Vanishing Acts: AI, Performative Knowledge & Sustainable Memory

25-27 March 2026,

Call for papers

12th Annual International Conference of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta, in collaboration with the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, University of Malta.

Dates: 25, 26 & 27 March 2026, optional date 28 March (Additional Events)

Venue: Valletta Campus, University of Malta, and other venues

Submit Proposals by: 7 November 2025

Conference e-mail address

Conference co-conveners: Dr Margaret Westby, Prof Vicki Ann Cremona, Dr Jeremy Coleman, Prof Matthew Montebello, Dr Vanessa Camilleri, Prof Claudia Borg

In an era when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the ways we create, perform and preserve, the question of what is being (re)written, entangled or quietly effaced becomes urgent. How might we critically engage with AI-driven performance, particularly in contexts where practices and methods may be altered or erased? This conference, titled ‘Vanishing Acts: AI, Performative Knowledge & Sustainable Memory’, explores the intersection of AI, sustainability, and the shifting terrain of embodied knowledge, cultural memory and archival practices.

As AI continues to influence the performing arts, it presents challenges and fears for artists, performers and audiences alike. AI-driven systems are often seen as threatening the authenticity of performance by erasing the human element in the creative process. The encounter between AI technology and human agency - in choreographic creation, music composition, and storytelling - poses significant ethical questions about authorship, artistic integrity, creative ownership and the shifting locus of agency in co-creative entanglements with nonhuman systems. Additionally, there are concerns that AI could perpetuate cultural biases and representational gaps, thus reinforcing existing social inequalities. As AI technologies continue to evolve, they also raise questions about the sustainability of digital and AI-driven practices in the arts with regard to the ecological impact of AI systems in performance.

Furthermore, the role of AI in shaping memory - both cultural and personal - introduces additional layers of complexity. The challenge of preserving embodied knowledge and cultural memory in the face of machine-learning algorithms that generate, modify and automate creative practices needs to be confronted. How can artists, scholars and researchers trace a path between lived experiences and historical practices, and the creative opportunities made possible by AI through data-driven narratives?

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to provide a platform to confront and discuss the new approaches to thinking and creativity that involve AI in the performing arts (dance, theatre, music). We invite proposals of multi-modal presentations, installations, workshops, and performances that address any of the topics of interest below:

Collaborative Agency Between AI and the Performing Arts

AI as Co-Director

The Performing Body in AI-Driven Systems

Performing with AI: Fears and Challenges

Performing Through Virtual Reality

Potential Dimensions of Space Through Augmented Reality in the Performing Arts

AI and Improvisation

Reimagining Narrative Forms in the Performing Arts with AI

AI, Cultural Memory, and Performative Practices

Getting Back to Basics: Countering AI

Reconsidering Historical Methods of Transmission in the Performing Arts

The Impact of AI on the Preservation and Alteration of Performing Arts Archives

AI Literacy and the New Digital Divide vis-à-vis the Performing Arts

AI Bias and Representation in the Performing Arts

The Challenge of AI to Authorship and Artistic Integrity

Legal Complexities in the Exploitation of Artists’ Work

The Ecological Cost of AI-Driven Artistic Practices and Digital Platforms

The Status of the Composer in AI-Generated Music

Sonification of Big Data

Choreographic Intelligence and AI

Prompting as Creative Process: Dialogic, Recursive, and Entangled AI Interactions

Data Analysis of Performance Through AI and Algorithms

We are proposing an optional exhibition and performance day on Saturday, 28 March, consisting of a curated tour of Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) with possibilities to perform site-specifically outdoors and at various venues at the Valletta Campus Theatre.

We also welcome and encourage proposals from Masters students and Doctoral candidates.

The conference invites a range of presentation formats:

Paper Presentations (15–20 minutes)

Pre-organised Panel (90 minutes)

Workshops or Practice-based Demonstrations (30–90 minutes, please specify)

Poster Presentation

Performance, Artworks, Demos (15–30 minutes, with limited technical support)

Short Films, Documentaries, Screendance (10–15 minutes)

Please submit your presentation proposal (limited to one submission) to the conference e-mail address by 7 November 2025 in a single .pdf format with the following information:

Name and Surname

Institutional Affiliation (if any)

Contact E-mail Address

Title of the Submission (100 characters maximum)

Abstract (300 words maximum)

Format of Presentation (select from one of the above options)

Short Bio (100 words maximum)

Technical & Spatial Requirements (please be specific and note that we cannot guarantee to satisfy every need)

For a film submission, please also submit a link to view

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