The 30th International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art Seoul (ISEA2025) in partnership the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee is proud to sponsor the 2nd Speculative Futures International Student Competition. The ISEA2025 theme, ‘동동 (憧憧, Dong-Dong): Creators’ Universe’, aspires to transcend the harsh realities of conflict and antagonism, initiating a global wave of unity sparked by a newfound allure. Connecting with this year’s ISEA theme, the Speculative Futures Exhibition seeks to challenge and expand our understanding of the creative and research processes of knowing about ourselves and the world around us.
The mission of the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee is to foster year-round engagement and dialogue within the digital, electronic, computational, and media arts. We facilitate dynamic scholarship and creative programming within the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. Our goal is to promote collaboration between artists and the larger computer graphics and interactive techniques community.
Theme: Speculative Futures
Deadline was: April 15, 2025 (submissions are now not accepted)
Entry Guidelines:
Submit a video, animation, film, or documentation of an interactive artwork that imaginatively explores and interprets the broad theme of Speculative Futures.
We are excited to find out about the many critical and creative issues that might emerge in your speculative future. For example, how might future humans think, act and dress? What new innovative technologies will we utilise, and how will we interact with one another as well as nonhuman species? You might envision a dazzling technological utopia, a dystopian nightmare, a thoughtful reflection on environmental and social challenges, or a critical call to action for Planet Earth in these conflict-ridden times. As you explore speculative ideas, consider how your artwork might advance important connections between humanity, nature and technology, material and spiritual realms, or contrast artistic traditions with new innovations. How does your creation respond to today’s fragmented realities while inspiring connection, solidarity, and hope? Does it critique current paths or propose bold new ways of being, addressing global crises and opportunities for unity in an increasingly divided world?
We encourage a diverse array of creative approaches that align with the multifaceted nature of Speculative Futures in digital art. Unleash your creativity and share your vision with the world.
Selected works will be showcased at ISEA2025 in Seoul, Korea, the SIGGRAPH 2025 Conference, and on our online platforms, allowing participants to reach audiences on both national and international stages. Submissions will be judged based on creativity, concept, originality, execution, and alignment with the theme by an esteemed panel of international jurors.
You can view last year’s exhibition site here. Let your vision of the future inspire others to imagine uncharted possibilities! Submit your work and join us in this second exciting exploration of Speculative Futures.
Exhibition Details:
Selected works will be showcased at:
- ISEA 2025 in Seoul, Korea (May 23-29, 2025).
- SIGGRAPH 2025 in the ACM SIGGRAPH Village in Vancouver, Canada (August 10-14, 2025).
- ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee website.
The award winners will be announced at ISEA2025, SIGGRAPH 2025, and ACM Digital Arts Committee’s website. The first-place winners in each category will receive conference passes for ISEA 2025 or SIGGRAPH 2025 and be invited to speak briefly at the conferences. In addition, the winning works will be promoted on all social media channels of both events.
Eligibility:
Participants must be currently enrolled as students in an accredited educational institution, or within one year after graduation.
Deadline was: April 15, 2025
Notifications: Before May 1, 2025
Submission Categories:
- Undergraduate Work
- Graduate Work (MA, MFA, PhD)
Submission Requirements
- One entry per student or student group
- Video/animation/film of less than 10 minutes, submitted for review via URL. We will request the final video from selected applicants only once the review process is complete. Make sure your link is not password protected so your submission can be reviewed. We do not have time to contact people who submit password-protected links.
- A representational image is required (file size max. 2Mb)
- Artist statement (up to 100 words) plus a 50-word short statement appropriate for online promotion
- Technical Information – software, programming, AI tools, etc. (up to 100 words)
- Medium (ie, animation, film, installation documentation, rendered gameplay)
- Duration (if time-based)
- Year produced
- Link to the work online
- Photo of yourself
- Information about yourself:
- Full name
- School
- Year in School and (projected) graduation date
- City, Province/State, Country
- Link to portfolio website
- Additional Social Media links
Disclaimer:
If you used AI in the creation of your artwork, please specify that in your technical information. We have no problem with creative and innovative uses of new generative technologies, provided you specify that you used it.
You should not use any copyrighted materials in your work, and you are responsible for all copyright-related issues.
Questions? Contact Rewa Wright at rewa.wright@qut.edu.au
Rebecca Ruige Xu currently teaches computer art and animation at Syracuse University. Her artwork and research interests include experimental animation, visual music, artistic data visualization, interactive installations, digital performance, and virtual reality. Her recent work has been shown at: ISEA; Ars Electronica; SIGGRAPH Art Gallery; IEEE VIS Arts Program, Museum of Contemporary Art, Italy; Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, USA; FILE– Electronic Language International Festival, Brazil; International Digital Art Exhibition, China; Boston Cyberarts Festival, USA.
Bonnie Mitchell is a new media artist and Professor at Bowling Green State University in Digital Arts, in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA. Mitchell is a member of the ACM SIGGRAPH History and Digital Arts Committee where she focuses on the development of the SIGGRAPH archives and coordination of the SPARKS lecture series. Mitchell’s artworks explore spatial and experiential relationships to our physical, social, cultural, and psychological environment through interaction, abstraction and audio. Her current creative practice focuses on development of physically immersive environments using interaction via electronics and special FX to reveal change over time. Her work has been exhibited internationally at numerous venues.
Rewa Wright has been working with augmented (AR) and mixed reality (MR) since 2012, and has 20 years of experience in various aspects of photographic, moving, and virtual image creation. Wright weaves together theory and practice in philosophy, cyberfeminism, interaction design, technoculture, camera-less photography, and artificial vision technologies with living plants and custom built software to examine the conditions of our relationship to computation, ecology and the body. Rewa is Māori from Ngati Taweke/Te Rarawa/Te Uri o Hau hapu of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Indigenous practices are emergent in their mixed reality performances that incorporate and adapt gestures from traditional dance, and permeate an investigation of plant-data-body ecologies.
Yongsoon Choi is a professor at Art & Technology at Sogang University, Seoul, Korea and leads the Lifestyle Media Group (http://LifestyleMedia.org) at Art & Technology at Graduate School of Sogang University. His main research interest is in enhancing human communication and relationships using novel interaction ways such as natural wearable interactions & interfaces, food media, multi-modal & cross-modal interactions, and affective & empathetic new media design.
Kyle Hyunsuk Kim is a design educator and creative director based in Seoul. He is a Professor at the School of Design and Dean of the Graduate School of Film and Digital Media at Hongik University. With over 30 years of experience, he specializes in interactive design, motion graphics, and UI/UX. He has worked extensively across digital media, leading diverse projects in both academia and industry. Currently serving as President of the Korean Society of Design Science, he continues to contribute to design research and practice. His work has been showcased in exhibitions in Korea and internationally.