

hapshapen games

Isabelle Smith is a game developer and writer who makes digital games you can reach out and touch. Her work in digital games has been nominated for awards by IGF, A MAZE., and the Student BAFTAs. She had seven wisdom teeth but they’re not in her mouth anymore.

Jack King-Spooner (he/him)

Makes things. Had to fill this form out twice.

Lukáš Kunce (he/him)

Lukáš has been passionate about games all his life. After a few years of games journalism and agency jobs, he joined Amanita Design in 2017 to help the studio with all marketing-related work, communication and production.

Onat Hekimoglu (tbc)

Friday May 15, 2026 11:00 - 12:00 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Conversations

12:00 CEST

Your Body Is the Controller: Designing Physical Play through How To Pet Your Cat and InSync XR

Friday May 15, 2026 12:00 - 12:30 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

Most controllers are designed to disappear. These ones are designed to be touched, watched, and cared for.
In this talk, Quinn Liu reflects on the making of How To Pet Your Cat and InSync XR — two physical-digital works that turn interaction into a tactile encounter between body and object. A giant plush cat becomes public comedy and a social magnet. A responsive animatronic creature in XR becomes something quieter: a presence that notices how you move, and asks to be approached with care. Across these projects, the talk explores how material, sensors, sound, feedback, and movement shape the way we read — and come to trust — machines that feel almost alive.

Artists

Quinn "Qingyun" Liu (she/her)

Quinn "Qingyun" Liu is a Los Angeles-based creative technologist and interaction designer working between games, XR, and physical installation. Her work explores physical interfaces that feel alive, rethinking our relationship with machines through touch-based play and soft responsive... Read More →

Friday May 15, 2026 12:00 - 12:30 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Talk

12:30 CEST

Kuppelhalle Stage - BREAK - (12:30 - 14:00)

Friday May 15, 2026 12:30 - 14:00 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

Enjoy the sun, play some games, eat some food, catch up with other people! See you after the break!

Friday May 15, 2026 12:30 - 14:00 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

14:00 CEST

CLIPPED HORIZON

Friday May 15, 2026 14:00 - 14:45 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

This talk explores Alice Bucknell’s work through the lens of clipping: the moment in a video game when the player slips through a wall or falls beyond the map. Often treated as a technical error, clipping becomes a method for breaking open systems and exposing their ecological, political, and epistemic structures. Across video games such as The Alluvials (2024), Small Void (2025), Nihghtcrawlers (2025), and Earth Engine (2026), Bucknell uses gamespace as a site for speculative experimentation, blurring boundaries between human and nonhuman, natural and synthetic intelligence, self and world. In this framework, play offers an affective encounter with the world that’s grounded in total feeling rather than totalized knowledge.

Artists

Alice Bucknell (they/them)

Alice Bucknell is an artist, writer and educator based in Los Angeles. Their work explores the aﬀective dimensions of video games as interfaces for understanding complex systems, relationships, and forms of knowledge. Bucknell is interested in the ecological dimensions of play as... Read More →

Friday May 15, 2026 14:00 - 14:45 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Talk

15:00 CEST

Hyper Talks

Friday May 15, 2026 15:00 - 16:00 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

The Hyper Talks are 5 minute knowledge-injections. Several speakers will talk about projects, experiences, failures and sources of inspiration in their work. The Hyper Talks are a platform for both established artists as well as upcoming talents: some of the past hyper speakers ended up being winners of the A MAZE. Awards. The session is curated and hosted by Marina Díez & Leonie Wolf.

Live in Kuppelhalle, streamed in the Betonhalle stage once capacity is full.

