This year’s WAVES focuses on the Attention Economy

The most important question today is not what we say, but whether anyone hears us

“Attention is the most valuable currency these days. The creative industry, media and technology are all competing for it – and AI and algorithms are completely rewriting the rules of the game”

– shared his thoughts Gábor Fabricius, Innovation Director at Republic Group. “WAVES was created at the intersection of the attention economy: right where AI, human creativity and new generation content consumption habits meet.”

International Line-up

EJTECH, Alchemists of Material and AI (BUDAPEST X MEXICO CITY): The creative duo’s studio explores the boundaries of technology, material and the human body. Their work has also explored the worlds of Dune, Blade Runner 2049 and DIOR, while creating hypersensory experiences from the intersection of textile, sound, light and AI. WAVES will tell the story of how AI is becoming a creative partner in contemporary visual professions.

Pierre Fautrel, pioneer of algorithmic art (PARIS): co-founder of the Obvious collective, which put itself on the global map of AI art when an AI-generated portrait was sold at Christie’s auction. His work dissects questions of creation and algorithmic aesthetics, what it means to be an artist in a world where code also creates products. And all this is done within the walls of Sorbonne University.

Asad Ayub, visionary of AI cinema (AMSTERDAM): founder of the groundbreaking international festival series AI Film Fest. Her work focuses on the democratization of generative technologies, how AI can become a new creative weapon for independent creators. At WAVES, she will show how artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of storytelling and visual culture through a lecture, a selection of AI films and a Q&A session.

Johanna Jaskowska, master of virtual beauty (MADRID): building a new language of digital beauty and identity. Her world-famous Beauty3000 AR filter has received over 500 million views, while working on the boundaries of fashion, tech and speculative design. He has worked with artists and brands such as Lady Gaga, Givenchy, Nike and Mercedes-Benz, and is currently researching how AI-based creative systems can reshape reality and self-image in the digital space.

If Waves, then music

Mátyás Kálmán & László Papp, founders and curators of INOTA Festival: show how an abandoned industrial power plant can become the venue for one of Europe’s most progressive audiovisual art festivals. Their work moves at the intersection of light installations, experimental electronic music and sustainable cultural thinking – and exemplifies how industrial heritage can be transformed into creative spaces of the future.

Fausto Mercier, ambassador of generative sound: one of the most exciting Hungarian voices in experimental electronic music. His brutal digital textures and delicate, nature-inspired sound structures are both present in his music, which moves on the border of contemporary electroacoustic and club culture. Live, he brings a hypnotic, generative soundscape that resonates perfectly with the technological and sensual themes of WAVES.