Amplification — visualizations as instruments that make the quiet legible and the overlooked visible. What does it mean to turn up the signal on data, stories, and communities that the world tends not to hear?
As the world becomes increasingly shaped by algorithmic systems and automated decision-making, visualization must evolve beyond a purely technical act. It becomes an ethical, cultural, and emotional process. How can data visualization embody collective care? What practices emerge when we approach visualizing data as a responsible, thoughtful, and caring act?
VISAP 2025 invites participants to reimagine data not as static or neutral, but as a living archive, a vessel for memory, identity, and shared histories. In this context, care is not sentimentality; it is relational and collective. It acknowledges the responsibilities we bear toward the data we use and the lives it represents. We are called to visualize with empathy to illuminate environmental issues, uncover hidden collective stories, surface silenced narratives, and expose systemic biases.
VISAP 2025: Collective Care seeks works that explore data through frameworks of reciprocity, solidarity, and ethical collaboration. We welcome projects that resist extractive or exploitative data practices and instead propose alternative aesthetics and methodologies rooted in care, as data is never neutral. From speculative design to AI co-authorship, from community-centered storytelling to environmental data engagement, we are looking for work that reimagines the relationship between data, technology, and humanity. In embracing collective care, we advocate for a future in which data visualization becomes a process not only for insight, but for restoration, connection, and long-term social resilience. We ask:
What becomes possible when data is treated as a space for healing, resistance, and belonging? How can we co-author meaning with algorithms with care, and engage AI as a collaborator in envisioning critical, thoughtful, future-oriented ideations? How might we take care of our environment and close-related communities by making use of data visualization? And when we give data physical form, how might the materials we choose and their environmental impact reflect the values of care we uphold?
The IEEE VIS Arts Program (VISAP) is a dedicated venue for visualization researchers, designers, and artists exploring innovative approaches at the intersection of visualization and the arts.
VISAP brings together practitioners who push the boundaries of what data visualization can be — from scientific rigor to artistic expression, from community storytelling to critical speculation.
Held annually as part of IEEE VIS, the premier forum for visualization and visual analytics, VISAP provides a unique platform where technical and artistic communities meet.
We welcome contributions across three tracks, all engaging with the theme of Amplification. All submissions are made via the IEEE VGTC Electronic Conference System (PCS). VISAP uses a single-blind review process.
Research, reflections, and critical writing on creative visualization practice. Technical descriptions, philosophical meditations, design case studies, and interpretations of visualization approaches. Up to 10 pages, IEEE Conference format.
Visual descriptions and reflections on the design process of visualization works. Pictorials and annotated portfolios that communicate practice in rich, heavily visual ways. Up to 16 pages, VISAP Pictorial format.
Data-driven artworks in any medium — interactive projections, sculptures, digital prints, video, VR/AR, sonification, and more. Free-form 2-page proposal with supporting images or video.
Call Opens
May 2026
Submission Deadline
TBD — June 2026
Notifications
TBD — July 2026
Camera Ready
TBD — August 2026
All deadlines at 11:59 pm AoE. Detailed submission guidelines will be published when the call opens.
University of Groningen
Assistant Professor of STS at Campus Fryslân, Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center and Principal at metaLAB (at) Harvard / Berlin / Basel. His research investigates how complex information can be revealed through the combination of computational techniques and design, with a focus on the mapping of science and digital cultural archives. He is the author of Mapping Affinities: Democratizing Data Visualization (Métis Presses, 2021), holds a PhD from EPFL, and has held research positions at MIT, Sciences Po, and the European Commission.
MIT
Director of the Civic Data Design Lab and Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning at MIT. Her research uses data collection, mapping, and visualization to address issues of equity and urban development in cities around the world. She has led projects across sub-Saharan Africa, China, and the Americas, developing open-source tools that put data analysis in the hands of communities and policymakers. Her work bridges design and policy, and has been recognized for its impact on urban planning practice and civic technology.
Arizona State University
Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Immersive Experience Design at the MIX Center, Arizona State University. Her research explores a speculative assemblage of artificial memories and language at the intersection of immersive media design, experimental data visualization, and interactive AI art. Her work has earned distinctions including Best in Show at ACM SIGGRAPH and Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica. She holds a PhD from UC Santa Barbara and has exhibited at CCCB, V2_ Lab, Artechouse NYC, and festivals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.