- 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.
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.
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:
- Computation
- Communication
- Aesthetics
- X
- Algorithms / Systems / Models
- Artificial Aesthetics
- Artificial Intelligence & Creativity
- Audiovisuals / Multimodality
- Design
- Interaction
- Games
- Generative Art & Design
- History
- Mechatronics / Physical Computing
- Music / Sound Art
- Performance
- Philosophy of Art & of Computation
- Computational Photography and Image Technologies
- Technology / Ethics / Epistemology
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
- Final versions for publication should be delivered in .docx following the template for papers or the template for artworks and performances; all the images and other media files should be attached as independent files
- All images and media assets must be cleared for publication by the authors
- At least one of the authors of each selected contribution must register to the conference before the first author registration deadline in order for the work to be published in the proceedings
- xCoAx’s working language is English
- xCoAx’s conference proceedings (with ISBN) will be published online with free access
- Please contact the program chairs at info@xcoax.org with any questions regarding submissions
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:
- Deadline for applications: January 31, 2023 (students from the University of Konstanz have an extended period until April 10).
- Extended deadline for applications: February 14, 2023.
- Notification of acceptance for January applications: March 22, 2023.
- Online meetings: April 11—June 30, 2023, every 2 weeks.
- School of X meeting at xCoAx 2023: July 5, 2023.
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
Conference: Cultural Center mon ami
Goetheplatz 11
Exhibition: Galerie EIGENHEIM
Asbachstraße 1
Performances: Nivre Studio
Georg-Haar-Straße 5
Keynote: 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
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
- January 31: Deadline for submissions.
- February 14: Extended deadline for submissions.
- March 22: Notifications to authors.
- April 19: Registration deadline for authors.
- April 23: Delivery of final versions of full papers, and extended abstracts of artworks and performances for the proceedings.
- May 5: Delivery of final versions of multimedia files for the website.
- July 5 to 7: xCoAx 2023.
Registration
For each accepted submission, one author will have to register as below before April 19.
- Regular registration: € 250 (presenting authors with academic affiliation)
- Reduced registration: € 100 (presenting authors without academic affiliation, non-presenting authors, School of X participants, attendees)
- Generous supporter registration: € 300 (give extra support to xCoAx)
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.
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.
Scientific Committee
- Adriana Sá ESAD/CICANT
- Alessandro Ludovico Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton / Neural
- Alice Cannava Technische Universität Berlin / Occulto Magazine
- André Rangel i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Andreas Broeckmann Leuphana Arts Program, Lüneburg
- Andreas Muxel Faculty of Design at University of Applied Sciences Augsburg
- Angela Ferraiolo Sarah Lawrence College
- Anna Terzaroli AIMI
- Anne Balsamo University of Texas at Dallas
- Anneke Pettican University of Huddersfield
- Astrid Drechsler FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences
- Birgit Bachler FH JOANNEUM
- Boris Debackere V2 / Luca School of Arts
- Catarina Maçãs University of Coimbra
- Caterina Moruzzi University of Konstanz
- Chara Lewis Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Christian Faubel Academy of Media Arts Cologne
- Cristina Sá CITAR / Portuguese Catholic University, School of Arts
- Dale MacDonald University of Texas at Dallas
- Daniele Pozzi Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- Daniel Irrgang Weizenbaum Institute / Berlin University of the Arts
- Daniel Schorno STEIM
- Darko Velazquez Bauhaus Form + Function Lab, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- David Pirrò Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- Derek Holzer KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
- Filipe Pais Ensadlab, Ensad, Paris
- Francisco Cardoso Lima Independent Artist, Aveiro
- Francis Hunger Training The Archive, HMKV Dortmund
- Frieder Nake University of Bremen & Hochschule für Künste Bremen
- Gerhard Nierhaus University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
- Hanns Holger Rutz Gustav Mahler Private University for Music (GMPU) Klagenfurt, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG)
- Heitor Alvelos ID+ / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Jason Reizner Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Jia-Rey Chang archgary.com / Medialab, Queen's University Belfast
- Ji Youn Kang The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague
- Joanna Zylinska Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London
- João Cordeiro Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre
- Johannes Zmölnig University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
- Jon He Massey University
- Jon McCormack Monash University
- Jung In Jung InGAME, Abertay University
- Kristin Mojsiewicz Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
- Laura Beloff School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University
- Luc Döbereiner Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- Luísa Ribas CIEBA / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon
- Manuela Naveau Ars Electronica
- Marko Ciciliani Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
- Mario Verdicchio Università degli Studi di Bergamo
- Martin Kaltenbrunner Kunstuniversität Linz
- Martin Rumori sonible GmbH
- Martin Zeilinger Abertay University
- Michael Markert Hochschule Coburg
- Miguel Carvalhais i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Nuno N. Correia Tallinn University
- Patrícia João Reis University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, Department of Digital Arts
- Pedro Cardoso University of Aveiro / DigiMedia
- Pedro Martins University of Coimbra
- Penousal Machado University of Coimbra
- Philip Galanter Texas A&M University
- Ricardo Melo Fraunhofer Portugal Research Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions (Fraunhofer AICOS)
- Rodrigo Hernández-Ramírez UNIDCOM / Instituto de Arte, Design e Empresa (IADE)
- Ron Kuivila Wesleyan University
- Rosemary Lee Independent Researcher & Artist
- Rui Penha ESMAE / CESEM
- Rui Torres Electronic Literature Organization / Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa, Porto
- Samuel Van Ransbeeck UCP-CITAR
- Sophie-Carolin Wagner
- Shusha Niederberguer House of Electronic Arts Basel
- Søren Pold School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University
- Trent Kim University of the West of Scotland
- Valentina Vuksic Zurich University of the Arts
- Valerie Wolf Gang
- Victoria Bradbury University of North Carolina, Asheville
- Winnie Soon Department of Digital Design at Aarhus University
About Us
Organising Committee
- André Rangel i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Bianka Voigt Galerie EIGENHEIM Weimar/Berlin
- Darko Velázquez Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Caterina Moruzzi University of Konstanz
- Jason Reizner Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Konstantin Bayer Galerie EIGENHEIM Weimar/Berlin
- Linda Schumann independent curator
- Luís Pinto Nunes i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Luísa Ribas CIEBA / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon
- Mario Verdicchio Università degli Studi di Bergamo
- Martin Hesselmeier Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Melanie Birnschein Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Michael Markert Hochschule Coburg
- Miguel Carvalhais i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Rachel Uwa School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe
- Raphael Köhler Nivre Film + Studio
Past Organisers
- Alejandro Sanchez Zaragoza MACA / ETSAM
- Alison Clifford University of the West of Scotland
- Andrea González Garrán MACA / ETSAM
- Atxu Amann MACA / ETSAM
- Daniele Pozzi Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- David Pirrò Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- Carol Pierina MACA / ETSAM
- Graeme Truslove University of the West of Scotland
- Hanns Holger Rutz Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz
- Pedro Martins University of Coimbra
- Pedro Tudela i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Penousal Machado University of Coimbra
Proceedings
- Previous Proceedings
- Publication Ethics
- The Book of X — 10 Years of Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X
Editorial Board
- André Rangel i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
- Luísa Ribas CIEBA / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon
- Mario Verdicchio (chief editor) Università degli Studi di Bergamo
- Miguel Carvalhais (chief editor) i2ADS / Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto