What happens when a director sets out to create a show that doesn’t have a blueprint yet? And what happens when a curatorial collective starts exploring why we’re so drawn to cute, silly and slightly bizarre internet content?
The answers are coming to the 14th SoMo Borac powered by Aleph, taking place on 23 October at Tvornica kulture in Zagreb. Joining the line-up are director Katarina Bogdanović Kukla, Klara Petrović and Luja Šimunović, co-directors of the curatorial collective KUĆĆA, and Milana Brkić & Hana Bartolović.
Their talks bring two fresh perspectives to this year’s theme, “The Cost of Attention”, connecting film, art, digital culture and the content we consume every day.
Katarina Bogdanović Kukla: How do you direct something that doesn’t exist yet?
Katarina Bogdanović Kukla is a director working across film, advertising and music videos, combining striking visual aesthetics, contemporary storytelling and elements of fantasy.
Her music videos have attracted over 100 million views on YouTube. Her short film Sestre won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand festival in 2021, while her feature debut Fantasy premiered at Locarno in 2025. The film went on to screen at numerous international festivals and win several awards.
At SoMo Borac, Katarina will present “How Do You Direct Something That Doesn’t Exist Yet?”, a talk exploring the making of the Vibe coding show.
How do you develop and direct a format with no established rules? How do you combine a technology experiment, competition, reality TV storytelling and content for digital platforms while keeping Gen Z interested?
Katarina will take us inside a creative process where the format isn’t something you follow: it’s something you invent.
Klara Petrović & Luja Šimunović: CUTE BUT PSYCHO
The internet loves cute things. Kittens, awkward moments, silly videos and content that catches our eye, makes us smile and disappears from memory two seconds later.
But what’s really hiding behind all that seemingly harmless cuteness?
Klara Petrović and Luja Šimunović are co-directors of KUĆĆA, a Zagreb-based curatorial collective and project space founded in 2021 as a platform for experimenting with alternative ways of producing knowledge, artistic practices and new ways of thinking and feeling.
In their talk, CUTE BUT PSYCHO, they’ll explore the world of cute, clumsy and endlessly fascinating internet content that constantly circulates through our feeds.
Through examples of artistic practices, they’ll examine how platform aesthetics can act as both a trap and a weapon, how vulnerability can become a form of resistance, and what cuteness might be hiding beneath the surface.
Because content that looks harmless doesn’t necessarily come without consequences.
Milana Brkić & Hana Bartolović: Europe’s Lifestyle
How much control do we really have over what we see online? Are we choosing the content that interests us, or have algorithms been making those decisions for us all along?
In their session Europe’s Lifestyle, Milana Brkić and Hana Bartolović will explore questions that matter to everyone using social media, creating digital content or doing business on online platforms.
Milana Brkić works on the Digital Services Act (DSA) at the European Commission Representation in Croatia. Working with the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), she contributes to the implementation and oversight of the DSA, focusing on platform accountability, algorithmic transparency and user protection.
Hana Bartolović is an entrepreneur, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of After5, a media brand she launched in 2022 after years of experience in digital media. After5 was created to reflect the interests, ambitions and everyday lives of people both during and beyond working hours.
Together, they’ll examine how Europe’s digital rules are changing the relationship between platforms and users. What does the DSA actually mean for us? How much influence do we have over the content algorithms serve us? And how will these rules affect tech giants, smaller platforms and everyone navigating everyday life online?
Because the digital world isn’t just somewhere we spend our time. Its rules shape what we see, read and share.
Ružica Vrdoljak Ličina and Barbara Tadić: What goes on behind the scenes of SoMo Borac?
How do you put together a program that brings people from tech companies, agencies, media, film and artistic collectives onto the same stage?
That’s what Ružica Vrdoljak Ličina, Executive Director of SoMo Borac, and Barbara Tadić, Program Director, discuss in an in-depth interview with Index.
They reveal why the cost of attention is this year’s central theme, how they select speakers and why it’s important for the programme to go beyond campaigns, metrics and the usual digital industry conversations.
They also share what audiences can expect from speakers such as Andre Joel from Reddit, Ignazio Morello from Verne, Nataša Vajagić and Filip Filković Philatz, and explain why the best ideas sometimes come from listening to someone working in a completely different field.
There are a few backstage stories, too, from award trophies getting locked inside a car with a missing key to a photo booth that appeared within just a few hours.
Most importantly, Ružica and Barbara explain why SoMo Borac is about more than conference talks. It’s about people, conversations, new connections and the ideas that emerge when the industry comes together.
The 14th SoMo Borac powered by Aleph takes place on 23 October at Tvornica kulture in Zagreb.
Don’t miss a full-day conference program bringing together different perspectives from across the digital industry, the region’s best digital projects, the SoMo Borac awards ceremony and, of course, the afterparty.
If you’re looking for ideas you won’t find in every feed, people worth meeting and a day spent with the region’s digital community, you know where to be. See you!