Speakers:
Mr Hands
Giovanni Rubino
Tanat Boozayaangool
Fawzi Mesmar
Angeli Fernando
Ludipe
Rocío Tomé
Gwen Foster
Liz Alfos
Alistair Aitcheson

Artists

Leonie (she/her)

Leonie is a Berlin-based project and event manager for Indie Arena Booth at Super Crowd. She has extensive experience in the games industry, working as a Technical Animator and Associate Art Director in game development for many years. She has worked as both a freelancer and in-house... Read More →

Marina Díez

Friday May 15, 2026 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Conversations

20:00 CEST

A MAZE. Award Show

Friday May 15, 2026 20:00 - 21:45 CEST

Kuppelhalle [Silent Green]

IT IS SHOWTIME AND WE ARE EXCITED TO HIGHLIGHT THE NEW WAVE OF GAME & PLAYFUL MEDIA CREATORS

With 435 submissions from 78 countries, the 15th international A MAZE. Awards received more entries from more locations than ever before competing for 7 awards and the Audience Award. The Award Show presents the 33 nominations covering innovative performances, digital poems, wild and cultural experiences, personal stories as well as stunning game worlds and works of interactive media art.

Awards: Most Amazing Award | Human Human Machine Award | Long Feature Award | Digital Moment Award | Explorer Award | WINGS Award (presented by WINGS) | XR-History Award (presented by Körber-Stiftung) | Audience Award

👉 See all Nominees and their categories

In this years colorful and wild show, moderator Tim Rogers will be joined by Sarah Bashir from the Audience Stage at Betonhalle. A performance by Gelbart will give a taste of the afterparty to come and the final jury consisting of Anan Fries, Antonin Fourneau, Farfama, Meghna Jayanth and last year's winner Julián Cordero will finally reveal the winners.

MAIN STAGE AT KUPPELHALLE
Doors will open at 19:30. Pre-Show from Audience Stage will be streamed. Seats at groundfloor only available for Nominees (for everyone else there is also the top floor balcony and spots for standing - great to dance though!).

AUDIENCE STAGE AT BETONHALLE
Pre-Show starts at 19:30. If you want to take part in the 15years A MAZE. raffle or the interactive Audience Award part - this is the place to be! Award Show from the Main Stage will be streamed.

Artists

Anan Fries (they/them)

Anan Fries (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher who works at the intersection of digital and performing arts. They create performances, installations, and video works influenced by Posthuman and Xenofeminist discourse. Their works explore themes of transformation... Read More →

Antonin Fourneau (he/him)

Antonin Fourneau (he/him) is a French artist and creator exploring the playful side of technology. Blending light, sound, and DIY culture, he designs interactive installations that function like open playgrounds, inviting audiences to touch, shout, draw, and experiment. His work transforms... Read More →

Farfama (he/they)

Farfama

Farfama (he/they) is an artist, games curator, and experimental game creator currently based in Japan. His work explores themes of awe, wonder, and playful joy, drawing inspiration from nature, ritual, and everyday observation. He helps run GÆMZ Tokyo, a monthly experimental games... Read More →

GELBART

Ever since landing in Berlin’s electronic scene in 2005, Gelbart has earned a reputation as one of the city’s most innovative musicians. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, composer, filmmaker, and author, his work exists at the intersection of the surreal and the visceral, blending... Read More →

Julián Cordero (he/him)

Julián Cordero (he/him) is a game developer from Quito, Ecuador, now based in New York City. His latest project, despelote, is a slice-of-life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of Quito in 2001. He’s passionate about finding new ways to... Read More →

Meghna Jayanth (she/her)

Meghna Jayanth (she/her) designs worlds which explore fantasies and pleasures counter to capitalism-colonialism. Her work critiques contemporary technopolitics and excavates video games’ potential as sites of radical and liberatory re-imagination. Her work includes IGF winner 80... Read More →

Sarah Bashir (she/her)

Sarah Bashir is a games scholar, focusing on game production studies, the history of digital and interactive media and the interrelation of games, art and culture. She initiated and currently leads Circuit Lab, a game studies lab situated at the Department of Media and Communication... Read More →

Tim Rogers (he/him)

Tim has worked in most aspects of video game development and criticism for two decades. Since 2007 he has owned Action Button, a design consulting agency and game development studio which since 2020 also produces video essays on YouTube. He currently lives in Manhattan, New York... Read More →

Friday May 15, 2026 20:00 - 21:45 CEST
Kuppelhalle [Silent Green] Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin, Germany

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