[Air-L] Call for submissions: “The Almanac of Artificial Seasons”

[Marianne Goldin]

Dear Air-L readers:

We are pleased to invite submissions for the forthcoming book “The Almanac
of Artificial Seasons”, edited by Delta Ark/World Engines Lab & Ilan
Manouach. Please reach out to the editors directly with any enquiries:
almanac /at/ echochamber.be.

Marianne Goldin
Src Material
www.srcmaterial.org
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Call for Contributions
“The Almanac of Artificial Seasons”
Deadline: July 1, 2025

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.

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#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 #warintheageofintelligentmachines #biopunk #postcyberpunk

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Submission Requirements:

 * Short bio (150 words)
 * Abstract (250 words)
 * Visual documentation (up to 10 images and/or 1 min. of video)

Send to: almanac /at/ echochamber.be
Info: https://www.echochamber.be/
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Timeline:

 * Deadline for abstracts: July 1st, 2025
 * Notifications of acceptance: August 1st, 2025

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Editors:

World Engines Lab:
https://grayarea.org/create/research-labs/world-engines-lab/
Delta Ark: https://delta.center/
Ilan Manouach: https://ilanmanouach.com/

Support from:

Src Material: https://www.srcmaterial.org/
Echo Chamber: https://www.echochamber.be/

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Contact: almanac /at/ echochamber.be