Art Papers

SIGGRAPH 2021 will move forward at this time as a virtual-only event. We look forward to celebrating 48 years of advancements in computer graphics and interactive techniques in our virtual venue. We are excited you are submitting your work for consideration. As we finalize our conference plans, visit the About the Conference page for the latest updates.

Log into the submission portal, select “Make a New Submission” tab, and select “Art Paper — Long” or “Art Paper — Short.” To see the information you need to submit, view the sample form:

Art Paper — Long: Click Here

Art Paper —Short: Click Here

Differences Between Long and Short Papers

Long Papers
Word Count: 3,500
Figure Count: 10 images
Oral Presentation: 20 minutes

Short Papers
Word Count: 2,500
Figure Count: 5 images
Oral Presentation: 15 minutes

English Review Service

Non-native English speakers may opt to use the English Review Service to help improve the text of submissions. Please note this process takes time. For the best chance of having your submission reviewed by the English Review Service, please ensure that you complete your submission at least 14 days before the deadline.

SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers must be submitted in one of the following seven categories:

Project Description

A description of a creative work or artistic/collaborative process with particular emphasis on its historical and/or theoretical grounding or significance.

Contemporary Computational Art, Including Theory/Criticism

Exposition of a significant issue for contemporary digital art and design practice as it relates to SIGGRAPH topics, such as computer graphics, interactive media, VR/AR, AI/ML, etc.

Methods/Techniques of Creative Practices

Novel techniques for digital arts practices, with an emphasis on critical and creative uses of interactive techniques, emerging technologies, VR/AR, computing, immersion, graphics, and human‐machine interaction.

Media Art History/Media Archaeology of Artifacts and the Arts

Papers that engage with the media art histories and media archaeology, including collaborative practices; critical making; the history and theory of computer graphics; virtual, augmented, or mixed reality; and visualization or interactive techniques.

Experimental Design Practice

SIGGRAPH Art Papers is looking to establish connections between art, technology, and design, particularly with those experimental design practices that make creative, critical, or speculative use of contemporary technologies.

Indigenous and Aboriginal Communities, Arts, and Technology

It is the interest of the SIGGRAPH Art Papers to invite artists and theorists identified with Indigenous and Aboriginal communities who are writing about digital and immersive technologies from a creative and critical perspective.

Student Thesis Works

SIGGRAPH Art Papers invites current and recent graduate students to submit their thesis works. Submissions can include but are not limited to theories, projects descriptions and statements about experimental works, hardware and software investigations, novel theoretical concepts, and practices focused on innovation in the arts, design, sciences, and technology.

Please carefully read the Art Papers Manuscript Guidelines, and prepare your submission following the Manuscript Template.  Final accepted Long and Short Art Papers will be published in PACMCGIT Special issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers. In addition to the Special issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers, all accepted Art Papers video presentations will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

Authors are required to submit fully formatted papers with graphs, images, and other special areas arranged as intended for final publication. Be sure that all pages are numbered and contain your paper’s ID number in the page footer. You should obtain this paper ID by completing the online submission form before finalizing your paper. If your paper is accepted, you will receive instructions for formatting the final version, which will be different because, among other things, the authors’ names and affiliations will be included, and the pages will not be numbered.

Authors must submit their papers and supplemental materials electronically. The only acceptable format is Adobe PDF.

All figures and tables should be submitted in the Supplementary Materials section.

Authors are permitted to provide up to three optional supplementary materials to accompany the paper. Multimedia content may include videos, code, and audio files, as well as additional images and/or other supplemental text files (up to 100 MB each). Each file must be accompanied with a title, 50-word description, and caption (including any credits and copyright information). Accepted video file formats include: .mov, .avi, or .mp4.

All complete submissions received by the deadline will be acknowledged by email. For this purpose, a submission is complete if a paper ID has been assigned and a PDF file of the paper, 50-word description, and representative image have been successfully uploaded. Such submissions will be reviewed unless they are withdrawn by the author. For more information about the Art Papers submission and review process, please refer to the Art Papers Submissions FAQ below.

