Important Dates

Abstract/Metadata Due: 29 January 2026
Final Submission Due: 5 February 2026
Notifications: 3 April 2026
Camera-ready Deadline: 4 May 2026

Deadlines are specified as Anywhere on Earth time.

Venue

In-person, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (UK) 13-16 July 2026

Chairs

Rocio von Jungenfeld (University of Kent)
Joana Chicau (University of the Arts London)
Phoenix Perry (University of the Arts London)

Contact Email: art2026@cc.acm.org

Curatorial Advisory Committee

• Dr Daphne Dragona (independent curator & writer)
• Prof Ina Conradi (Nanyang Technological University Singapore)
• Dr Gabriel Menotti (Queen’s University CA)
• Dr Nancy Mauro-Flude (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)
• Dr Clarissa Ribeiro (University of São Paulo and the Roy Ascott Studio—DeTao at SIVA)
• Dr Paulina Yurman (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts)
• Tiisetso Dladla (University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg)

The theme Creativity for Change invites the artists to explore how creativity and its processes can:

• inspire and enable societal transformation, 
• drive positive change, 
• address decolonization, 
• tackle climate action,
• enquire into environmental and posthumanist relationships, 
• support place-making in urban and cultural contexts. 

We invite submissions in various formats that highlight how interactive systems, design, and creative processes and outputs can foster positive change and respond to global challenges.  

Note:
If your submission was accepted to C&C25, it will have to be resubmitted for the 2026 edition to be considered for C&C26 Arts gallery space in London (UK).

The 2026 C&C Arts Exhibitions will be curated under the conference theme Creativity for Change. The exhibition will explore how artists, architects, designers, makers use creativity and its processes to inspire and enable societal transformation, drive positive change and respond to pressing global challenges (i.e. decolonization,climate action, environmental and posthumanist relationships, place-making in urban and cultural contexts).

Whether creativity is used to raise awareness, reimagine potential futures, enquire into issues or as a tool for experimentation or for initiating change that explores the questions of how creativity and creative processes can:

• foster positive change and respond to local and global challenges?
• open up new possibilities and help co-create future realities?
• be the lens through which to enquire into societal and/or environmental matters?

These ideas can be exhibited in the form of physical-digital objects such as generative artworks, photography, animation, film and moving image, sound pieces, interactive installations, virtual / augmented/mixed realities, performances and / or works that are suited to special technological platforms that will be presented at the exhibition venue.

In your application, you should indicate the spatial, technical and environmental needs of your work, i.e. does it require power or wired / wifi internet, does it need to be in the dark, or spot-lit, does it require listening to or does it make sound, can it be outdoors, does it have a time duration, it runs once, it loops, etc.

The Arts Exhibitions will also engage their visitors in various ways. Audiences for the physical gallery space will likely be conference attendees, university staff and students, and invited guests. As is fitting with the theme of creativity for change, the works should respond to and change if necessary, to fit with the exhibition space requirements and available equipment.

Artwork papers should be prepared using the ACM submission template (Latex and Word templates are available) in single-column format. We require the Project Description document to be submitted as a PDF in the ACM SIGCHI submission template format (SIGCHI ACM new, standardised single-column format) since this will be included in the curated proceedings for this exhibition.

Submit two documents:

(1) Project Description (2000 words max, excluding titles, references and figure / table captions) that includes:

• Narrative description of the piece (conceptual goals and its functional operations);
• Links to documentation and / or visual portfolio of the artwork;

(2) Technical Rider (specify the technical and logistical requirements of the piece):

• Work dimensions and space requirements;
• Equipment requirements;
• Installation requirements for software and/or hardware;
• Requirements for scheduling of real-time artworks (if it applies);
• If the piece needs to be shipped to / from the gallery space (if it applies);
• You can include images / schemas.
• Include an indication of any safety implications, such as soldering, that may require compliance with health and safety regulations.
• Please have a look at the exhibition space available, located in the atrium space called The Street inside Central Saint Martins

Submissions are single-blind peer reviewed and authors are not required to ensure their submissions are anonymous.

Incorrectly formatted submissions might be rejected. Online guidance is available from the ACM here:

Link: https://www.acm.org/publications/authors/submissions 

Examples of accepted submissions to the Artworks Track from previous C&C in-person editions are available via the ACM Digital Library, for guidance, please check the 2024 proceedings: https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3635636 and 2022 proceedings: https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3527927

Submissions are now closed.

Please submit via the Precision Conference (PCS) website here:

Link: https://new.precisionconference.com/submissions

Once you have logged into the PCS website, select the following options (available from December 2025) under “Submissions” and click the Go button.

• Society: SIGCHI
• Conference/Journal: Creativity & Cognition 2026
• Track: Creativity & Cognition 2026 Artworks

Submissions to the Arts Track are single-blind peer reviewed and juried by the C&C 26 Curatorial Advisory Committee. 

Accepted C&C Artworks will be included in the proceedings and distributed by the conference and in the ACM Digital Library where they will remain accessible to researchers and practitioners worldwide into the future.

Authors are expected to register and attend the in-person conference and will be required to be available to install / de-rig their artwork and participate in the exhibition opening, where they will present their artworks to conference attendees.

In support of the Arts Exhibition, we have a small amount of funding available to support some selected artists when shipping or travelling with their artworks. Selected artists will be informed of the details upon acceptance.

We also have a small SIGCHI Development Fund award to support the participation of some artists who are independent or non-affiliated. If that describes your situation, please get in touch via email.

If your submission is accepted you and your co-authors will be subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects.

Please ensure that all authors obtain an ORCID ID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start and we are committed to: 

• collect ORCID IDs from all our published authors,
• improve author discoverability,
• ensure proper attribution, and 
• contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization.

Your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.

For more details on ACM’s publication policies, please refer to the official ACM website.

If you have any questions, please contact us at art2026@cc.acm.org