22nd Pictoplasma Festival

The 22nd Pictoplasma Festival—worldwide a leading event in contemporary character culture—focuses this year on storytelling: How can characters shape emotion, identity, and meaning in stories?

In and Out of Character

22. Pictoplasma Conference

The central conference brings together artists, designers, animators, and creatives from around the world for a transdisciplinary exchange.  It builds bridges between illustration, animation, art, games, storytelling, brand worlds, and social media personas—and opens its stage to approaches that turn characters into independent agents.

In addition to talks and conversations, Pictoplasma offers space for more in-depth formats such as workshops, portfolio reviews, and networking events:

• 20+ featured lectures and artist talks exploring the edges of contemporary creative practice

• Vibrant discussion and networking spaces connecting creative and commercial contributors

• Daily workshops, jam sessions and demos inviting all attendees to get hands-on with new media

• Cutting-edge animation screenings diving deep into next-level world-building

This year’s artists include, among others, Christoph Niemann (DE), known for numerous covers for The New Yorker, museum exhibitions, and his large social media following; Karlotta Freier (US), with her distinctive, richly detailed illustrations for Hermès and Moomins; Jack Sachs (UK), known for surreal, color-intense 3D worlds; as well as Form Play (UK), whose minimalist characters oscillate between design and animation. Also featured is cartoonist Gemma Correll (UK/US), whose work addresses mental health themes with both openness and humor.

Thursday, May 7 – Saturday, May 9
Betonhalle, Kuppelhalle, Ateliers
daily 10am–10pm
Tickets