Call for Works: Flagship Exhibition | VF26

Presented by InterAccess, Vector Festival 2026’s flagship exhibition, Who Cares for the Cyborg, curated by Ciar O'Mahony, invites artists to investigate the history of the computational body: machinic, biological, or in-between.

From the 1600s to the 1950s, the term “computer” referred to a human mathematician who solved long and complicated equations in the service of astronomy, marine navigating, warfare, and more. This work was at once difficult, tedious, and relied on accurately repeating rote mathematical tasks. 

Today, that meaning is lost, and we understand the computer as a piece of electronic technology with seemingly unlimited applications in our day-to-day life. Generations have outsourced intellectual processes to these devices, from complex algebra in the early days of machine computing to large language models taking over today’s essays and emails. Many of us demand unlimited service from our computers without understanding how they physically operate. 

Who Cares for the Cyborg zooms in on the parallels between human and computer bodies, looking at how we overheat and sweat, transmit and consume, bleed coolant, and how flows of knowledge are circuited through our veins. In an era of thinner phones and hidden wires, the physical footprint of our technology is obscured, erasing the possibility for maintenance and care. How does this impact those with insulin pumps at their hips or prosthetic arms that require batteries? Can we push back against the techno-optomist desire to create pre-packaged and ordained posthuman bodies by seeking to better understand the machines already in our homes?

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Timeline

Application deadline: March 30, 2026
Exhibition dates: July 9 – August 8, 2026
Installation dates: June 29 – July 3, 2026

Artists are expected to be available for installation

Type of Artwork

New media artworks for a group exhibition installation.

Location

Vector Festival’s flagship exhibition is held on-site at InterAccess (32 Lisgar Street, Toronto, ON M6J 0C7).

Gallery floor plan is available upon request via email.

Fees

Vector Festival does not charge submission fees or provide production expenses. All artists selected for participation will receive fees in accordance with CARFAC and IMAA fee schedules, as well as support to apply for external funding.

Equity

InterAccess is committed to equity and strongly encourages applications from equity-deserving communities, including artists who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, LGBTQ-identified, Gender Diverse, Two-Spirit, and Persons with Disabilities. 

Contact

Please reach out to art@interaccess.org with any questions.

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Image: Salganik, Matthew J., Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age. "Solving a problem on ENIAC was a time consuming and painstaking affair, involving the setting of thousands of switches and cables", p. 127

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