Call for Contributions: The Almanac of Artificial Seasons
Edited By Delta Ark/World Engines Lab & Ilan Manouach w/ the support of Src Material (Seattle) and Echo Chamber (Brussels)
What are the (synthetic, mental, etc) landscapes that emerge from the deregulation of climate, the acceleration of machine learning technologies and trend towards neo-feudalism?
The Almanac of Artificial Seasons is a collection exploring the unstable territories emerging at the intersection of these forces.
We invite theoretical articles, comics and documentations for artistic projects such as Unreal Engine environments, motion capture performances and interactive narratives, that delve into the shifting landscapes where climate transformation, ai technologies, network (and anti- network) politics and artistic practice converge.
To grasp the current changes in climate, acceleration of ML technologies and global trend towards neo-feudalism is to engage with a massive, nonlocal entity—one that is composed of thousands of disparate models, operates on incompatible scales, and is derived from diverse data collection practices and heterogeneous objects. These systems transcend the limitations of human spatiotemporal specificities, rendering any attempt at understanding them from a conventional epistemological distance insufficient.
Instead, these phenomena require us to embrace multiple disciplinary perspectives that can collectively capture their intricate dynamics. As climate instability disrupts traditional state functions, decision-making shifts toward automated systems, where predictive analytics dictate migration policies and algorithmic models optimize disaster response—sometimes reinforcing inequalities rather than resolving them. No single field can fully elucidate the layers of interactions and feedback loops present in these dynamics.
This anthology (book and site) creates a space for exploring these emerging territories. The works collected here suggest that our future might not just be a story of adaptation or collapse, but of transformation into forms we can barely begin to imagine - some promising, some terrifying, many both at once.
#machinelearing #multiagentsystems #digitalhumans #ecosimulation #environmentalsensing #simulation #unnrealengine #gameengines #motioncapture #manga #comics #conceptualcomics #borne #vandermeer #drownedcities #bacigalupi #blame! #nihei #thebookofkoli #nausicaaofthevalleyofthewind #theskycrawlers #ergoproxy #haibanerenmei #firehunter #horizonzerodawnbutnodinosaurs #cavesofqud #xenogears #hyperlightdrifter #nierautomata #life3.0 #lifeasnooneknowsit #situationalawareness #networkstates #darwinamongthemachines #symbiogensis #technium #
Submission Requirements:
Short bio (150 words)
Abstract (250 words)
Visual documentation (up to 10 images and/or 1 min. of video)
Send to: [email protected]
Info: https://www.echochamber.be/en/
Timeline:
Deadline for abstracts: July 1st, 2025
Notifications of acceptance: August 1st, 2025
Src Material is a proud supporter of The Almanac of Artificial Seasons
LINK: THE ALMANAC OF ARTIFICIAL SEASONS (Special thanks to Marianne Goldin/Src Material)
