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Event History
We are pleased to announce a two-day international conference on April 22-23, 2026 at the Royal Institute of Technology and at Uppsala University dedicated to examining the rapidly evolving landscape of comics. Rather than framing this transformation solely as a rupture, the conference seeks to situate it within a longer history of computational rationality— a lineage in which the medium has continuously negotiated the demands of efficiency, scalability, and technical constraint. Our aim is to critically rethink comics not as passive recipients of technological change, but as active computational configurations: media fundamentally entangled with systems of automation, standardization, and information processing.
What Makes this event different?
Open to scholars, artists, designers, engineers, librarians/archivists, and practitioners at any career stage. Individual or collective submissions welcome. We invite original work (research or practice-based) engaging comics and computation across the listed themes. Submissions must include a 250-word abstract and 150-word bio. -- We invite submissions for the following presentation formats: * Research Papers (20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion): Traditional academic presentations suitable for theoretical, historical, or analytical work * Practice-Based Presentations (15 minutes + 15 minutes discussion): Presentations by creators, artists, and practitioners demonstrating work and reflecting on process * Interactive Demonstrations (30 minutes): Hands-on sessions showcasing new tools, platforms, or methodologies * Panel Discussions (90 minutes): Collaborative sessions bringing together multiple perspectives on specific themes * Lightning Talks (5 minutes): Brief presentations ideal for work-in-progress, provocations, or preliminary findings * Workshop Sessions (3 hours): Extended collaborative sessions for skill-sharing and collective exploration of tools and methods
Call for Papers and Talks
Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm & Uppsala University, Sweden
22-23 April, 2026
Deadline for submissions: 1st December, 2025
“Comics and Machines”
Steering committee:
Jan Baetens, Jaqueline Berndt, Jan von Bonsdorff, Gareth Brookes, Benoît Crucifix, Björn-Olav Dozo, Anna Foka, Isabelle Gribomont, Andre Holzapfel, Per Israelson, Gaëtan Le Coarer, Ilan Manouach, Pedro Moura, Everardo Reyes, Keith Tillford, Ray Whitcher
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We are pleased to announce a two-day international conference on April 22-23, 2026 at the Royal Institute of Technology and at Uppsala University dedicated to examining the rapidly evolving landscape of comics. Rather than framing this transformation solely as a rupture, the conference seeks to situate it within a longer history of computational rationality— a lineage in which the medium has continuously negotiated the demands of efficiency, scalability, and technical constraint. Our aim is to critically rethink comics not as passive recipients of technological change, but as active computational configurations: media fundamentally entangled with systems of automation, standardization, and information processing.
Submission instructions:
Abstract length : 250 words
Short bio: 150 words
Deadline for abstracts: 1st December 2025
Notifications of acceptance: 30th December 2025
Send to conference@echochamber.be
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Info:
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With production support by Src Material, a non-profit organization supporting artists and researchers at the vanguard of new media.
