Interweave Award 2026
A platform for artistic and research-led practices exploring the entanglements of technology, human experience, and society.
Current Status
Applications are now open
Deadline
Deadline: Early June 2026
Festival Dates
9–17 July 2026
Presented within
EAST2046 Festival
What is Interweave Award
A platform at the intersection of technology, people, and society.
Interweave is an award and open call initiative supporting practices that critically and creatively engage with the role of technology in contemporary life.
It invites artists, designers, researchers, and technologists to explore how digital systems shape human experience, culture, ethics, and public imagination.
Developed in dialogue with EAST2046, Interweave forms part of a wider interdisciplinary festival context that brings together art, culture, research, and emerging technologies.
Interweave is conceived not only as an award, but as an evolving platform for practices that rethink the relationship between technology, culture and human experience.
Jury & Advisors
A cross-disciplinary panel of curators, practitioners, and thinkers.
(alphabetical by surname)
Joana Alarcão is a Portuguese eco-artist, curator and editor, and founder of Insights of an Eco Artist, a platform dedicated to socially and environmentally engaged art. Her work focuses on connecting artistic practice with cultural, ecological and social narratives through editorial, curatorial and research-based approaches. Through interviews, publications and cross-media storytelling, she has built an international network of artists and practitioners exploring art as a tool for critical reflection and positive change.
Jennifer Ding is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Decagon and previously a researcher at The Alan Turing Institute. Her work focuses on expanding practices for open & participatory AI. She was the data steward for the Serpentine's Choral AI Dataset, produced for The Call exhibition, as well as the co-founder of London Data Week.
Rachel Falconer is Head of Subject for Creative Technology and Senior Lecturer, and Co-Programme Lead for the MA/MFA Computational Arts programme. She is Co-Founder of the Process Iteration Network Research Unit. She has secured key partnerships enhancing student experience and research initiatives with institutions including Tate, the V&A, Arebyte Gallery, UCLA, Gazelli Art House, Hauser & Wirth, Somerset House Studios, the Lumen Prize, The Photographers’ Gallery, Nexus Studios, and the BBC.
Martin Percy
Martin Percy (King’s College, 1982) is a British film director known for pioneering interactive films that turn viewers into participants. His work increasingly incorporates artificial intelligence and includes the interactive CPR film featured in his TEDx talk on using film to save lives. He has received major international awards including a BAFTA, an Emmy, eleven Webby Awards and a Grand Clio. Percy has created interactive projects for Tate, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the British Film Institute, the National Theatre, University of the Arts London, BT and Innovate UK, and has collaborated with actors such as Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi and Daisy Ridley.
Tom Simmons is Head of Programme for MA Digital Direction at the Royal College of Art. He is a sound artist and researcher whose work explores the politics and aesthetics of sound and storytelling. His practice focuses on immersive and interactive approaches across AI and XR, engaging with collective learning and cross-disciplinary collaboration. He has extensive international experience across education, research and cultural exchange.
Phoebe Yemi Ara
Phoebe Yemi Ara is one of the Advisory Committee’s Young Committee members. She is a London Library Emerging Writer (2021/22) and Pan Macmillan Writer on The Rise (2024). She has been selected as a BFI x ICO Emerging Producer (2021, 2023) a Watersprite Hubs Producer (2024) one of Channel 4 Rise2 Development Stream talents, designed to identify the next generation of filmmaking talent (2024) and one of Edinburgh TV Festival’s The Network (2021) designed to identify bright new talent in film/tv.
（Additional jury members to be announced soon）
What We’re Looking For
Practices that question, connect, and experiment.
01
Artistic practices that engage critically and meaningfully with technology
02
Projects exploring human experience within digital culture
03
Work addressing the social and ethical implications of technology
04
Interdisciplinary collaborations across art, research, and technical fields
05
Experimental, process-based, or research-led practices
What You Get
Visibility, dialogue, and a place within a wider festival ecology.
01
Exhibition and presentation opportunities within EAST2046
02
Public exposure through festival and award communications
03
Participation in the EAST2046 Festival programme
04
Connections with industry professionals and cross-disciplinary practitioners
05
One selected project will receive a £1,000 development grant to support the further development or realisation of the work
Presented within EAST2046