Ars Electronica Festival 2026

The annual Ars Electronica Festival will take place in Linz, Austria, from 9 to 13 September. Waag Futurelab will be there—find out below where you can meet us throughout the festival.

In September, Linz will once again become a hotspot for the international media art scene. Exhibitions, performances, concerts and conferences will be held at festival locations throughout the city. FUTURE BEGINS and NEGOTIATING HUMANITY are the two thematic concepts of the year 2026—47 years after the first Ars Electronica Festival and 30 years since the opening of the Ars Electronica Center. At its core, the duality of these concepts implies a status assessment and the question of what it means to be human nowadays.

Waag at Ars Electronica Festival

Fluidity of Images

Thursday 10 September, 16:00 - 18:00 hrs

What happens when a machine mixes paintings, without any text prompts? This workshop explores the juxtaposition space between images, where two images combine to reveal a spectrum of new visual forms, condensations and compositions.

Dancing Dialogues (with(out) AI)

Friday 11 September, 16:30 - 18:30 hrs

What happens when movement becomes a form of dialogue—not only between people, but also between human and machine? In this workshop, we will explore new ways of moving in relation to ourselves, to each other, to audiences with and without mediation by digitally generated movements and sounds.