About Us
The 15th International Arts & Design Symposium 2026 “Work in Progress: Postmemory”
Open Call for Creative Work Submissions: September 7-27, 2026
Exhibition Dates: October 26-30, 2026
The symposium is hosted by the Council of Arts and Design Deans of Thailand (CADDT), the Association of Siamese Architects under the Royal Patronage (ASA), the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand, and the Thai Graphic Designers Association (ThaiGa). It is coordinated by the Faculty of Digital Arts, the College of Design, and the Faculty of Architecture at Rangsit University.
The International Arts and Design Symposium: “Work in Progress” (founded in 2012) is an international forum for scholars, designers, and artists from various fields to share and discuss their works in progress.
The theme of the 15th International Arts & Design Symposium 2026, “Postmemory,” explores what remains of the past and how it continues to shape the present. Memory is shaped by time, experience, and social context, and persists through traces such as images, narratives, objects, spaces, language, and emotions. These traces can be transmitted across individuals and generations, becoming continually reinterpreted and reconstructed through changing experiences and contexts.
Postmemory offers a framework for examining how experiences of the past are transmitted to those who did not experience them directly. Through images, stories, objects, media, and cultural practices, inherited experiences are received, interpreted, and reconfigured. The work of Marianne Hirsch constitutes one important theoretical foundation for understanding this process, alongside broader perspectives on personal, collective, and cultural memory, history, identity, migration, displacement, and mediated memory.
The theme invites artists, designers, and scholars to explore the relationship between past and present through diverse creative practices, including art, design, photography, video, installation, architecture, digital media, and other contemporary forms. It encourages critical and creative inquiries into how memories and traces are preserved, transformed, forgotten, or reconstructed across individuals, generations, and cultural contexts.
Ultimately, “Postmemory” considers how what is inherited from the past continues to influence perception, identity, and ways of understanding the world. It opens a space to examine not only what is remembered, but also how memory is transformed through transmission, interpretation, and creative practice—revealing how the past continues to acquire new meanings in the present.
Conditions:
- Artworks must have been produced between 2024 and 2026 and must not have been previously exhibited.
- Applicants are required to submit an online application form and are responsible for delivering their artworks for the judging process.
- Each applicant may submit up to five artworks per application, with detailed information provided for each piece.
Accepted File Formats:
Image / Photo
1 cover image in JPEG or PNG format, 1200 × 688 pixels at 72
2–5 images for online exhibition in JPEG or PNG format, 1920 × 1080 pixels at 72 dpi (each file must not exceed 5 MB)
Video / Motion Clip
- MP4 format (file size must not exceed 200 MB per application)
- If you wish to showcase more works beyond the limit, you may upload them to a public YouTube channel and provide a link (if available).
Judging Panel
- The judging panel reserves the right to make final decisions regarding the selection, exhibition, and public presentation of submitted works.
- The panel will consist of artists and distinguished professionals with expertise in art and design from diverse institutions.
Invited Artists
- Artists, professionals, and academic experts in art and design.
Final Decision Announcement
- October 19, 2026
Application Fee
- Applicants are kindly requested to submit a fee of 3,000 Baht by the specified deadline (non–refundable).
- Bank Account: Bangkok Bank, No. 875-730-8088 / Academic Service Center, Rangsit University
- The exhibition of works will follow the prior agreement between applicants and organizers; any deviation from this agreement will not be permitted.
- All submitted materials and information will not be returned to applicants.
- Works officially selected by the judging panel will be presented in an online exhibition and a downloadable e-book via the website: www.workinprogress-symposium.design.
- Selected applicants participating in the The 15th International Arts & Design Symposium 2026, themed “Work in Progress: Postmemory” will receive a certificate of participation.
Registration
- Submit the online form at www.workinprogress-symposium.design/submission.
- Applicants are required to personally retrieve their artworks according to the announced schedule.
- The organizers will not be responsible for any artworks not retrieved by the specified deadline under any circumstances.
- Applicants are solely responsible for any consequences arising from copyright infringement or any violation of the law.
Verifications
- I hereby confirm that the works submitted for “Work in Progress: Postmemory” are my own original creations.
- I grant the organizers permission to use my works in any form for public presentation.
- I affirm that all information provided in this application is accurate.
For more information, please contact:
Secretariat Office, College of Design
Khun Ying Patana Building, Rangsit University
52/347 Muang Ake, Paholyothin Rd., Lakhok,
Pathum Thani 12000, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 997 2222 ext. 3631
Fax: +66 2 997 2222 ext. 3567
E-mail: workinprogress@rsu.ac.th
