Mária Virčíková is a cyberneticist and innovator fascinated by a single question: how to design an interface so natural that people stop noticing it altogether. She studied artificial intelligence and conducted research on human–robot interaction in Europe, Japan, and the USA. Today she is the co-founder of MATSUKO, creators of the world's first holographic communication app, where meetings with people and AI take place as realistic holograms in a shared space – work that earned the top prize in its category at the prestigious SXSW festival in Austin. Mária is also a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.
Mária comes to Eastern to talk about how AI and XR are merging into a single layer of user experience – changing everything we thought we knew about interface design.

Lukáš Timulak studied at the Dance Conservatory in Bratislava and the Académie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo. As a dancer, he performed with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and Nederlands Dans Theater. He has choreographed for companies around the world, including NDT, Gothenburg Ballet, Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, the Royal Swedish Ballet, Staatsballett Hannover, and Lyon Opera Ballet. His interest in cinematography led him to the New York Film Academy and to collaborations with director Ruben van Leer, including the award-winning film Symmetry, shot inside CERN. Most recently, he created the choreography for Loss, a production by Symphonic Cinema. Since 2004, he has been collaborating with designer Peter Biľak on new concepts for contemporary dance – together they founded the Make Move Think foundation for interdisciplinary artistic collaboration in 2017.
Lukáš comes to Eastern to talk about what emerges at the intersection of dance, design, and film.

Viktória Mirvajová is an editor, copywriter, and freelance content strategist. She has worked for several Slovak and international media outlets. As an editor and content director, she worked at studio Folk and later at Milk, where she co-founded, led, and co-created a number of print and online magazines for clients across various fields. She is the founding editor of TANGO, a print periodical about football nostalgia, and Babilon, a magazine dedicated to food with an emphasis on local culinary tradition and the contemporary stories around it.
Viki comes to Eastern to talk about bread and games – how popular topics like food and football can be turned into independent print periodicals, which, fortunately, are still not entirely dead.

Ervín Gejdoš has been part of Pergamen studio since 2014. Since its founding in 1993, the studio has kept a rather narrow focus – packaging design, identity, and books. It is precisely this specialisation that has helped it stand out in the region from the very start, and today its work sits on the shelves as staples like TATRATEA, the ever-evolving Pierre Baguette brand, and recent redesigns of two regional classics at once: Zlatý Bažant beer and Sedita biscuits.
Ervín comes to Eastern to talk about how to carry a big redesign all the way through – from the first concept to the printing presses.