Call for Exhibition
DATA, OTHERWISE
VizChitra 2026 invites submissions for Data, Otherwise, an exhibition of contemporary data visualization work focused on climate and ecological change, especially work connected to India and South Asia. The exhibition will be organized in a gallery setup on the conference day (4th July, 2026)
We’re looking for projects that stretch what data visualization can be: not only charts and screens, but experiences that people can walk through, listen to, touch, or sit with.
Exhibition Deadline: 15 Feb 2026
TOPICS FOR EXHIBITION
The exhibition is organized around three interconnected topics. You can use them as starting points, not strict categories:
More-than-Human Data
Data made with, through, or about non-human worlds like flora, fauna, rivers, soil, microbes, weather systems and more, where sensing and meaning extend beyond people and instruments.
Living with Climate Change
Climate as lived experience, for example heat as exhaustion, rain as anxiety, or smoke as grief, where feelings, memory, and the body become part of what data can hold and communicate.
Adaptation & Resilience
Everyday examples of coping and changing for people, communities, and environments as they adjust, resist, or rebuild. We’re interested in what gets counted as “resilience,” and what stays out of view.
How to shape your exhibition proposal
These prompts are here to support you as you draft your submission.
- What’s the idea in one line? — What are you trying to show, question, or make people notice?
- What counts as “data” in your project? — Data can be numbers, but also photos, interviews, notes, drawings, archives, maps, WhatsApp responses, sound recordings, or sensor readings. Tell us what you’ll use, and why.
- Where will the data come from? (your method) — How will you collect it (or how have you collected it)? For instance: field visits, conversations, workshops, observation diaries, scraping public sources, simple sensors.
- How will you turn it into an artwork / experience? — Will it be a print, poster series, screen-based piece, installation, projection, sound work, interactive station, or something else? Reference images help, but are optional.
- Why does it matter here? — How does your project connect to ecology and everyday life—heat, water, air, floods, food systems, urban change, or more-than-human worlds?
- What do you need to make it happen? — List essentials like power, table / wall space, projector, speakers, internet, sensors, laptop, etc.
- Can you finish it in time? — Tell us if it’s already made, in progress, or a new idea, and outline a simple, realistic timeline.
What makes a strong exhibition proposal?
Strong proposals clearly connect the data, the way it’s gathered, and the form of visualization. They also showcase how the work helps audiences notice relationships between environments, infrastructures, and lived experience in a fresh way.
Production & Support
Selected projects will receive a modest exhibition production budget per project to support presentation, installation, and technical integration.
This budget is not intended to fully fund large new works, but to help realize proposals in dialogue with the curatorial and technical teams.
We encourage approaches that are adaptable, resource-aware, and responsive to the exhibition context. The curatorial team will work with selected participants to find feasible ways of presenting each project within available resources and timelines.
Fees & Honorarium
Selected participants will receive an artist fee or honorarium for their participation in the exhibition, separate from the production budget.
Rights & Responsibilities
Artists retain full copyright and intellectual property rights over their work. By participating in the exhibition, selected participants grant the organizers a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to document, reproduce, and share images, video, and descriptive text of the work for non-commercial purposes related to the conference and exhibition. This includes promotion, documentation, academic reporting, and archival use.
Participants are responsible for ensuring that all data used in their work is obtained, generated, and presented in an ethical and lawful manner. This includes securing informed consent where personal, sensitive, or identifiable data is involved, respecting privacy and data protection standards, and being transparent about data sources, methods, and limitations. Works should avoid harm, misrepresentation, or exploitative data practices, particularly when engaging with living subjects, communities, or ecologically sensitive contexts.
Selected artists are responsible for realizing their projects in line with the approved proposal, agreed timelines, and production arrangements, and for working collaboratively with the curatorial and technical teams. Any significant changes to the proposed work must be communicated and approved in advance.