Creative Technology and Transformative Storytelling Symposium 2026 (CT&TSS ‘26)

Presented by

Centre for Transformative Media Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Virtual Creative Design Research Centre, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand/Aotearoa

In collaboration with

Swinburne Documentary Research Group, Swinburne University of Technology

Diversifying and Decentralising Creative Practice Research Group, Journal of Media Practice and Education (JMPE)

International Journal of Creative Media Research (IJCMR)

The theme for the 2nd edition of the CT&TSS is Embodied AI. 

In the wake of the waning industrial momentum behind the Metaverse, embodied AI marks a shift from speculative, totalising virtual worlds toward situated, task-oriented intelligence, embedded within existing media ecologies. Rather than pursuing platform enclosure and immersive universality, current state-of-the-art systems—such as multimodal robotics, vision-language-action models, and real-time generative pipelines—demonstrate a maturing integration of AI within production workflows (e.g. virtual production, XR, automated robotics). Simultaneously one can observe a proliferation of GenAI film festivals and the integration into storytelling workflows and production processes.

View the full CT&TSS 2026 program.

Dates

19 November 2026 | Symposium
Melbourne time: 9.00am–5.00pm | Hybrid (online and in-person)

20 November 2026 | Showcase
Melbourne time: 10.00am–12.00pm | In-person only
Artists/Creatives Round Table: 1.00pm–2.00pm | MINA Screening at ACMI: Evening

Registrations close 5pm, Tuesday 10 November 2026


Locations

Melbourne (AUS): EN106 (Centre for Transformative Media Technologies), Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn
Auckland (NZ): WG405 (the Case Room), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland

Symposium Leads

A/Prof. Max Schleser – Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Prof. John McCormick – Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
A/Prof. Dafydd Sill -Jones – AUT University, New Zealand/Aotearoa
Mr Gregory Bennett, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand/Aotearoa