Submissions will be administratively rejected without review if it is found that:

• The submission violates the ACM Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism.
• Word counts exceed the maximum or do not meet the minimum word count.
• The submission is a dual submission. That is, if the submission is simultaneously under review for any other conference or publication. For more details, see the Work Submitted Elsewhere section of the Art Papers Submissions FAQ [link to Art Papers FAQ below].
• Electronic files have been submitted that have been designed to have side effects other than presenting the submitted work to reviewers and committee members (for example, a “phone home” script).
• The paper contains material for which the submitters have not secured the necessary copyrights.
• The work has been previously published, as previously published work may not be submitted, nor may the same work be submitted to any other conference or journal during the SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers review period.

The Art Papers Jury will evaluate papers using the following criteria:

• Scope and magnitude of its contribution to literature on digital arts, computer graphics, and/or interactive techniques
• Clarity of thesis and compelling exposition
• Quality and relevance of references to establish context and support the author’s claims
• Quality and relevance of support media to reinforce the author’s claims

Each paper will be distributed to at least three experts for review. However, if the jury determines that a submission has been previously published or is off topic, incomplete, does not meet or exceed the word count guidelines, or otherwise unsuitable for publication, the submission will be rejected without external review.

Once reviews are complete, the committee will meet to deliberate the final outcome of each paper at the Art Papers Jury meeting. If there is not a clear consensus among the original reviewers, additional reviews will be solicited.

Following the jury meeting, email notification of rejection or conditional acceptance status will be sent to submitters, who will then be granted access to the written reviews and scores.

Conditionally accepted papers undergo a second review process, in which a referee (a member of the Art Papers Jury) verifies that the final version of the paper is acceptable (that any required changes have been made, and that other changes made by the authors, perhaps in response to reviewer comments, have not compromised the paper in any way). This second and final stage determines the final acceptance status of all papers. The referees’ decisions are final. Papers that do not satisfy the referee in the second stage of reviewing and/or that are not uploaded in final form by the final deadline together with the original or revised versions of the submitted supplementary material will be rejected.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

SIGGRAPH reviewers cannot sign non-disclosure agreements for submissions. For information on patents and confidentiality, see the Art Papers Submissions FAQ below.

You will be notified of conditional acceptance or rejection of your Art Paper in early March 2021. To convert a conditionally accepted paper to an accepted paper, authors will be required to make edits requested in the committee’s reviews. Final edits must be submitted and approved by the committee by the announced deadline. You will be notified of final acceptance or rejection of your Art Paper in early May 2021.

If your Art Paper is accepted, you will be able to update your basic submission information so that it can be included in the conference program and website. This information needs to be finalized two weeks after acceptance.

You must provide a final, edited, camera-ready paper and digital supplements.

Special Issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers

2021 marks the transition of Art Papers to Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (PACMCGIT) Special issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers. Beginning this year, final accepted Long and Short Art Papers will be published in PACMCGIT Special issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers. In addition to the Special issue on SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Papers, all accepted Art Papers video presentations will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

Art Papers Fast Forward Video

You will also be asked to provide a short presentation for the Art Papers Fast Forward. This session is held on the first day of the conference. The authors will be allowed 30 seconds to summarize the paper and entice attendees to attend their complete paper presentation later in the week. See the Timeline below for the deadline for Art Papers Fast Forward material.

Pre-Recorded Video Presentation

To present in the virtual conference, the authors must: 1) provide a video of their presentation, and 2) plan for one author to be present for the entirety of the virtual session for their Art Paper. Final accepted video presentations will be published in the ACM Digital Library. Further details and instructions regarding the video specs will be provided upon acceptance.

Presenter Recognition

To present your work at SIGGRAPH 2021, at least one contributor per submission must register at the appropriate registration level. All other contributors can register at the level of their choice.

You can find a link to the contributor recognition policy here.

ACM Rights Management Form

If your work is accepted for presentation at SIGGRAPH 2021, you must complete the ACM Rights Management Form. The form will be sent to all submitters whose work is accepted.

