ISEA 2023 SYMBIOSIS

With 1,400 applications from 70 countries, ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS is the major event for the global digital creation and research-creation community in 2023.

ISEA is held each year in a different country. After China, Colombia, South Africa, South Korea and Canada, the 28th edition will be held in Paris and more widely in France in spring 2023. This year's theme is symbiosis.

A transdisciplinary event, it brings together players in the digital arts, creative industries, cultural innovation, design and research. ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS will offer a unique programme of conferences, round tables, participatory workshops, project presentations, exhibitions and performances.

New objects, new generation

Virtuality, connectivity, AI, data, robotics, NFT, metavers but also bio-design or neuroscience are all fields that have been interacting with creation for a long time now and that are accelerating. Artists, designers and researchers are not mere users, they actively participate in the emergence of these innovations through their creative practices and transdisciplinary projects, sometimes co-inventing them. 

Following the pioneers to whom we must pay tribute, a new generation of hybrid profiles is emerging, challenging the old categorizations between research and creation. The transformation of uses and practices in the era of algorithmic intelligences and the questions it raises, renews productive models and uses. The processes of creation and research are hybridizing.  This evolution is part of the major issues of transformation of our societies, environmental and geopolitical. ISEA2023 is dedicated to these pioneers and creative youth.

Spaces to welcome them and create a symbiosis

To meet these challenges, ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS applies the theme of the event to its own format by proposing two major programs that are closely associated in a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship, like the lichen (symbiotic living organism formed by algae and fungi):

— The networked artistic program (50 venues) offers thematic tours around symbiosis in a network of partners in Paris and in France, during several weeks. It irrigates the territory and thus brings to ISEA2023 both an anchoring in various places and an opening to diversity. The public can discover a wide variety of installations, virtual or augmented realities, performances, concerts, video games, design, films or digital books. 

The tours will also be available on a dedicated online platform. This program has been developed through a call for projects and an international jury, under the artistic responsibility of Cube-Garges. 

— The Symposium is the central place of ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS (6 000 m2) where audiences, artists, designers, researchers and innovators meet to exchange in a symbiotic way in the heart of Paris and participate in a program of conferences, round tables, demos and tutorials, institutional presentations, artist-talks, workshops, etc. The Forum des images-TUMO Paris will host this major event, which will be associated with a streaming platform specially designed for the symposium. 

The symbiosis also applies to the way of presenting these innovative research and projects, understandable by a large audience while maintaining the required quality, with simultaneous translations in the two large auditoriums. This Symposium was developed through a call for applications and an international jury, under the academic responsibility of EnsadLab (the research laboratory of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, a member of PSL University).

The program of the Symposium will be the subject of a publication (proceedings of rank A in the world scientific nomenclature): this publication will bring together articles that have never been published before, thus making it possible to make research through art and design, research-creation and any approach that closely associates creation, science and technology, more widely known and recognized.

+1 400 Applications and projects received

+70 Countries of origin of applications from 5 continents

+6 000m2 Symposium, central location of ISEA2023 in the heart of Paris

+50 Cultural partner venues         

+2 000 Creators, researchers, innovators      

+100 000 Expected audiences

+200 Expected institutions and structures (laboratories, schools, art centers, associations, collectives, industries, universities, government representatives, etc.)

An international perspective on electronic art and research-creation: A unique opportunity to highlight the French scene and to foster partnership and dialogue on an international scale.

An inter-disciplinary platform of exchange: Collective intelligence and network dynamics are essential for experimentation, research and innovation processes. ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS promotes cross-fertilisation between transformation actors.

A strong meeting between the actors of electronic art and the public: ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS offers the public an opportunity to discover the latest trends, best practices, and most of-the-moment works in electronic art, on an international scale.

An inclusive approach to thinking contemporary issues: Around the theme SYMBIOSIS, ISEA2023 SYMBIOSIS intends to explore new possibilities in the light of contemporary issues, to open up new imaginations and to encourage the collective writing of new stories.

The launchpad to a better future: The organizers of ISEA2023 are invested in a better world, which is why we seek to encourage dialogue between creation, science, and innovation in the service of the common good.