Head of Open Austria Art + Tech Lab, San Francisco
Clara Blume started her career as a singer and songwriter, performing across the world. Today she is head of Open Austria’s Art + Tech Lab in Silicon Valley, a wing of the Austrian consulate in San Francisco which launched in October last year to explore the interplay of human creativity and artificial intelligence. The lab works with European and US policy makers to advocate for digital humanism – which for Open Austria means ensuring that artists are given a voice in shaping the new technologies that increasingly define the ways in which we lead our lives. In her role Blume curates, commissions and promotes a range of initiatives, such as the art, tech and policy non-profit The Grid (Art Powers Technology). In September 2020 she launched The Grid: Exposure – Art + Tech + Policy Days, a new annual festival and expo in San Francisco that brings together artists and technologists with policy-makers.