Twenty-First International Conference on the Arts in Society, Department of Theatre Studies, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
CALL FOR PAPERS
https://artsinsociety.com/2026-conference
Place: Department of Theatre Studies, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece + Online
Format: A mix of (live, pre-recorded, and in person) presentations and social interaction spaces.
Dates: 10-12 June 2026
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SPECIAL FOCUS: Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, and Ecologies
The 2026 Special focus, Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, and Ecologies, explores the dynamic interfaces between nature, technology, and creative practices—all with a keen eye on how art practices can catalyze meaningful social change. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have challenged long-held notions of human agency and creative authorship, intensifying the urgency to grapple with the ever-evolving interplay of living systems and computational processes.
Aristotle writes, "Art takes nature as its model." Artificial intelligence is “modeling” its “Art” on the world’s creativity, training a powerful new “general intelligence.” By investigating the role of data—environmental, social, and personal—as both a raw material for artistic exploration and a source code for world-building, we invite discussions on the aesthetics of data, coding as a contemporary craft, and the philosophical implications of creating art at the cusp of ecological crisis and digital innovation. Central to our dialogue is how socially engaged art practitioners expand or redefine relationships to the natural and digital worlds, foregrounding issues of environmental justice, ethical artificial intelligence, algorithmic bias, labor-market disruption, automated labor, inclusive collaboration, and the culture of immediacy.
Through an interdisciplinary lens, researchers, artists, technologists, and community organizers are called to examine questions of environmental urgency, creative experimentation, and equitable frameworks for technological engagement. We seek to nurture dialogue on how ecological patterns inspire digital frameworks such as natural system-inspired algorithms—and, conversely, how computational advances influence our ecosystems from water and energy over-consumption to creating unprecedented images of ecosystems and predictions of weather events.
This conference provides a platform for envisioning collaborative, resilient futures—where socially engaged art practices foster community co-creation, reimagining public spaces, and mapping and modeling policies toward sustainability and shared well-being. We aim to reframe how emergent art, and technology can guide us toward more profound engagement with ecological systems and novel modes of social transformation—before it’s too late.
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CONFERENCE THEMES
THEME 1: Pedagogies Of The Arts
THEME 2: Arts Histories And Theories
THEME 3: New Media, Technology, And The Arts
THEME 4: The Arts In Social, Political, And Community Life
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ABOUT US
Founded in 2000, the Arts in Society Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of the role of the arts in society. It is a place for critical engagement, examination, and experimentation, developing ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world – on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, on the streets and in communities. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries.
https://artsinsociety.com/about
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RELATED CONFERENCES
We also offer related thematic events in our other Research Networks that you might be able to attend in-person. This way we build for our Research Network Members flexible, and at the same time resilient, spaces for communication, engagement, and participation.
View other Common Ground Research Networks conferences: https://cgnetworks.org/conferences/conference-calendar
Call for papers: Advance Proposal Deadline 10 August 2025, Early Proposal Deadline 10 November 2025, Regular Proposal Deadline 10 March 2026, Late Proposal Deadline 10 May 2026
Price: Audience Pass - In-Person Blended US$195, Audience Pass - In-Person Blended (Student) US$145