Repair – electronics faire

The Open Call for the 2026 Electronics Faire is now open!

Call for Proposals: Repair Electronics Faire

Temple University Libraries Loretta C Duckworth Digital Scholars Studio, in collaboration with the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, and the Boyer College of Music and Dance invite submissions for organizations to table, individual or group paper presentations, workshops, performances, and artworks for the Repair Electronics Faire on April 9 and 10, 2026.

This Year’s Theme, Repair

This year’s theme follows the Electronics Faire founding principle that while the history of electronics is entangled with violence, manifold traditions of marginalized communities using electronics as a form of social relating, intimacy, and resistance continue to flourish. Following mending movements and care cultures, we invite scholars, artists, practitioners, and organizations to propose works that engage with repair as a maintenance protocol, cultural practice, and queer and abolitionist methodology. Our definition of repair follows Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s analytic approach that

The desire of a reparative impulse, on the other hand, is additive and accretive. Its fear, a realistic one, is that the culture surrounding it is inadequate or inimical to its nurture; it wants to assemble and confer plenitude on an object that will then have resources to offer to an inchoate self.

We invite submissions that focus on the technical aspects of repairing electronic media and objects and/or radically imagine the myriad ways that electronic media can contribute to community, collective, and interpersonal repair. We welcome myriad interpretations and meditations on this theme. Proposals may engage with the following questions, or ask their own:

What does a reparative impulse applied to electronic objects look like?
How can we design, invent, mend, and imagine electronic objects within a reparative politic?
In what ways can we use, misuse, and reuse electronic objects to keep ourselves and our communities safe?
In what ways do electronics facilitate community care?

Event Information:

This is an in-person event taking place on April 9th and 10th at Temple University’s Charles Library in Philadelphia, PA. Paper presentations will be recorded for online viewing after the event.

Keynote Series: TBA

Workshops

Workshop Instructors will be compensated with a $350 honorarium per workshop. Each workshop will be granted a budget of up to $150 for materials. Workshop sessions must be at least ninety minutes long and can be a maximum of four hours long. To preserve the intimacy and spirit of the event and our classroom sizes, some workshops will be capped at 8 participants each and some at 15. If your workshop requires a larger group, please indicate that on your application so we know what classroom size you will need. Keep in mind that a larger group will result in the same $150 materials budget.

Lo-dB Restorative Performances (curated by Sandra James and Michelle Temple)

We are looking for performers and instrument makers to play in our Low Decibel, restorative ensemble showcasing performances centered around this year’s theme, Repair. We are personally interested in repair as a way to acknowledge our music and music technology histories that are exclusive by nature; we welcome performances that work to repair social and political injustices. Repair can also refer to repurposed and reconfigured materials, works that specifically engage with reparative or healing work. Performances will close out the Electronics Faire on Friday, April 10th in the afternoon through the early evening on the library’s roof terrace. Open to groups or solo artists.

Art Exhibition (curated by Ollie Goss and Hannah Tardie):

The Electronics Faire affiliated exhibition is open to artists, crafts people, and practitioners working in a variety of mediums that specifically engage with this year’s theme, Repair. Repair can refer to repurposed and reconfigured materials, works that specifically engage with reparative or healing work, or other interpretations on the theme. This year’s exhibition will be held at Ulises Bookstore and will feature an accompanying publication.

All submissions are due by March 1st, 2026, at 11:59 PM. Please read about this year’s theme and browse the bibliography before completing your submission.

Submission Requirements:

Talk/ Paper Presentation Submission: Abstract of 400-800 words. Paper Presentations should be 15 minutes in length.

Workshop Submission: Workshop Description of 200-400 words + accompanying media (photo, video, audio) demonstrating what will be done in the workshop or past iterations of the workshop, technical requirements (outlet access and equipment needs) and a Bill of Materials draft.

Organization Tabling Submission: Website, Mission Statement, Table Needs (size, outlet access, and any other requirements)

Art Submission: Title, Medium, Size, and Date of work. Installation requirements. Up to 300-word Artist Statement and up to a 150-word statement about the work. If your work has specific technical requirements please reach out to hannah.tardie@temple.edu to see if we can accommodate your piece. All works must be shipped to Philadelphia, PA by March 15th, 2026. The exhibition will take place at Ulises Bookstore in Philadelphia. Further exhibition details will be provided upon acceptance. You may submit up to 3 works for consideration. Please submit only one image or video per work being submitted.

Performance Submission: Lo-dB Restorative asks for submissions for live performance, audio, or multimedia. Fixed media will be looped on large monitors and a small sound system. Live performances will be held outdoors on the terrace, weather permitting. Lo-dB, for this call, means keeping performances subtle and quiet as a complement to the library environment. Please submit a 300 word Artist Statement and up to 150-word statement about the work. Additionally, include any tech needs, supplemental links to current work, or a clip of the piece you wish to submit. Group submissions are permitted. Performance durations should not exceed 20 minutes, multimedia pieces should be under 7 minutes. Artists may submit one piece.

If submitting to more than one category:

Please upload one pdf/doc per submission that includes the materials required (abstract, images, statements, links to video, etc). If you are applying for multiple categories, make sure each category submission has a separate pdf/doc. If applicable, please link to video. Do not upload video files. If you have any issues with your submission, including uploading attachments, please reach out to Hannah at hannah.tardie@temple.edu

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Repair Bibliography and Inspiration:

A View of a Landscape, Kevin Beasley

Alt-Text as Poetry Finnegan and Bojana

Āmantēcayōtl: And When it Disappears, it is Said, the Moon has Died, Fernando Palma Rodríguez

Astra Urbanocena, Kristof Kintera

Audible Silence, Ivana Dama

BADs Lab, CCAM Chicago

Code Switch: Distributing Blackness, Reprogramming Internet Art Organized by Legacy Russell

Dermasonic Grief by Chrissy Brimmage

Endogene Depression, David Vostell

Glue-making and re-connecting by Dri Chiu Tattersfield, Jeffrey Yoo Warren