xCoAx 2023

11th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X

5–7 July Weimar Germany

The xCoAx 2023 program is now online!

xCoAx is an exploration of the intersection where computational tools and media meet art and culture, in the form of a multi-disciplinary enquiry on aesthetics, computation, communication and the elusive X factor that connects and characterises them all.

The focus of xCoAx is on the unpredictable overlaps between creative freedom and algorithmic rules, between human nature and machine technology, aimed towards new directions in aesthetics.

xCoAx has been an occasion for international audiences to exchange ideas in search for interdisciplinary synergies between computer scientists, artists, media practitioners, and theoreticians at the thresholds between digital arts and culture.

Since starting in 2013 in Bergamo, xCoAx has taken place in Porto, Glasgow, Bergamo again, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Graz, online, and Coimbra. xCoAx 2023 will take place in Weimar, Germany.

Performances, 2022 Conference, 2022 Conference, 2022 Winnie Soon's keynote, 2022 Andreas Broeckmann's keynote, 2022 Conference, 2021 Špela Petrič's keynote, 2021 Yuk Hui's keynote, 2021 Performances, 2019 Luciana Parisi's keynote, 2019 Domenico Quaranta's keynote, 2019 Performances, 2019 Performances, 2018 Exhibition, 2018 Mario Klingemann, keynote speaker 2018 Pepe Vidal's keynote, 2018 Conference, 2018 Penousal Machado's keynote, 2017 Olia Lialina's keynote, 2017 Exhibition, 2017 Exhibition, 2017 Conference, 2016 Performances, 2016 Frieder Nake's keynote, 2016 Performances, 2015 Performances, 2015 William Latham's keynote, 2015 Performances, 2015 Conference, 2015 Conference, 2014 Exhibition, 2014 Olga Goriunova's keynote, 2014 Philip Galanter's work, exhibition, 2014 Exhibition, 2014 Alessandro Ludovico's keynote, 2013 Performances, 2013

Call for papers, artworks, performances

The call is now closed

xCoAx 2023 calls for papers, artworks, performances and research works-in-progress by scholars, artists, performers and students, working on any of its multi-disciplinary facets.

You are invited to submit theoretical, practical or experimental research work in the form of papers, artworks, and performances, on a range of topics that includes but is not limited to the following:

Papers

Revision of papers will be double-blind. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings and authors will hold a 15-minute presentation at xCoAx 2023.

Artworks

Proposals should provide a clear description of the work in the form of a document including the following:

Revision of proposals will be single-blind. All accepted works will be part of the exhibition and featured on the xCoAx 2023 website and the artists will hold a 5-minute presentation at xCoAx 2023. The proceedings will publish the abstract, the main text, and at least one featured image of the artwork provided by the authors.

Performances

Revision of proposals will be single-blind. Accepted works will be part of the program and featured on the xCoAx 2023 website and the authors will hold a 5-minute presentation at xCoAx 2023. The proceedings will publish the abstract, the main text, and at least one featured image of the performance provided by the authors.

Additional information and submission details

School of X

The School of X, formerly known as Doctoral Symposium, is a brand new initiative in tight connection with xCoAx 2023.

The School of X is a virtual and physical space where students, researchers, and artists are invited to submit an activity plan they intend to pursue, be it a Master’s or PhD thesis, a research effort, or an artistic endeavour, for the chance of exchanging ideas, discussing theory and practice, give and receive feedback, both with fellow participants and with the School of X lecturers: Angela Ferraiolo (Sarah Lawrence College), André Rangel (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto), Caterina Moruzzi (University of Konstanz), Luísa Ribas (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon), Mario Verdicchio (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), Martin Zeilinger (Abertay University), Miguel Carvalhais (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto).

Schedule: 6 sessions online, every 2 weeks, Tuesdays 17:00-18:30 CET, starting April 11 2023; 1 session in person, at xCoAx 2023 in Weimar, on Wednesday, July 5 2023; Participation at xCoAx 2023 in Weimar, July 5-7 2023.

Topics of interest: The pillar themes of xCoAx — Computation, Communication, Aesthetics, X — together with all the topics that are welcome at xCoAx, including but not limited to: Artificial Aesthetics, Artificial Intelligence & Creativity; Philosophy of Art, Philosophy of Computation; Ethics, Epistemology; Design, Visual Arts, Sound Art, Music, Performance; Interaction, Games; Generative Art.

How to apply: Those interested in attending the School of X must email their application to info@xcoax.org attaching a single PDF file containing the following: 1) a short bio (100 words); 2) an abstract describing your idea or project (100 words); 3) a letter of intent (150 words).

