[Commlist] CFP: Comics and Machines Conference 2026

Call for Papers and Talks

Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm & Uppsala University, Sweden

22-23 April, 2026


“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


Today, the field of comics is undergoing a profound transformation 
marked by a growing heterogeneity of forms, formats, and production 
processes. From synthetic comics, operational images, data-driven 
visualization to embodied, non-visual comics, comics are expanding 
beyond the conceptual and historical frameworks that have traditionally 
defined it. Existing models in research— grounded in the artisanal craft 
traditions, narratology, text-image correlation, and human-centered 
authorship— are struggling to account for this rapidly diversifying 
landscape. Craft-based approaches might appear resistant or inadequate 
in the face of new technological practices that recombine production, 
circulation, and reception through computational logics.The current 
moment compels a broader redefinition of comics as fundamentally 
technical objects. The boundaries that once separated comics from 
technical and operational systems are dissolving. To grasp the full 
scope of these developments, we must account for comics as sites where 
technological processes are not external influences but internal engines 
— where creation is entangled with computation, standardization, and new 
modes of mediation. As computational processes— from machine learning to 
synthetic image generation and communication systems powered by computer 
vision— increasingly shape the creation, distribution, and experience of 
comics, it is no longer sufficient to understand the medium solely 
through the lenses of narrative, visual storytelling, or artisanal 
craft. Recognizing comics as engineered configurations of information, 
relational diagrams, and experimental knowledge structures is not a 
speculative gesture; it is a necessary step for understanding the 
profound transformation underway in the medium’s ontology, practice, and 
future potential.


Within this expanded computational landscape, comics increasingly 
function as sites of artistic research— experimental configurations that 
generate knowledge through making rather than merely representing it. As 
comics engage with computational systems, they become laboratories for 
investigating the material conditions of contemporary media production. 
These research-oriented practices extend beyond traditional academic 
boundaries. Rather than simply illustrating research findings, 
comics-as-research deploys their unique capacity for relational 
thinking— the medium’s inherent ability to orchestrate temporal, 
spatial, and conceptual relationships — to investigate how technical 
systems reshape creative labor, audience relations, and the very 
possibility of narrative meaning. This artistic research dimension 
positions comics not as objects of study but as active investigative 
tools, capable of generating insights about computational culture that 
emerge specifically through the medium’s hybrid technical-aesthetic 
operations.


We are pleased to announce a two-day international conference on April 
22-23, 2026 at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 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.


We welcome submissions addressing the following areas (among others):


* Histories of automation and engineering in comics production and 
distribution

* Transformations in formats and workflows driven by technological change

* Comics as data: informatization, discretization, and database design

* Human-machine collaborations in past, present, and speculative comics 
practice

* Audience and user labor in automated platforms and circulation systems

* Data-mining and recirculation techniques in digital comics ecologies

* Machine subjectivities: authorship, intention, and expression in 
machinic agents

* Computational archiving practices: scraping, clustering, and vectorization

* Speculative and critical practices addressing automation and machinic 
mediation

* Industrial logics in comics: international and comparative perspectives

* Resistance to automation: sabotage, slow media, and disobedient design

* Operational aesthetics: the visual and affective languages of automation

* Speculative histories and alternative futures of comics as technical media

* Comics as simulations: diagrams, blueprints, and procedural environments

* Comics as artistic research methodologies: practice-based inquiry and 
knowledge production where comics are used to interrogate emerging 
technologies and social systems



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


–


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 /at/ echochamber.be) <mailto:(conference /at/ echochamber.be)>


–


With production support by Src Material <http://srcmaterial.org>, a 
non-profit organization supporting artists and researchers at the 
vanguard of new media.


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