Culture Codes Democracy draws on the experience of some of Europe’s leading cultural organisations to advocate for the role of artistic and cultural critique in reimagining the ways in which society produces and is produced by new technologies.

Emphasising the importance of cultural infrastructures in navigating emerging societal and political landscapes shaped by AI, the publication presents contributions the sector already makes towards more considerate approaches to technological innovation and brings forth a future vision of how the sector can become a key actor shaping Europe’s path towards digital sovereignty.

The three sections - Mediated Realities, Speculative Governance, and Hybrid Entities - use concrete examples of artistic and cultural research and practice to reveal the sometimes-invisible technological threads that weave the fabric of the democratic process. The goal is to make the case for art’s essential contribution to shaping policies and innovation models, thus rewriting the technological inscriptions left on modern democracies for the better.