Organizer Information
Mesh Festival is a new festival for art, technology, and future-oriented urban culture, co-organised by three institutions: HEK – Haus der Elektronischen Künste, HGK Basel FHNW (University of Art and Design Basel), and iart ag (Studio for Media Architectures).
The festival is committed to exploring how digital technologies, art, architecture, and community practices intersect to shape urban living spaces, public space, and future imaginaries. Its aim is to create a platform for experimental, interdisciplinary, collaborative art-technology projects that reflect social, ecological, and technological concerns.
Title & Description
Open Call 2026 – Mesh Festival: “urban actions | spatial utopias”
Mesh Festival 2026 invites artists, technologists, researchers, collectives, NGOs, community initiatives, and interdisciplinary collaborators to submit experimental and collaborative projects that reimagine “care” as a social, ecological, and technological practice embedded in the urban fabric. The second edition, under the theme urban actions | spatial utopias, explores the spatial, digital, and societal effects of hybrid urban spaces — where physical, virtual, ecological, and algorithmic structures overlap. The festival seeks works that critically reflect on how future cities might be designed to be more just, sustainable, accessible, and community-oriented under the influence of emerging technologies.
Categories
- Installation (site-specific, public/urban space)
- Immersive / Digital / Media Art (AR/VR, projections, interactive environments)
- Performance, Sound, and Multimedia Performance
- Film, Video & Screenings (media art / experimental)
- Workshops, Talks, or Participatory / Community-based Actions
- Research-based, Hybrid or Interdisciplinary Projects combining art, architecture, technology, activism, ecology or social practice
Eligibility
- Open to individuals, collectives, organisations, NGOs, researchers, technologists — not limited to “traditional artists”.
- Applicants may come from any nationality or country; there is no restriction to local or national only. (Implicit by the festival’s international orientation and broad call for “all actors shaping urban futures.”)
- Projects submitted must be recent (not older than two years) and must be completed by 15 September 2026.
Program Benefits & Awards
- Selected projects will be presented/performed/exhibited during the Mesh Festival, taking place from 14–18 October 2026 at Freilager-Platz, Münchenstein/Basel (Switzerland).
- Inclusion in the festival’s public programme: exhibitions, screenings, performances, workshops, talks, community events — offering visibility among an international audience of artists, technologists, theorists, activists and the general public.
- Possible access to cross-disciplinary collaboration, network building, and exchange with institutions like HEK, HGK Basel, iart, and their partners.
- Opportunity for experimentation in public/urban space, contributing to discourse on future cities, digital space, social justice, and urban ecology.
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Project proposal: description of the project, its goals, methods, spatial/technological/social aspects, and planned outcomes.
- Conceptual/technical description: explaining media, technologies, site-context (public/urban/virtual), materials/resources needed, and feasibility.
- Documentation of previous relevant work (if applicable): portfolio, media samples, documentation of past works, CV or bio of the artist(s) / collective / team.
- Indication of whether the project involves collaboration (technologist, NGO, community, researcher, etc.), and details of collaborators.
- Contact & personal/institutional info: name(s), nationality, contact email, country of residence, organisational affiliation (if any).
- Declaration that the project is not older than 2 years and can be completed (or reactivated) before 15 September 2026.
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Submission Deadline: 15 January 2026
- Festival Dates: 14–18 October 2026
- Project Completion Deadline (for submitted works): 15 September 2026 (works must be ready by then)
Location
Basel, Switzerland
Additional Details
- Mesh welcomes not only artists or traditional creatives — but also technologists, collectives, NGOs, educational or community initiatives, and researchers — highlighting its interdisciplinary and socially engaged nature.
- The festival operates under a “Code of Co-living,” with a commitment to environmental sustainability, social justice, accessibility, community care, and inclusive practices.
- Submissions may be used for documentation, publication, media coverage, or archival purposes; the festival may record performances or works (including with digital/AI-based tools), but copyright remains with the authors unless otherwise agreed.
- Language of application: English or German.