Digital Design Weekend Returns to V&A South Kensington with Linda Dounia as Lead Project
The V&A South Kensington will host Digital Design Weekend from September 18 to 20, 2026, offering a range of free installations, performances, workshops, and discussions. The highlight of this year’s event is Linda Dounia's Once Upon A Garden, which delves into the endangered plant species of the Sahel. Topics such as ecology, care, and responsibility will be featured, alongside projects like The Soil Sounds Back by Emily Stapleton-Jefferis and Microbial Feral Computing by Shinji Toya. Additionally, works focusing on interpersonal care include Dr. Paulina Yurman's Soothing Sounds and Deepa Mann-Kler's The Baby Factory is Closed. Nathan David Smith's Large Language Machine examines the concealed frameworks of AI. All activities are complimentary, with tickets required only for certain events.
Key facts
- Digital Design Weekend takes place at V&A South Kensington from 18 to 20 September 2026.
- The festival is free and no tickets are required unless otherwise specified.
- Linda Dounia's Once Upon A Garden is the lead project, presented as part of London Design Festival.
- The work is a speculative archive of critically endangered and extinct flora from the Sahel.
- Themes include ecology, care and responsibility, with projects like The Soil Sounds Back and Microbial Feral Computing.
- AI-focused works include Nathan David Smith's Large Language Machine and the Lumen Prize conversation The Age of Responsibility.
- Emerging practitioners from Goldsmiths University of London and the Royal College of Art showcase their work.
- Hands-on activities include algorithmic music with Nadezhda Khalid, live visuals with Mike Cook, and a fabric synthesiser with Lia Mice.
Entities
Artists
- Linda Dounia
- Emily Stapleton-Jefferis
- Shinji Toya
- Dr Paulina Yurman
- Maria Than
- Deepa Mann-Kler
- Nathan David Smith
- Nadezhda Khalid
- Mike Cook
- Lia Mice
- Jane Lee
Institutions
- V&A South Kensington
- London Design Festival
- Lumen Prize
- Goldsmiths University of London
- Royal College of Art
- Computer Arts Society
- Genetic Moo
Locations
- South Kensington
- London
- United Kingdom
- Sahel