NAVET Student Festival 2026 - Call For Ideas and Student Proposals

CALL FOR IDEAS

For the third time, NAVET (see below for more info about kth.se/navet ), in collaboration with Tekniska - The National Museum of Science and Technology , organizes a call for ideas within the crossing-areas between art, technology and design.

We welcome ideas from undergraduate (bachelor) and postgraduate (master) students from KTH, KMH, SKH, KKH and Konstfack to create multidisciplinary teams for submitting project ideas. The theme for the 2026 festival is DREAM EX MACHINA. Submissions from single participants are also welcome; NAVET will try to team you up with students with complementary skills from other partners (more information can be found at the submission link below). Any format is accepted; for example, it could be a performance or an interactive installation, based on any technology (analogue, digital, hybrid) and expression form.

The deadline for submitting your project proposal is April 30 2026.

Selected ideas will be communicated during week 19, and invited to be briefly presented at Tekniska.

At the end of this page, you will find the form for submitting your project proposal, but before doing that, we recommend you read the text below.

The National Museum of Science och Technology will arrange meetings during the period between the open call and the deadline, and will assist the project throughout this time. Residency for working with Wisdome at Tekniska will be also offered for projects that need it.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DREAM EX MACHINA’S THEME

Drömlandet — “The Dreamland” is an upcoming exhibition at Tekniska about how we can dream of new futures through and with technology. Spanning 200 years, it tells the story of a development shaped by vision, openness and the belief that the future can be built — and how innovation flourishes when people from different cultures meet, exchange ideas and solve problems together.

Taking this exhibition as inspiration, NAVET has picked the theme “Dream ex Machina” for the NAVET Student Festival 2026. This theme draws on “Deus ex Machina”, a narrative device in ancient Greek theater where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely event.

Are humanity's technological dreams only filled with efficiency, optimization, and the automation of processes, including creative ones? What new forms of society and culture can we allow ourselves to dream?

What dreams can help solve our current complex problems, unanswered questions, environmental and societal issues, and contribute to a better world at large? 

Dream ex machina proposes a critical and speculative lens on humanity's current and future condition. 

Keywords: machines, art, technology, design, ethics, dream, industry, automation, robot, algorithms, production, creation, agency, future

Need some inspiration?

During the spring NAVET will organized EQUINOX, March 19-21, at KTH Reactor Hall .

What is NAVET?

NAVET is a KTH centre with the overarching goal of becoming a meeting place for research and projects in the intersection of art, technology and design, with the purpose of facilitating and creating opportunities for exchange and research collaboration among artists, designers, engineers, humanists, natural and social scientists. NAVET is a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology, KKH Royal Institute of Art, KMH Royal College of Music, SKH Stockholm University of the Arts, Konstfack, Tekniska - The National Museum of Science and Technology and Scenkonstmuseet - The Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Terms, Timeline and Activities

• KTH will provide project advisors.
• Tekniska will provide support from production staff and technicians.
• KTH can lend you equipment and material if needed. In the case the equipment adn/or material is not available, NAVET might be able to purchase and lend it to you for the duration of the project.
• You will be provided a complete timeline and activity list for your project ( follow the link (pdf 54 kB) ) that you need to follow.
• Projects will be presented at Tekniska on October 16th.

Please note that the submission form below is interactive. Once you select if you are submitting as a team or as a single participant, different forms will automatically open.

In particular you will need to enter the following information.

Title of the project
Write the preliminary title (and subtitle if needed) of your project.

People involved in the project
List the name, email address, university/department, and role in the project for each participant in the project.

Description of the project
1. Aim of the project (max 3500 characters)
Write the main aim of your project: What do you want to do and why?
2. Strategic importance and impact (max 2000 characters)
Describe why this project connects to the theme of NAVET Festival 2026, Dream ex Machina, why it involves the project partners listed above, how it contributes to the field of art-technology-design, and what it is its possible impact.
3. Description and motivation of project needs
If you foresee any project needs, like equipment you would need to borrow, technical assistance, or specific requirements for placing or hanging your work at Tekniska, please list them as detailed as you can below.