Organizer Information
This open call is hosted through CIFRA, a digital submission and distribution platform focused on screen-based and contemporary media art practices. CIFRA operates as an infrastructure for artists working with moving image, digital storytelling, and hybrid cinematic forms, enabling them to present work in a format-native environment rather than through documentation or secondary representation. The platform’s curatorial approach emphasizes works that exist primarily in digital space—particularly those that challenge conventional boundaries between cinema, internet culture, simulation, and contemporary visual narrative systems.
The call is also supported by an international curatorial jury composed of professionals active in leading institutions in media art and contemporary curating, including museum directors, curators of electronic arts institutions, and cultural producers across Europe and Asia. Their collective expertise situates the program within a global discourse on post-digital image-making, simulation culture, and critical media practices.
Title & Description
CIFRA RestArt Reality
“RestArt Reality” is an open call inviting artists to critically engage with the constructed nature of truth, perception, and mediated reality. The core premise of the program is that reality is not a fixed or transparent condition but an editable system—one that can be assembled, manipulated, fragmented, and rewritten through artistic strategies such as montage, fiction, appropriation, and digital fabrication.
Artists are encouraged to treat falsification not as deception but as an analytical and poetic tool. The program explicitly welcomes works that expose how narratives, evidence, and collective memory are constructed, particularly in an era shaped by algorithmic mediation, synthetic media, and information overload. Participants are invited to “rest” and “re-start” reality by revealing its mechanisms of production—how images, stories, and truths are assembled and stabilized.
Thematically, the open call centers on:
- Fractures in perceived reality
- The aesthetics of pseudo-evidence and invented archives
- Constructed histories and alternative chronologies
- Media manipulation as a critical method
- The instability of truth in digital environments
Artists are encouraged to transform fabrication into a form of care and critical awareness, using fiction, simulation, and hybrid narrative structures to sharpen perception rather than obscure it.
Eligible works should be screen-native and conceptually rooted in digital culture, engaging viewers through cinematic or post-cinematic languages.
Categories
This open call focuses on digital and screen-based art practices, including but not limited to:
- Video Art
- Experimental Film / Post-Cinema
- Animation
- Digital Art
- 3D Animation and CGI
- AI-generated or AI-assisted moving image works
- Glitch Art
- Hybrid Cinema
- Found Footage and Montage Essays
- Internet-based narrative works
Eligibility
The call is internationally open, welcoming artists from all countries and backgrounds. There are no explicit restrictions based on nationality, age, or career stage, making it accessible to both emerging and established practitioners.
Eligible applicants include:
- Individual artists
- Media artists and filmmakers
- Digital and experimental storytellers
- Collectives working in screen-based practices
However, submissions must strictly be original works intended for screen presentation. Documentation of physical artworks is not accepted.
Program Benefits & Awards
- €1,000 prize per winner (5 winners total)
- International visibility through CIFRA’s platform
- Exposure to an international curatorial jury composed of leading figures in media art institutions
- Inclusion in a curated selection of screen-native works exploring critical media narratives
While not framed as a residency or production grant, the award functions as both recognition and support for digital media practices within an international curatorial context.
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- CIFRA account registration
- Uploaded artwork hosted directly on CIFRA
- A shareable CIFRA work link
- Completed application form via the platform
Additional implicit requirements:
- Work must be submitted as a video file or video-based format
- No external links (e.g., Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive) are accepted for evaluation
- Artists may include screen-native, experimental, or hybrid formats as long as they are video-compatible
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Submission Deadline: 8 May 2026
- Finalists Announcement: 1 June 2026
Location
Online
Additional Details
The jury includes internationally recognized curators and cultural leaders, such as:
- Li Zhenhua (China) – curator, producer, and project manager
- Soh Yeong Roh (South Korea) – founder of Art Center Nabi
- Irini Papadimitriou (UK / Saudi Arabia) – curator and Director of Exhibitions at Diriyah Art Futures
- Sabine Himmelsbach (Germany / Switzerland) – Director of HEK (House of Electronic Arts), Basel
The curatorial emphasis strongly favors works that interrogate reality construction through digital aesthetics, especially those that use:
- Fiction as an analytical method
- Archival manipulation
- Synthetic media environments
- Narrative disruption techniques
Only fully screen-based works are eligible; physical installations must be adapted into video format to qualify.