Interactive Art &
“Weird games” submission list
Places to submit your interactives, game-likes, #altgames, art-games, story-games, e-lit, e-lit-hybrid-interactives, ‘notgames’, experimental things, interactive installations, videogames-without-the-space, et cetera.
If you know of anything that should be added to this document, send info to @animalphase or animalphase@gmail.com !
http://fantasticfest.com/arcade
Austin, Texas, USA
Sept 26th – Sept 29th
Part of the annual Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin, Texas. They like weird, quirky, charming stuff. Conference panels are held in a theater auditorium with table service!
✨ Submit: https://drafthouse.wufoo.com/forms/fantastic-arcade-2016/
Deadline: July 13th
Chicago, Illinois
August 13th
Next one coming up late summer
“Our goal is to promote games that either can’t be played at home, have unique controllers or experiences, or promote community or an artistic statement”
Deadline: ??
Nov 15 – 18, 2016
Los Angeles, California, USA
E-lit & academia-focused conference. In a different city around the world each year. 2016, it will be in LA!
They have a separate submission section for the exhibit.
✨ Submissions not yet open. http://icids2016.ict.usc.edu/exhibition/
Austin, Texas, USA
Monthly event focusing for videogames, cool interactive art, quirky fun stuff. Some of overlap between Jeugos Rancheros & Fantastic Arcade organizers. Chill venue space w/ large screen & a bar.
Typical format: In the beginning, Brandon Boyer will give a “fistful of indies” recap of some releases in the past month, later posted on the blog. Then there’s usually a featured display, and a few spaces where someone set up their own computer to show off their projects. If you want to show your game, email them in advance and they will print you a cute sign. (They may be able to show some projects from afar too, encouraged to send in your stuff!)
✨ Submit: contact@juegosrancheros.com
http://handeyesociety.com/wordplay/
Toronto, Ontario
November 5
Physical, installation, or performance works.
“WORDPLAY IS OUR FREE FESTIVAL CELEBRATING THE MOST INTERESTING USES OF WRITING AND WORDS IN CONTEMPORARY GAMES. EACH YEAR THERE WILL BE A CURATED GAME SHOWCASE, TALKS BY CREATORS ABOUT THE CRAFT, AND WAYS FOR THE PUBLIC TO LEARN ABOUT MAKING GAMES.”
Submission details TBD
November 4–8
alt-controller and alt-game focused event. There is an exhibition, and the main attraction is a game jam.
Submission details TBD
https://twitter.com/TheBitBazaar
“Toronto's celebration of videogames, zines and good food! Made with by @jennie. #8 coming summer 2016.”
Festival October 28-30.
Not alt-games specific, but they have inclusion. No submission yet?
May 20–22
“tinypalace is being organized by a small collective from Germany. We are people who make games and / or care about the development of this medium.”
Submissions are either already closed, or it was a curated exhibit?
Festival June 2–4
“This is not like other game design events. We avoid conference venues. There are usually multiple things going on at once, in different rooms. Any presenters we have are invited to do whatever they want, and that doesn’t have to be a talk if that’s not their kind of thing. Feral Vector is primarily about design, in a way that’s still accessible to non-industry people. If you feel like an impostor at games events, you’re not only welcome here, we encourage you to attend. “
Not sure if the even take submission, or if that time period has simply passed. Will add clarification when possible.
June 6–9
Seems to be VERY not-game-y. There’s a lot of data-vis, mixed media, installation-esque stuff. All kinds of digital or interactive works.
Toronto, Ontario
July 14-17, 2016.
“Canada’s pioneering game and new media art festival, Vector Festival is a participatory and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Presenting works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops, Vector acts as a critical bridge between emergent digital platforms and new media art practice.”
2016 submissions closed, sorry!
Late July 2016 (date & location TBD—Korea, possibly with Online Showcase/Event?)
“Q: Is Out Of Index a festival for independent games?
A: No. Out Of Index is a festival for experimental games. Anyone can submit if they can explain why their game is experimental.”
2016 submissions closed, sorry!
Los Angeles, California, USA
Oct 14–16
Not alt-games specific, they choose a lot of very “gamey” games, but they do like more experimental stuff as well. Sometimes they have special section for stuff.
New York City, New York, USA. NYU Magnet Center.
Very inclusive, academic conference with an arcade exhibition that accepts a wide variety of submissions. The people involved are wonderful, and overall it feels very well-run.
Different Games 2016 already occurred.
Dundee, Scotland.
2016 Submissions closed.
Berlin, Germany
2016 already happened and I’m sure it was cool!
Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Overall interactive arts & games interest focusing on works produced in or relevant to Southeastern USA. Part of a larger festival that also has film & fashion components. They like gamey-games and experimental altgames works (probably lean more toward the alt stuff). 2016 already happened and it seemed pretty cool!
London, England
“The festival is designed to showcase the wider possibilities of games. The peculiar, the beautiful, the deeply experimental.“
2016 submissions are over. Here is the exhibition list: http://nowplaythis.net/2016-exhibition/
https://www.egx.net/rezzed/news/leftfield-collection-revealed
2016 already happened!
Belgium
2016 already happened and I’m sure it was cool!
https://www.cptheatre.co.uk/production/beta-public-presents/
2016 already happened and I’m sure it was cool!
Brazil
2016 submissions are over for now!
http://playfulartsfestival.com
June 3
Physical, installation, or performance works.
“Celebrate art, play, performance, design and social interaction”. “Our program is not yet complete! We’ve left some spots open for you to fill in. It can either be a playful installation or a temporary event, an improvised play, a dance, playful intervention, performance, game, a story or any other form that challenges visitors to playfully engage with the work.”
QGCon is cool. I’ve only been to one of their “off-shoot” events, so I don’t actually know much about the “real one”. Please inform me & I will be happy to add info here! And attend if I can! hehe
The host monthly events, maybe other things?
Not sure if they take submissions, looking into it.
http://thewildrumpus.co.uk/sendusyourgames
They do parties in different places. Mostly party game or spectacle focused. They also have a “Mild Rumpus” at GDC every year that is good for more chill, single-player projects. I don’t know if that comes from the same submission pool, though, or if it’s just curated by them without submissions.
http://notgames.colognegamelab.com
Maybe there will be another one?
Gray area has multiple events, many times embedded into other events like burning man. They also seem to be involved in other kinds of things like theaters and workshops. I will fill in more as I learn more!
https://twitter.com/PressFiretoWin
“A community of artists, coders and enthusiasts, into indie games - based in the south of England. Next - Pop up Arcade - September 2016”
(They don’t take submissions, may remove from this document in the future)
A group called YMPT ( http://www.ympt.co.uk ) runs a lot of events. Might be worth checking out the events they are involved with!