On 30 June and 1 and 2 July 2026, Malaga will be the venue for the international conference Cultural Complexity and Computational Approaches (Toward a Systemic and Critical Understanding of Cultural Ecosystems), organised by the iArtHis_Lab research group of the University of Malaga in the framework of the Complexhibit project, with the collaboration of the Telefónica-UMA Chair.

The event brings together researchers from different disciplines - digital humanities, complexity science, semantic web, NLP and cultural theory - to address a central question: what does it mean to study culture rigorously and critically when cultural ecosystems can be formally represented and modelled computationally? The conference does not pose the computational approach as a substitute for interpretation, but as a tool for articulating interpretive arguments with explicit models and empirical accountability.

The programme is organised around four main thematic blocks: cultural dynamics and historical change; knowledge infrastructures and evidence; cultural discourse and interpretation; and data governance, accountability and sustainability. In addition, the conference dedicates a specific space to CLARIAH-ES and CLARIAH-AND, the infrastructures for digital research in the humanities in Spain and Andalusia.

Keynote speakers include Lynn Rother, Lichtenberg Professor at Leuphana University and Director of the Provenance Lab, and Carlos Eduardo Maldonado, Professor of Complexity Sciences at the Universidad El Bosque in Bogotá. The meeting also commemorates the tenth anniversary of eHAD 2016, the pioneering international forum on Digital Art History held in Malaga.

Participation is free of charge. The deadline for submitting proposals - individual presentations, panels and workshops - is open until 15 May 2026. Proposals should be sent to digitalarthistory@uma.es.