Your representative image and text may be used for promotional purposes. Several SIGGRAPH 2021 programs — Art Gallery, Art Papers, Real-Time Live!, Technical Papers, and all installation programs — will prepare preview videos for pre-conference promotion of accepted content, which may include a portion of the video you submitted for review. You may grant or deny us the ability to use the representative image and submitted video for these purposes.

All deadlines are 22:00 UTC/GMT unless otherwise noted.

15 January 2021
Deadline for Long Art Papers and Short Art Papers submission forms and upload of materials

12 March 2021
Authors notified about Round 1 results by email (conditional acceptance or rejection)

10 April 2021
Deadline for Round 2 submission
Deadline to submit the 30-second Art Papers Teaser Video

10 May 2021
Authors notified about Round 2 results by email (acceptance or rejection)

4 June 2021
Deadline to submit the 30-second Art Papers Fast Forward video

DEADLINES

Can I submit after the deadline?

No. The deadlines are absolute. All submissions receive equal consideration up to the published deadline. Please respect other contributors and allow time for unforeseen circumstances in your submission, including (but not limited to) network connectivity, equipment failures, job impacts, life or family events, etc. These are outside of SIGGRAPH 2021’s direct control and cannot be accommodated fairly. Immediately after the submission deadline, we start processing and reviewing the submissions on a very tight time schedule, and we cannot accommodate exceptions.

How will SIGGRAPH 2021 address server-side network failures?

SIGGRAPH 2021 is only responsible for the availability of the submission server. If necessary, the conference chair will authorize an appropriate adjustment (and will prominently post notices at several locations online). All other network failures between your location and the SIGGRAPH server will not affect the submission deadlines. Please submit early to avoid missing the deadline due to technology-related issues.

The SIGGRAPH 2021 English Review Service failed our schedule, so it is SIGGRAPH’s fault that our proposal is late. Can I have an extension?

No. The English Review Service makes no guarantee for service turnaround. It also is administered separately from the conference program. Please schedule your work appropriately. For the best chance of having your submission reviewed by the English Review Service, please ensure it is submitted and marked “complete” in the submission system at least 14 days before your program’s submission deadline.

NATURE OF CONTENT

How should I write up work that is based on a recent paper I wrote but extends that work?

Please reference the original paper(s) and clearly explain how the new work differs from, extends, or improves the previous work.

Can I submit work that I did for my thesis?

Yes. Please consider the new category, Student Thesis Works, as well as any other categories of Art Papers. See the Work Submitted Elsewhere section of this Submissions FAQ if some or all of your thesis work has been formally published.

My Art Paper was rejected. Can I submit an abstract about the same work for possible presentation elsewhere in the conference?

Some submission deadlines will be closed by that time.

English is not my first language. Can I submit and present in another language?

No, but ACM SIGGRAPH’s International Resources Committee can provide help with English translation.

Should all submissions be prepared anonymously?

Yes. The review processes for programs like Art Papers and Technical Papers are double-blind, which means the reviewers will not know who the authors are, and the authors will not know who the reviewers are. Your submission should be as close to its final form as possible (see Completeness, Work in Progress). Potential conflicts of interest are taken into account when submissions are assigned to reviewers.

NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS

Can I (or my company) submit more than one work to SIGGRAPH 2021?

Yes, please do. The jury will evaluate and decide on each (unrelated) submission separately. Please bear in mind, though, that the committee will be evaluating all of the accepted submissions as a whole. So it is not appropriate to break up a potentially strong piece of work into smaller components in an effort to increase the number of works you have accepted.

COMPLETENESS, WORK IN PROGRESS

Are partial or incomplete submissions considered?

Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed. Contributors are required to meet all submission requirements by the published deadline. The jury will evaluate the merit of each completed proposal as it was submitted at the deadline, even if it does not meet the author’s personal quality objectives. Please allow enough time to meet your own quality goals.

Can I submit an Art Paper and submit the same work to Talks, Panels, Courses, Installations, or Posters?

Yes. SIGGRAPH 2021 encourages synergy between Art Papers and other parts of the conference. For example, you may wish to submit an installation of the project you describe in your paper. The submission form has a checkbox to indicate work submitted elsewhere. Please check this box and explain that the work was submitted as an Art Paper for SIGGRAPH 2021.

