Call for artworks

The International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) is the premier venue for researchers, practitioners and theorists to present recent results, share novel techniques and insights, and exchange ideas about this new storytelling medium. Interactive digital storytelling is an exciting area in which narrative, computer science and art converge to create new expressive forms. The combination of narrative and computation has considerable untapped potential, ranging from artistic projects to interactive documentaries, from assistive technologies and intelligent agents to serious games, education and entertainment.

The conference has a long-standing tradition of bringing together theoretical and practical approaches in an interdisciplinary dialogue. Starting from ICIDS 2013, the conference has included a curated art exhibition. This year, the exhibition will be held from 2-5 November 2014 at ArtScience Museum™ at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The exhibition will take place in the ArtScience Galleries (Level 4). The gallery will be open to the public, and admission is free. The art exhibition will be held in parallel with the academic conference, which runs from 3-6 November at the National University of Singapore.

Curatorial theme: Remembering/Forgetting

The ICIDS 2014 Art Exhibition provides a platform for artists to explore this new medium for storytelling from the perspective of a particular curatorial theme: "remembering/forgetting". Note that the curatorial theme is intended to inspire, not constrain, and will be developed further to accommodate the accepted works.

Remembering/forgetting can refer to how we remember ways of telling stories in old or traditional media (oral storytelling, written stories, theatre, comics, radio, television, film), and how, when we start working with a new medium, our memories of older media influence the ways that we tell, experience and understand stories in the new medium. At some point we need to try to forget these old ways of telling and experiencing, so that we can learn new ways of telling and experiencing stories particular to the affordances of the new medium. Perhaps there is a need for selective remembering and forgetting, as we learn the strengths of a new medium and carry across what still works from older media.

Remembering/forgetting can also refer to personal storytelling: how we use stories to remember and to recreate our past experiences, and to selectively forget what we don't want to recall. Urban and online spaces are sites of tension between old and new, with stories constantly being (re)created as history is paved over, upgraded, and erased. This tension also exists in national and cultural narratives, which often rewrite or erase some perspectives on history while reinforcing others.

The purpose of the exhibition is to encourage artists to explore storytelling at the boundaries of old and new media, and to investigate ways of remembering/forgetting how to tell stories in various media, with a focus on exploring new ways to tell and experience stories unique to computational media, and how old ways of telling and experiencing stories can be made new, or remediated, in new media. Artists are also encouraged to reflect upon the exhibition's location in Singapore, at the meeting point of different cultures and of the old and the new.

Submissions

The ICIDS Art Exhibition welcomes proposals for artworks that explore the curatorial theme of the exhibition, and that engage with the challenge of combining computational digital media and storytelling. Artworks can include, but are not limited to: screen-based computational works; web-based works, interactive installations; augmented reality, mobile and location-based works; computer games; interactive documentaries; and any artistic works which involve some combination of computational and/or rule-based system and storytelling. Artworks must be completed by the time of exhibition, and not at the concept stage. Works-in-progress or technology demonstrations are more appropriate for the academic conference demonstration track, and should be submitted there.

Submitted works will be reviewed by a jury, and selected works will be exhibited in the gallery space, and included in the online exhibition catalogue.

Submissions must be sent by email to the exhibition chair at:
icids2014exh@gmail.com

Submissions must include the following:

1. Proposal (as a single PDF file) including
   • Basic details: Artists' names, Title of work, Medium, Date of completion
   • Artists' bios
   • Abstract: a short artist's statement explaining the concept of the work, how it relates to the theme, and how it explores the intersection of interactive media and storytelling.
   • Detailed description: Provide as clear a description as possible of what the work will look like, how it will be presented, and how audience members will interact with the work.
   • Technical requirements: detailed specifications of the work, including schematic diagram; size; weight; light and sound emissions; lighting and sound requirements; spatial, electrical and network requirements; and any other special requirements. Floor plan: detailed layout of space needed for installation, including power requirements, exact dimensions of floor space and height, lighting, audio, power sources, furniture such as tables, etc.
2. Artists' CV (as separate PDF, max. 1MB file size)
3. Visual documentation of work (as separate files): one representative image of the work, plus one detail image (both in .JPG format, 300dpi, suitable for printing), one additional representative image (in .JPG format, 72dpi, suitable for website publication), and one video demonstrating typical interaction with the work (2 minutes, provided as a link to an online video).

Important dates

• 10 July 2014: artwork proposal submission deadline.
• 28 August 2014: notice of acceptance/rejection. Note that jury members may contact the artists prior to this if there is the need for clarification or discussion of details of the submission.
• 18 September 2014: submission of final materials for exhibition catalogue
• November 1: Setup
• November 2-5, 2014: ICIDS Art Exhibition.

After acceptance

Upon acceptance, the organizers will contact the artists to discuss details of the artwork and to discuss installation requirements. Submissions should provide details of equipment needed, and specify what equipment will be provided by the artists. The organizers are not able to provide financial assistance. We will attempt to provide some assistance with equipment and manpower for installation, but artists are encouraged to provide their own equipment and to be present during setup where possible. The organizers will be happy to provide a reference letter to aid artists in applying for funding.

Note that setup will be on Saturday, 1 November. On Sunday, 2 November, ArtScience Museum will be holding a "Sunday Showcase" session, during which all artists (or their representatives) are required to be present at the gallery from 1pm-7pm to interact with the visitors.

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