ADCE 2023 Festival celebrates the “Agents of Change”

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A number of top global creatives will lead a series of inspiring sessions at the 2023 ADCE Festival, which includes the 32nd edition of the ADCE Best of European Design and Advertising Awards.

Taking place 30 November-1 December at Disseny Hub in Barcelona, the upcoming ADCE Festival has the theme “Agents of Change”, with lectures and workshops focused on those who are embracing the challenges of the industry to deliver new creative solutions.

“Agents of change, or are we agents of chaos?”, said Wesley ter Haar, cofounder, MediaMonks, and curator of this year’s Festival. “Creatives can be heralded as the former, and sometimes derided for being the latter. This year, we’ll celebrate agents of change, those within our industry and from elsewhere, and how they’ve managed to control or even cajole the chaos to deliver change, in their work, in their industry, and beyond”.

Ter Haar will give a talk entitled “Excitement & Anxiety in the Age of Generative AI”, where he will discuss how to navigate the minefield of worries and watchouts when using this new technology.

Other top global creatives confirmed to speak include:

  • Nick Law, Creative Chairperson at Accenture Song — “Seven Principles of Song”
  • Pum Lefebure, Co-Founder, CCO at Design Army — “Feel All the Feels”
  • PJ Pereira, Creative Chairman at Pereira O’Dell — “Self-Defense For Your Advertising Career”
  • Martin Haerlin, Gen AI Artist — “The future of AI-filmmaking”
  • Bei Wang, Cultural Broker, Metaverse Explorer, Digital China — “Creatives are the New Activists”
  • Magda Mojsiejuk, Designer, Futurist, Researcher at Futurity Systems — “Changing Our Future Narratives: What Can Designers Learn from Science Fiction?”

Other speakers include Josh Fruttiger, Global Marketing Solutions Lead, TikTok, Iain Tait, Founder, Food Arts & Technology, and others to be confirmed shortly.

ADCE Festival programming on 30 November includes a curated selection of hands-on workshops designed to inspire and challenge participants’ abilities at problem-solving, endurance, collaboration, and innovative ways to enhance their inner creativity:

  • “Let’s Create a Commercial using AI Tools” (led by by Martin Haerlin, and Alex Kutka)
  • “The Atlas of Weak Signals” (Jana Tothill, IAAC – FabLab)
  • “Design <> Materials: 2D, 3D & 4D” (Robert Thompson, Materfad)
  • “Imagine Better Futures” (Magda Mojsiejuk, Futurity Systems)
  • What Do You Want to Transform? Be Part of the Change” (Núria Vila, Creative Director/ Designer)

This year the Festival is hosting the 32nd edition of the ADCE Best of European Design and Advertising Awards, the only international competition open only to those works that have already won at the most prestigious national competitions of the creative and design industry in Europe.

A prestigious international jury made up of 57 leading creatives and designers from 21 European countries will meet in Barcelona to deliberate upon this year’s award winners. Six international top professionals will be the 2023 jury presidents, under the leadership of Pancho Cassis, Global CCO at DAVID, based in Madrid.

The winners will be announced on Friday 1st December afternoon during the Awards Gala that will take place at the Disseny Hub Barcelona auditorium.

The Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) is a non-profit association headquartered in Barcelona. It comprises 21 professional clubs and associations of graphic design and advertising from 20 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ukraine.

Founded in 1990, the ADCE strives to foster excellence in graphic design and advertising creativity at a European scale. The association represents more than 5,000 professionals from the field and gives visibility to the best works accomplished locally. The current president is Alex Schill, Global Chief Creative Officer at Serviceplan Group and it recently merged with the One Club for Creativity, being its European branch.