The program: The School of X program will start with the production of short essays that develop the ideas or projects in the applications. These essays will be presented to the collective and discussed throughout the online meetings of the School of X. The goal is for participants to use this feedback to improve their skills as critical thinkers and creators, shaping each proposal towards its full potential under the supervision of the lecturers and the peer review of other participants. The final versions of the projects will be presented at xCoAx 2023, during an open session dedicated to the School of X, and published in a dedicated volume after xCoAx 2023.

Important dates:

Registration fee: Applicants accepted on March 22, 2023 will have to register by April 12, 2023. The fee is € 100. Information on payment methods will be provided in due time. For any enquiries regarding the programme, please contact info@xcoax.org.

Conference Program

  • July 5: Conference opening, School of X, exhibition opening, proceedings launch.
  • July 6: Paper presentations, keynote, performances.
  • July 7: Artwork and performance presentations, keynote, closing event.

Conference: Cultural Center mon ami
Goetheplatz 11

Exhibition: Galerie EIGENHEIM
Asbachstraße 1

Performances: Nivre Studio
Georg-Haar-Straße 5

Keynote: Annet Dekker

Portrait of Annet Dekker

Annet Dekker is a curator and researcher. Currently she is Assistant Professor Archival and Information Studies and Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam and Visiting Professor and co-director of the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image at London South Bank University. She has published numerous essays and edited several volumes, among others, Documentation as Art (co-edited with Gabriella Giannachi, Routledge 2022) and Curating Digital Art: From Presenting and Collecting Digital Art to Networked Co-Curating (Valiz 2021). Her monograph, Collecting and Conserving Net Art (Routledge 2018) is a seminal work in the field of digital art conservation.

Keynote: Joanna Zylinska

Portrait of Joanna Zylinska

Joanna Zylinska is an artist, writer, curator, and Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice at King’s College London. She is an author of a number of books, including AI Art: Machine Visions and Warped Dreams (Open Humanities Press, 2020), The End of Man: A Feminist Counterapocalypse (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) and Nonhuman Photography (MIT Press, 2017). An advocate of “radical open-access,” she is an editor of the MEDIA : ART : WRITE : NOW book series for Open Humanities Press. Her art practice involves experimenting with different kinds of image-based media. She is currently researching perception and cognition as boundary zones between human and machine intelligence, while using ML to try and answer the question: “Does photography have a future?”.

Important Dates

Registration

For each accepted submission, one author will have to register as below before April 19.

Register here

Travel

Weimar is located in the green heart of Central Germany in the Free State of Thuringia, at the center of a triangle between Berlin, Frankfurt and Nuremberg.

Well-known as the birthplace of Germany’s first constitutional democracy and the original Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar is home to the Classic Weimar UNESCO World Heritage Site and was named as European Capital of Culture in 1999. For centuries, Weimar has welcomed visionaries in literature, theater, music, architecture, art and design, from Goethe, Schiller and Liszt, to Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy and Anni Albers.

detail of a map of Germany, showing the location of Weimar in the centre of a triangle comprised by Berlin, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg

Rail: Weimar is adjacent to the high-speed rail hub in Erfurt, only a short 12-15 minute journey with regional train service departing four times per hour. Erfurt Hauptbahnhof can be reached from all over Europe by Intercity Express (ICE) service, with direct connections to and from the cities of Leipzig (~45m), Berlin (~1h45m), Nuremberg (~1h20m), Frankfurt/Main (~2h30m), Munich (~2h30m), Hamburg (~3h45m), Vienna (~6h) and Zürich (~6h30m).

International rail connections to Erfurt are possible with a single train change to and from the cities of Amsterdam (~6h30m), Brussels (~6h), Paris (~6h30m), Prague (~6h) and Warsaw (~7h30m).

For more detailed information, please visit https://bahn.de/en

Air: The nearest airports with connections to the German rail network are: LEJ Leipzig/Halle (~1h), NUE Nuremberg (~1h40m), BER Berlin (~2h30m), FRA Frankfurt/Main (~2h30m, direct). All travel times are calculated to/from Erfurt Hauptbahnhof.

Ground: Weimar can be accessed directly by Autobahn 4 (Frankfurt-Dresden), with north-south connections to Autobahn 9 (Berlin-Munich) and Autobahn 71/73 (Südharz-Nuremberg) within 50km.

Local and Regional public transportation is administered by the VMT (Middle-Thuringian Transit Authority) and SWW (Weimar City Transit), who operate a comprehensive bus network in and around Weimar. Almost all local bus routes (1-8) run regularly between Weimar Hauptbahnhof and Goetheplatz/Zentrum. Single fares cost €2.30 per trip, although weekly and combination tickets can also be purchased online or at the SWW Travel Center at Goetheplatz. Long Distance Rail Tickets purchased with the CityTicket option may be used for public transportation in Weimar to your final destination. Taxis are readily available, but generally do not accept card payments.

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