The NordiCHI 2026 Demos Track invites interactive systems, installations, tools, and performances that bring HCI research to life — engaging the senses, provoking thought, and sparking conversation. Demos provide a space to feel the pulse of innovation, letting attendees experience the energy that drives and connects ideas, beings, and environments.
We welcome contributions that embody the conference theme “Pulse – exploring the energy that drives us”, whether by visualizing, sensing, amplifying, or reimagining the rhythms that connect humans, technologies, and environments. Submissions may explore the biological, digital, ecological, or social dimensions of technology examining how systems perceive, respond, interact and pulsate. This includes perspectives that highlight sensory variation, cognitive diversity, and more-than-human connections across species and systems, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be attuned to the world’s pulse.
Submission Instructions and Schedule
Demos may take many forms:
- Experimental prototypes or artistic installations
- Research systems and tangible interfaces
- Embodied or performative experiences
- Data-driven or sensor-enabled explorations
- Industrial or design-led tools
We encourage submissions from academia, industry, independent creators, artists, and designers, as well as from collectives working across disciplines. Whether your work beats with human curiosity, machine intelligence, or the quiet vitality of other living systems — we invite you to make its pulse felt in Vaasa.
Important Dates (Anywhere on Earth)
- Submission Deadline: May 18, 2026
- Notification of Acceptance: June 30, 2026
- Camera-ready Deadline: August 7, 2026
Submissions
The demo submission should include:
- an extended abstract paper (2 pages max excluding references) in the ACM standard single-column format. It should be self-contained and clearly describe the novelty and distinguishing ideas of your project (for publication).
- a still image representing your work of at least 1500 x 1200 px (for publication).
- a supplementary file with a setup description, e.g., a textual description and/or a (mock-up) photo of the demonstration showing the envisioned setup (demo hardware components, tables, chairs, lights, and other equipment). Label and annotate the image(s) so organizers get a good understanding of your setup.
- an accompanying video no longer than three minutes (optional but highly recommended for dissemination purposes).
Submissions should NOT be anonymised.
All materials must be submitted electronically to PCS by the deadline. See submission instructions (link updated later) for details on how to submit.
Authors will not receive formal feedback on their submission, other than the selection decision.
Selection Process
The selection process for Demos is curated, that is, selected by an esteemed committee, but not sent out to external reviewers. The curated demo content will be selected from demonstration submissions, accepted papers, as well as projects invited by the demo chairs.
Presentation Format
Accepted demo presenters are invited to showcase the demos during the NordiCHI 2026 conference in adjunct to the Monday evening reception October 5th, 2026. Accepted demo presenters must register for the conference. Details regarding demonstrations will be provided with the acceptance notification.
Publication
Details regarding the publication of accepted demo submissions will be provided later on.
Chairs
Joni-Roy Piispanen, University of Vaasa, Finland, joni.piispanen@uwasa.fi
Paweł W. Woźniak, TU Wien, Austria, pawel.wozniak@tuwien.ac.at