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On the sidelines of the 2025 edition of the E-AI event, the Palais des congrès de Montréal launched a call for concepts in artificial intelligence in collaboration with TKNL—its audiovisual partner—and Divertir IA. Through a jury process, the Montréal company Mapping Motion was selected. It will present its concept Stay Toon! on February 18 and 19, 2026 as part of E-AI 2026.
Launched in summer 2025, the call for concepts invited creative minds to explore how artificial intelligence can transform the Palais’ event spaces and renew the visitor experience. Emphasis was placed on interactive, accessible proposals, rooted on site, capable of redefining the relationship between people and their environment.
Chosen for its conceptual strength, Stay Toon! is an interactive artistic work that pays tribute to the world of vintage cartoons and revisits codes through generative AI. It was cocreated by digital artist Jeremy Fassio and digital technology specialist Damien Mortini, under Mapping Studio, a Montréal graphic animation studio known for its creation of large-scale content and its desire to bring digital into the public realm.
Invited to have their photo taken, participants see their portrait transformed, through generative AI, into a cartoonish version based on Jeremy Fassio’s vibrant universe and whacky characters. A second AI then brings these fixed images to life on the screen with movement. Next, the animations generated are integrated into a constantly evolving mosaic, transforming a space at the Palais into a living gallery shaped by the public.
By merging art and technology in a process that’s both immersive and profoundly human, the digital experience becomes tangible and rooted in reality: participants must be on site to be photographed and see their image integrated into the collective work. In contrast to hyperrealist, even misleading AI, Stay Toon! cheerfully flips reality into playful pop unreality. The project defines itself as a 150% work: 100% human, 50% AI. Based on human creativity, the work assumes a hybrid nature: an interactive experience enhanced by AI but created by and for humans.
As the winner of the call for concepts, Mapping Motion received $25,000 in funding from the Palais des congrès de Montréal to support the development of Stay Toon!, along with professional and technical support from TKNL. The project will be officially launched during E-AI 2026, an event exploring the crossroads between artificial intelligence, creation and entertainment.
Created for events, Stay Toon! is user-friendly, accessible and bilingual, and modular enough to be used in multiple spaces at the Palais and adapted to suit a wide variety of events.
The general public will also have the opportunity to discover Stay Toon! during the free program of activities that will be held in the Palais’ public space for Nuit blanche à Montréal 2026, on Saturday, February 28, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Artificial intelligence opens up new possibilities for rethinking our spaces and how the public experiences them. With this call for concepts, we wanted to move from reflection to concrete experimentation, on site. Stay Toon! embodies this goal perfectly: an accessible, participatory work that transforms the event experience and invites the public to enjoy the Palais in a whole new way.
– Emmanuelle Legault, President and CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal
The work naturally fits in at the Palais des congrès, a place criss-crossed every day by many local and international visitors. Cartoons, through their evocative power and collective imagination, constitute a universal language that, like Montréal and the Palais, transcends borders. The proposed experience follows the same logic: it’s self-explanatory. Behind the cutting-edge technology, the interaction is simple and intuitive, for an immediate result that everyone can understand and enjoy.
– Jeremy Fassio, digital artist and motion designer, cocreator of Stay Toon!