Intro to Creative Technology and Spiritual Computing

This talk is for the creatively curious—no coding, art, or tech experience required. Together, we’ll explore what it means to be a creative technologist by hacking together ideas with whatever tools you have (or don’t have), embracing constraints, and shaping a personal practice that reflects your values, interests, and lived experience.

Olivia Ema will introduce the concept of spiritual computing—an approach where technology, storytelling, and spirituality intersect to evoke emotion, belonging, and connection. Drawing on her own journey navigating the creative industry as a technologist, she’ll share how digital tools like TouchDesigner have helped her reimagine spaces like Ministry of Sound, bridging commercial projects and experimental artistic practice.

The session includes a presentation of Olivia's past work, an overview of creative workflows that support ideation and problem-solving, and a space for reflection and discussion. Whether you identify as a thinker, maker, or both, you’ll be invited to explore your own relationship with technology and imagine new ways it can support a more intuitive, connected, and authentic creative practice.

Ideal for those feeling unsure, underrepresented, or disconnected from existing networks in the creative tech space, this talk offers inspiration and practical insight into navigating—and redefining—the field on your own terms.

Olivia Ema

Olivia is a creative technologist, digital artist and educator working at the intersection of emerging tech, wellness and culture. Her work is rooted in multi-sensory experiences, using real-time reactive technologies to shape spaces, inviting audiences to surrender to the moment, connect more deeply with themselves and one another. With both her understanding of the technical aspects of projects and the creative visioning, she connects teams of varying disciplines together encouraging collaboration and pushes the boundaries of what’s possible using creative technology.