[Commlist] cfp: Apparatus: The Role of Technology in Illustration

CfP Extension deadline -Apparatus: The Role of Technology in Illustration

Call for Conference papers and contributions

Apparatus: The Role of Technology in Illustration

15th International Illustration Research Symposium

21–22 November 2025, Koç University, Istanbul

please submit your interest by 10th of April  2025 (extended deadline)

Machines, appliances, gizmos, and contraptions have always been a part 
of illustration, enabling illustrators to transform their thoughts into 
real-life forms. The machine’s abilities, aesthetics, and impacts on 
humanity have always been a source of inspiration and concern. With the 
discussion raging around artificial intelligence as a game-changing 
technology, and when computers seem to inextricably serve as parts of 
creation and of our lives, perhaps it is time to take stock and consider 
the long-established but fluctuating relationship between illustration 
and the machine.

Throughout time, analogue and multimedia devices have offered new 
image–text relationships, bringing new modalities to illustration such 
as movement, touch and sound. The digital has offered data 
visualisation, calculated modulation; and access to nano and macro 
worlds, expanding the illustrator’s visual language and scope. Self-made 
contraptions, and emergent technologies such as digital lenses and 
wearables open new avenues for innovative visual experiences. 
Illustrators, by applying their creative visual knowledge and 
participating in the innovation of scientific tools, have expanded the 
possibilities of machines. The long history of illustrating machines not 
only shows the art of technical drawing, but also our aesthetic 
fascination with them.

On the other hand, the technological drive towards progress has also 
created wasteful obsolescence and loss of knowledge and traditions. The 
potential for overtaking human creation, alongside the restricting 
impact of machine technology, should not be overlooked, especially when 
considered in relation to the authority held by creative-technology 
developers? The often-celebrated handmade quality, aura of authenticity 
and personal “voice” contribute to a distinctly humanizing presence in 
illustration. Subconsciously, or perhaps consciously, this evokes a 
desire for the absence of the machine. Ironically, the very machines 
that illustrative practices have oftentimes resisted can now come close 
to replicating this human-like quality artificially.

For the 15th International Illustration Research Symposium on Apparatus 
& Illustration, we invite papers and posters that demonstrate, expand 
upon, and discuss the question: As the terrain of the apparatus expands, 
how does illustration define its relationship with the machine? How have 
machines and their technologies empowered or undermined the illustrator? 
How have machines enabled, defined or restricted new and exploratory 
creative processes and ways of thinking, in the past, present and 
future? Can a machine actually make illustrations? What can we take away 
from machine-made illustrations? Can a machine be an illustration? Can 
illustration be a machine?

Possible topics in relation to the questions may include:

 >Devices, gears, machines, technologies, contraptions and gizmos

 >Illustration machines

 >Machines as illustration

 >Emerging technologies and tools

 >Perception through machines

 >Machine-aided illustration

 >Current and historical technical illustration practices

 >Representation of machines

 >Use of creativity in scientific visualisation practices

 >Culturally located creative practices

 >Global cultures and practices

 >Machine and creative ownership

 >Machine learning and artificial intelligence

 >The role and power of the machine

 >Impact of machine usage

Call for Papers and Posters

Please submit your interest by 10^th of April 2025 (extended deadline).

All submissions should be in .pdf format to: (ialaca /at/ ku.edu.tr) 
<mailto:(ialaca /at/ ku.edu.tr)> (subject line: 15th International Research 
Symposium)

To submit a paper proposal, include:

• Working paper title

• A 300-word written proposal detailing how the paper relates to the 
symposium themes

• 3 images maximum

• 100-word biography and affiliation

To submit a poster proposal, include:

• Working poster title

• 150-word written proposal detailing how the visual work relates to the 
symposium themes

• 5 images maximum (from your own practice and/or research)

• 100-word biography and affiliation

Posters will be exhibited alongside the symposium. Posters can be fully 
illustrational. Format specifications and practicalities for poster 
printing and display will be shared after the submission deadline has 
passed.

We welcome proposals for presentation and exhibition of portable 
machines, or visual representations of machines such as illustration 
artwork, photographic or moving images. You can also submit works that 
challenge the traditional understanding of tools and machines within 
illustration-focused projects. Do note that the possibility for 
exhibition of physical machines is restricted and the costs of transport 
and installation cannot be covered. Feel free to contact us for more 
details.

Convenors:

Ilgım Veryeri Alaca, Koç University, Türkiye

Nanette Hoogslag, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Dilek Yördem, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Türkiye

For more information please contact (ialaca /at/ ku.edu.tr) 
<mailto:(ialaca /at/ ku.edu.tr)> (subject line: 15th International Research 
Symposium)

Weblink: 
*https://kuarc.ku.edu.tr/research-symposium/#tab_html_018c25bd921c84b522c970ddddd5ae00* 



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