
The DIS25 Art Track accepts and exhibits interactive artworks, which will also be archived in the Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference.
“O mar murmura e escuta,
Guardando os segredos do mundo.
Só ele conhece os ritmos antigos
Que sustentam o respirar da Terra.”
[translation]
“The sea murmurs and listens,
Guarding the secrets of the world.
Only it knows the ancient rhythms
That sustain the Earth’s breathing.”
from “Poema do Silêncio” (“Poem of Silence”) by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919-2004)
Theme for Interactive Artworks: “Murmurs of the Sea”
The ocean sings, whispers, and roars in the works of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. It also listens, acting as a space of knowledge and balance, a keeper of life and rhythms. Inspired by this vision of the sea as a complex listening and uttering body, we invite artists, designers,
and creators to submit proposals for interactive artworks that address the urgent need for ecological awareness and preservation of bodies of water.
Through this call, we seek interactive artworks that:
- Celebrate the Sea: Evoke its complexity, beauty, power, rhythm, and interdependence.
- Foster Reflection: Explore themes of sustainability, ecological balance, regeneration in human relations with bodies of water and marine ecosystems.
- Engage Interaction: Create immersive, participatory experiences that encourage audiences to connect with bodies of water and contemplate their importance in the global environment.
Note that the above curatorial theme is intended to inspire, not constrain, the artworks.
Important Dates
Submission | 6 March 2025 |
Notifications * | 8 April 2025 |
Camera ready and supplementary materials | 16 May 2025 |
*(Note that jury members may contact the artists before making their decision if there is the need for clarification or discussion of details of the submission)
DIS25 Art Exhibition
This year, the exhibition will be held in connection with the DIS conference in Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal. Our goal is for the exhibition to be open to the public. The DIS Art Track welcomes submissions of interactive digital artworks that explore the curatorial theme “Murmurs of the Sea,” and that engage with human audiences or the ambient environment through artistic and/or creative interactions.
Artworks can include, but are not limited to:
- screen-based computational works
- web-based works
- interactive installations
- augmented, virtual, and mixed reality
- mobile and location-based works
- computer games
- transmedia works
- computer-mediated interactive performances
- any other artistic works that involve some combination of computational and/or rule-based system
Note that works-in-progress or technology demonstrations are more appropriate for the conference’s WiP and demonstration tracks, and should be submitted there. We encourage novel art work, but previously exhibited works who have not been published before are also accepted. Artworks must be completed by the time of exhibition, and not at the concept stage.
- Venue and schedule: To be announced
- Experience time: 20 minutes max.
Preparing and Submitting
Submissions of artworks should capture the most essential elements of the artworks to deliver a wholesome picture of how the artwork looks and works, together with the underlying artistic vision and/or philosophy. Submissions should not be anonymised. The submission for jury review should consist of three components: the proposal in a pictorial format, a technical specification document and a video.
All submissions will be made through the New Precision Conference website here: https://new.precisionconference.com/submissions. The total size of all submitted materials should not exceed 150 MB.
Proposal
Following the DIS pictorial format that allows for visuals, texts, and creative layouts, the proposals are expected to provide a description of the artwork with motivating intention, concept, and philosophy. The proposal should be based at its core on a visual format to articulate, present and discuss the artwork. The length of the proposal should not exceed 6 pages.
You can find DIS pictorial templates in varied formats below, although we strongly advise you to use the InDesign template to compose your Pictorial. For detailed guidelines on how to put together a pictorial, please refer to the DIS 2025 website (https://dis.acm.org/2025/call-for-pictorials/).
DIS2022 Pictorials InDesign Template
DIS2022 Pictorials Word Template
DIS2022 Pictorials Powerpoint Template
Technical Specification Document
In a PDF document, artists should describe the technical specifications and requirements required to deliver the interactive experience. This can include diagrams and photos, what is needed at the venue, and it should detail any potential risks for attendees (including privacy concerns) and how they will be managed. This document does not have a page limit, nor does it need to follow a specific format.
Video
A supplementary video is mandatory as part of the submission. This should be under five minutes long, showcasing the interaction with the artwork. We strongly recommend you follow SIGCHI’s guide for videos: https://sigchi.org/resources/guides-for-authors/videos/. This video will be used to play in the venue and online.
Selection Process
Submitted works will be reviewed by a jury, and selected works will be exhibited in the exhibition space, and included in the Companion Publication of the Conference Proceedings by ACM. We are looking for novel, thought-provoking, evocative, sensor-rich interactive art experiences created by a diverse and broad group of creative practitioners. The selection will be based on the criteria listed below in order of priority.
- Creativity: original or innovative use of interactive media, articulating the relationships between interactivity and design
- Strength of the concept: depth, coherence, and originality
- Relevance to the theme: demonstrates the ability to shed light on, elaborate, or personalise the exhibition theme “Murmurs of the Sea”
- Feasibility: ease of installation (or provides clear guidance for installation) [NOTE: consider restrictions of set-up time, resources]
- Durability: work should be able to withstand users’ active interaction
Jury members: To be announced.
Policy on Use of GenAI
At DIS25 Art Track, we value the originality and creativity in the artworks that drives for novel interactive art experiences. In the artwork, we expect to see the ways of interaction and the compositions of various sensory materials (e.g., visual, sound, tactile) – either done computationally or manually – are crafted originally by the artist. From this perspective, the use of GenAI tools should be limited only to the making of low-level audio/visual elements instead of the components that manifest the key concepts, unless the artwork is explicitly experimenting with GenAI algorithms. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to contact us.
For the proposal writing, please refer to the Pictorial’s Policy on Use of Large Language Models (https://dis.acm.org/2025/call-for-pictorials/).
Upon Acceptance of Your Artwork
Upon acceptance, the curators will contact the artists to discuss details of the artwork and to discuss installation requirements. Final submissions – after being accepted and in addition to the initial submission items – should provide additional details of equipment needed, and specify what equipment will be provided by the artists.
DIS25 will be exclusively an in-person event, and attending online or via video will not be possible. It is the artists’ responsibility to ensure they can make it to Funchal, Madeira, for the conference in July 2025 before they submit.
Registration
Artists must register the conference in order to exhibit their works; however, they will be offered a student rate for the registration.
Financial Support
We have a limited budget for providing small financial support (up to around 1000 Euros) for those artists who are facing financial difficulties to attend the event. Please contact us for such needs and we will allocate funds according to the individual situation.
Exhibition Support
A simple catalogue of the exhibition will be produced.
We will attempt to provide some assistance with equipment and manpower for installation, but artists are must provide their own equipment and to be present during setup. The curators will be happy to provide a reference letter to aid artists in applying for funding.
Art Track Chairs
- Mara Dionísio, University of Madeira
- Huaxin Wei, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Mariana Pestana, University of Lisbon