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Vector Festival 2026: Who Cares For the Cyborg?
The 14th edition of Vector Festival will search for parallels between computer and human bodies, looking at how we overheat and sweat, bleed coolant, and are circuited through our veins. In an era of thinner phones and hidden wires, the physical footprint of our technology is obscured, erasing the reminder for maintenance and care. How does this impact those with insulin pumps at their hips or prosthetic arms that require batteries? Can we push back against the techno-optomist desire to create posthuman bodies by seeking to understand the machines already in our homes?
Want to plug in with us? Volunteer for the festival! Sign up here.
Festival design & header image by Donald Zhu.
EXHIBITIONS
Who Cares For the Cyborg?: Flagship Exhibition
July 9 – August 8
Opening: July 9, 7 – 9PM at InterAccess
The festival’s flagship exhibition, curated by Ciar O'Mahony, looks at the shift from “computer” as a human, often female, mathematician, to an electronic technology with seemingly unlimited applications. Artists Ailin Dong, Angelina Almanza, Daniel Miller, Pranya Gulati, and Lee Henderson investigate the history of the computational body: machinic, biological, or in-between.
Where Are Your Guts?: Gamemaking Residency Showcase
July 16 – 18
Opening: July 16, 7 – 9PM at InterAccess
This year's gamemakers-in-residence, curated by Bracy Appeikumoh, explore technologies pushed to the forefront of dystopian imaginings and the warnings against them, asking how we could create symbiotic systems for the good of our bodies, our ecosystems, and our self-actualizations.
When Does the Wired Body Come Home?: AR Multi-Site Exhibition
July 9 – Aug 8
Opening Party: July 11, 7 – 10PM at InterAccess
The AR Multi-Site exhibition, curated by Christina Dovolis & Evangeline Y Brooks, is presented in street-facing windows along Queen Street West. Featured artists imagine a world that invites the right-to-repair for human and machine bodies alike, reframing the cyborg not as a metaphor, but as a reality of those living with synthetic interventions and computerized body parts.
This residency is presented with SariSari Xchange and supported by the City of Toronto's Community Celebration Support Fund.
Wired Together: Community Showcase
July 9 – 19 at Workman OFFSITE
A collection of artwork by InterAccess membership and partners focused on the bodies that hold our electronic technologies.
EVENTS
Welcome the Wired Body Home: Festival Party & AR Residency Showcase
July 11, 7–10 PM at InterAccess
Celebrate where our physical and digital bodies rest and play, featuring performances by SariSari Xchange.
Now, That's Acting!, Presented by Insomniac Film Festival
July 10, 4–7 PM at InterAccess
Dance, sing, and act in this interactive activation that invites a player to be the protagonist: the last actor on Earth.
Winnipeg Film Group x SariSari Xchange Film Screening
July 12, 12 – 2PM at InterAccess
Gather for group screening of short, experimental films navigating cybernetic realities, curated by SariSari Xchange, with works selected from the Winnipeg Film Group catalogue.
Who Cares For the Cyborg?: Flagship Curator Tour
July 19, 3 – 3:30PM at InterAccess
Join curator Ciar O’Mahony for a tour of the festival’s flagship exhibition.
When Does the Wired Body Come Home?: AR Walking Tours
July 15, 17, & 19 at Queen St W
Charge your phones and join the curators and artists for a walking tour of the multi-site AR exhibition.
WORKSHOPS
All workshops are hosted in-person at InterAccess (32 Lisgar St).
All You Can Seal: Making Inflatables with a 3D Printer, Thea Lu
July 14, 6:30–8:30PM at InterAccess
$30 for members, $50 for non-members
Repurpose a Bambu FDM printer to produce custom-shaped inflatable structures without additional equipment or hardware modification.
unraveling the algorithm, Lulu Liu & Leslie Xin
July 18, 1–4PM at InterAccess
$30 for members, $50 for non-members
Join in collective finger-weaving to unravel the computer through its textile origins. As we fuss and fumble with our creations, we will reflect on their design, the algorithms around us, and the power we have to change them.
Buzz Bites, Kate Hartman & Juan Sulca
July 19, 12–3PM at InterAccess
$30 for members, $50 for non-members
Play with experimental connection techniques and work-in-progress breakout boards for use with pancake-style vibrating motors. Both hard and soft circuit approaches will be introduced – soldering, sewing, and working with conductive fabric tape.
ABOUT VECTOR FESTIVAL
Vector Festival is a participatory and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Presenting works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops, Vector acts as a critical bridge between emergent digital platforms and new media art practice.
The festival was founded in 2013 as the “Vector Game Art & New Media Festival” by an independent group of artists and curators: Skot Deeming, Clint Enns, kris kim, and Katie Micak, who were later joined by Diana Poulsen and Martin Zeilinger.
