Guest Editorial

The annual SIGGRAPH conference continues to bring audiences together to explore art-based research in computer graphics and interactive techniques. In a longstanding tradition, the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery has presented exhibitions at the conference since 1982. SIGGRAPH Art Papers, established in 2008, joins the Art Gallery in collaboration with ACM SIGGRAPH and Leonardo/ISAST to present a rigorous venue for publication of the state of the art in digital art and design. SIGGRAPH 2014 marks the sixth year of this dynamic collaboration.

This issue presents selections from the 2014 SIGGRAPH Art Gallery: Acting in Translation, curated by an international jury of five esteemed members. In her introduction to the exhibition, Art Gallery Chair Başak Şenova challenges us to reflect on the broader cultural, social, historical, and philosophical significance of artworks situated at the borders and edges of art, science, and technology. The 2014 SIGGRAPH Art Papers carries the theme of translation forward with papers that make significant contributions to advancing the theory, history, and practice of computer graphics and interactive techniques. The papers address a wide range of topics, from sensory and affectively attuned approaches to visualization, sonification, and gestural communication to critical approaches to architecture and situated technologies.

The Art Papers especially draw our attention to the creativity, intelligence, and rigor of the processes and techniques associated with digitally mediated art, revealing different ways of knowing and ways of doing. As a peer-reviewed journal publication, Art Papers is aimed at informing and setting standards for critical analysis and research in the overlapping fields of art, science, and technology. Papers are selected for their rigor and artistic focus, as well as for their capacity to inform, inspire, and stimulate future trends. The Art Papers program solicits submissions in the following categories:

1. 1. Project Description: A description of creative work, with particular emphasis on its artistic significance and historical and/or theoretical context.

2. 2. Theory/Criticism: An exposition of a significant issue for contemporary interactive art and design practice.

3. 3. Methods: A description of a novel technique for creative practice.

4. 4. History: A discussion of significant but little-known or under-theorized antecedents to contemporary practice.

Art Papers are selected through a rigorous review process modeled on the Technical Papers’ protocols. Each submission was reviewed by at least four experts. All are evaluated by members of the Art Papers Advisory Board, the Art Papers Committee, and external reviewers, all of whom are recognized experts in their field. From an especially impressive pool of 68 submissions, nine were accepted for publication (a 13 percent acceptance rate).

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Art Papers Committee, over 50 reviewers, the Art Papers Advisory Board, SIGGRAPH contractors, our colleagues at Leonardo, our meeting hosts at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and most especially the authors, without whom the sixth SIGGRAPH Art Papers would not have been possible.