If your work is accepted, an additional Talk or Poster will not be accepted, unless the Talk or Poster describes details or aspects that are not included in the paper. In this case, make sure the general submission clearly states how the proposed Talk or Poster differs from the paper.

WORK SUBMITTED ELSEWHERE

Can I submit work that I’ve published or presented, or has been accepted for publication or presentation, elsewhere?

Yes, though with some caveats. First, you must indicate the prior appearance via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of how and where the work appeared. Second, be aware that SIGGRAPH attendees expect to see things they’ve never seen before. The jury will decide if the novelty and impact of the submission warrant acceptance despite its appearance elsewhere. Generally speaking, it’s OK if your work has been presented in a small workshop or colloquium, and it’s OK if your work has been published in journals in other fields. However, work that has appeared in a major computer graphics journal or a mainstream computer graphics conference is not what SIGGRAPH is looking to feature and should not be submitted.

Can I submit work to SIGGRAPH 2021 and submit a more complete description to other conferences (for example, EGSR, SGP, or SCA) while the submission is still in review?

The other conference or journal is likely to consider this an unacceptable “dual submission,” so you must check with them. If they are OK with it, SIGGRAPH 2021 is OK with it. But if you intend to submit this work elsewhere before the conference, you must indicate this intent via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of where you intend to submit and when it would appear.

Can I submit work that was presented at a previous SIGGRAPH conference?

The submission form has a checkbox that requires you to indicate this fact. The jury will decide if the novelty of the submission warrants acceptance regardless of prior presentation or publication. Submissions in most formats require novelty and will not be accepted unless the work has progressed since the last SIGGRAPH conference.

FORMATS AND CATEGORIES

What is the purpose of submission keywords and categories?

The jury is comprised of experts from many areas of computer graphics, and choosing appropriate keywords helps ensure that the best-qualified jurors will review your work.

UPLOADING FILES

Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute

The online submission system uses a robust server with high-bandwidth access to the internet, but everything has a limit. In previous years, last-minute submitters tried to upload 5GB of data in the final half-hour before the deadline. This didn’t work well. Don’t get yourself in that situation.

The deadlines are absolute. We’re on a tight schedule, and we won’t be able to extend the deadline to accommodate late uploads.

Upload Early and Often

Once your submission is complete, you are still allowed to edit it and add to or modify the supplementary materials right up to the deadline. This means you can upload some materials early as soon as they are ready and upload the remainder later, avoiding the need to upload everything at once. This also means you can upload a rough draft of your materials early and replace it with more polished versions later. Upload drafts that are roughly the same size as your final material. This allows you to get a feel for the upload process and the time it takes to upload files of those sizes, and gives you time to diagnose problems. Then, as your draft gets refined, upload revisions. This way, if the last polish or final render encounters problems, you only lose the polish, not the entire submission.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE GUIDELINES

What Are the Image Guidelines?

• Every submission must include at least one representative image.
• The image must be digital, of the highest quality possible, with a pixel resolution of at least 1500 x 1000, at least 300 dpi at 5 inches (12.7 cm) wide, with proportional height, or the highest possible resolution screen grab.
• Images must be 24-bit (RGB, 8-bits per channel) uncompressed, in the highest possible JPEG resolution.
• A standard ICC color profile of sRGB also is recommended and will be assumed if not specified.
• Horizontal (landscape) images are required. Vertical (portrait) images are not acceptable.
• Your image will appear in 3 x 2 ratio on the SIGGRAPH 2021 website. Images that do not conform to this proportion will be cropped from the center.
• Avoid embedded rules, layers, tags, masks, color models (for example, CMYK), etc. If in doubt, use an image editor to paste into a new file.
• Please also specify copyright and image credits for each image. The file upload manager offers an input field for this optional information.
• If your work is accepted, your representative image will be used both as an identifying image during the jurying and selection process and in publications or for media purposes.
• Higher resolution images often are favored by media for publication use, so the minimum-resolution requirement is only a guideline.
• It is important that you have permissions to use this image.

COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSIONS

My time-based media presentation makes use of commercially recorded music. Is this OK? What if I use my own rendition of someone else’s song?

Using commercially recorded music in an animation is only acceptable if you acquire synchronization rights for the recording you are using or performance rights if you use your own rendition of someone else’s song. Such rights are your responsibility, and SIGGRAPH will not purchase these rights for you. Although in many cases music rights can be obtained inexpensively, well-known popular music often is difficult to license. For that reason, many submitters work with composers and have scores designed specifically for their work.

Synchronization licenses must be secured for inclusion of copyrighted musical compositions in film or video presentations. Securing synchronization rights involves approvals from both the music publisher and the record label that owns the original master recording. This process is sometimes straightforward, sometimes painful, and sometimes, often for well-known recording artists, impossible. In the past, submitters of accepted pieces have had to cancel their participation in the SIGGRAPH conference due to music-licensing issues. Other submitters have had to replace their music tracks in a way that compromised their work. For these reasons, all submitters are encouraged to secure music rights for their work as early as possible in the production process. For more information on music licensing, and to find the necessary contacts for the recording you would like to use, see the ASCAP and BMI websites:

ASCAP

BMI

You may consider using public domain music — various websites provide listings and even some downloads. Be aware that although a song itself may be in the public domain, a particular recording of that song could be copyrighted.

Some of the supplementary material we intend to use in our submission is available or will be available as a publication. Do we need to discuss this in our submission?

Yes. Please discuss whether you have permission from the publisher to include this material in your SIGGRAPH 2021 published materials and, if not, what alternate form you will provide.

REVIEW AND UPON ACCEPTANCE

How does the jury select pieces?

All submissions are juried together, and there are no strict rules for acceptance. The jury primarily looks for a combination of innovation and excellence. A longer list of traits the jury typically looks for includes clarity of thesis, clarity of perspectives, quality of references, and contribution to the field.

The reviews we received from the jury were very positive, but we still didn’t get accepted. Why is this?

Ideally, everyone would have a chance to present their best work at the conference. It would certainly make the selection process easier! Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Here are some possible reasons for rejection:

• The submission did not show enough improvement over previous presentations.
• The submission overlapped with better proposals in a similar area.
• The work was not strong or relevant.

PATENTS AND CONFIDENTIALITY

When will my accepted submission become publicly available?

Public disclosure of a submission’s title, abstract, and contents can have important commercial and legal ramifications. Acceptances will be finalized in March, at which time the submission’s title, abstract, and description (written by the contributors) will be disclosed publicly in SIGGRAPH communications. Excerpts of the submission’s companion video also may be disclosed. Please be advised, in order to receive maximum international patent protection on your submission’s idea, you will need to file your application prior to early March.

SUBMISSION MATERIALS

Can I submit earlier papers or technical reports as materials?

Yes, earlier papers or technical reports may be submitted as supplementary materials. However, the jury is under no obligation to read these materials.

Can I submit a URL pointing to my work rather than the work itself?

No. It’s OK to include a URL in your submission so that we can get additional information about your work if needed. But in order to ensure fairness and adherence to our deadline restrictions, the jury will not examine the information at that URL when evaluating the submission.

Do I have to submit a supporting video of my work?

If your submission has an interactive, animation, or simulation component, we strongly encourage you to submit a video demonstrating your work in action, as it is sometimes difficult to evaluate your work without this.

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

What file formats are acceptable for video submissions?

We only accept uploaded videos in QuickTime MPEG-4 or DivX Version 6 formats, and the file size should not exceed 100 MB. The file must be uploaded using the online submission system.

My video files are larger than 100 MB. What should I do?

Do everything possible to make them smaller. The total size of your uploads should be below 100 MB. Jurors in various locations around the world will need to download the submitted videos, and we need to keep the total size of all submissions reasonable.

First, try decreasing the image resolution, and/or using a better compression technique, and/or settling for higher compression at the cost of somewhat reduced image quality. If you have tried very hard to do all this but still can’t get the size down, contact us and explain the specifics of your situation in detail, and we’ll see what we can work out.