TECH TALES

Premiere of the immersive exhibition for
and with children

Over the past two years, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has been working as part of a multidisciplinary consortium to adapt classic fairy tales for contemporary media and to present socially relevant topics such as identity, belonging, and diversity in a child-friendly way. The goal was to create a space for creativity, empathy, and a conscious approach to social challenges. As a project partner, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK contributed last year by providing design expertise and coordinating co-creation workshops at participating schools. In these workshops, the children themselves became designers and shared their perspectives on well-known stories through drawings, animations, and sounds.

In 2026, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK will host the premiere of an interactive exhibition showcasing the project’s findings to date. The exhibition is designed as an immersive experience for visitors of all ages, one that can be actively shaped through movement and with the help of drawings or sounds. The characters in the stories defy conventional social expectations and invite visitors to reflect on stereotypes, develop empathy, and view the world from different perspectives: What happens when Alen fulfills his dream of becoming a fashion designer? How does Verena, a girl with Down syndrome, escape bullying? And how can Fred the Frog and Princess Penelope become best friends even though they come from different worlds?

TECH TALES is a close collaboration among seven partners from six European countries: Institute for Transmedia Design (Slovenia), Art Rebel 9 (Slovenia), FLUX (Montenegro), Art Transparent (Poland), Grupa “Hajde da …” (Serbia), the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (Spain), and the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK as the Austrian partner. TECH TALES is co-funded by the EU program “Creative Europe (2021–2027)” and by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media, and Sports.