Tobias Kopka
Program Director, Artist & Systemic Coach
Speaker / Press Bio
Tobias Kopka is a program director, artist, and systemic coach. Through his program agency curatomic, he currently directs gamescom congress. As program director he has shaped some of Europe’s most significant game developer events, including Ludicious Zürich, Reboot Develop, and devcom. He co-directs VR Dance Club with Anna-Carolin Weber, and is a certified Systemic Coach trained at the University of Cologne. He is an IGF judge, jury member of the Deutscher Computerspielpreis, and co-founder of the Art of Coding / Demoscene UNESCO initiative.
Detailed Bio
As program director, Tobias Kopka has shaped the content and direction of some of Europe’s most significant game developer events — including Ludicious Zürich Game Festival, where he served as artistic director, and Reboot Develop. He also built and led Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers, guiding its transition into devcom, now Europe’s largest game developer conference. Through his program agency curatomic, he works as a freelance program director and consultant, currently directing gamescom congress. Alongside his conference work, he is a co-founder of the Art of Coding initiative, which brought the Demoscene onto UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage across Finland, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and France.
Since 2021, Tobias has been co-directing VR Dance Club with Anna-Carolin Weber — a performance practice at the intersection of virtual reality and contemporary dance, created for theatre, exhibition, and stage contexts. This work sits at the centre of his artistic practice and continues to grow as a body of work in its own right.
Tobias is a certified Systemic Coach, trained at the INEKO Institut at the University of Cologne. He works with people in digital and games who want to engage seriously with who they are becoming — whether they’re leading organisations, building something new, or finding their footing. Recent coaching work includes the Press Start programme with Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur. He holds an M.A. in Media Studies, History, and Political Science, and has lectured in higher education for over eight years.
Tobias serves as a judge at the Independent Games Festival (IGF) at GDC — the world’s most significant indie games competition — and is a jury member of the Deutscher Computerspielpreis, the German federal computer games award. He sits on the advisory boards of Games.NRW and GIC Games Industry Conference in Poznan, and has advised Pro Helvetia, the Swiss national arts council, as part of their Interactive Media expert jury.
Speaking & Moderation
Focus areas: games industry · ecosystems & communities · digital culture & cultural heritage · participatory performance & experience design · VR & embodied technology · systemic thinking & human development · creative practice and professional becoming.
Selected appearances: NYU Game Center, New York · Parsons School of Design, New York · Nordic Game Conference · Swiss National Museum, Zurich · 1E9 Conference, Deutsches Museum Munich · Reboot Develop, Dubrovnik / Banff · gamescom congress, Cologne · Next Level Festival, NRW · GIC Games Industry Conference, Poznan · Game Dev Rev, Skopje
Tobias believes the most interesting things emerge at the edges — where disciplines meet, where the known gives way to the unknown, where people surprise themselves and catch a glimpse of who they are becoming. This is what draws him to the stage, the studio, and the coaching room alike.
Connect: LinkedIn · Instagram · BlueSky
