No Signal: Python for Computational Arts is seeking computational artists working with python to create and submit works to showcase during PyCon US 2020 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. PyCon US is a community organized and funded event intended for networking, collaboration, and learning.

“The purpose of this project is to showcase the artistic possibilities that exist when creative coders leverage Python and computer science. Making art with code is an engaging way for beginner technologists to start learning new skills, and also allows folks with existing skills to express themselves in new ways. Python has become a prominent language for scripting in game engines and 3D creation suites, graphic design, sound design, and circuitry; along with its active user community and so many additional add-on libraries, Python is an approachable tool to use for artistic purposes. We hope to give pythonistas, career computer scientists, and all patrons of the conference a chance to see exciting work and projects, and in turn find inspiration for their own projects and learning.”

We are looking to recruit YOU to help us provide an engaging, educational, and inspirational experience for the patrons of PyCon 2020!

Below are important dates, from the opening of submissions to the last day of the installation and conference. Following the time-line you will find the guidelines for submitting.

Important Dates:
SUBMISSIONS OPEN: February 21, 2020
SUBMISSIONS CLOSE: March 21, 2020

SUBMISSIONS REVIEW: March 22, 2020 - April 7, 2020
SELECTIONS ANNOUNCED: April 8, 2020
Artists will be notified via the email they provide, whether thier submission has been selected to display or not

DATES OF CONVENTION: April 15, 2020- April 23, 2020
DATE WORKS WILL BE DISPLAYED: Friday April 17, 2020

Requirements for Submitted works to be accepted:

• MUST USE PYTHON.
• Must have a title for artists submission.
• Submissions MUST be made open source (though machine learning artists are allowed to keep their training sets private).
• Code MUST be submitted along with the artist’s project.
• MUST have an artist blurb describing background, artistic process, connection to computation. This should also include relevant links to the artist’s online presence / website.
• Artist blurb should also contain links to github where code can be found if the artist decides to host on their own, the works and code will also live in a public repository. For educational purposes we ask that you try and add some documentation to your code / over all project.
• Describe what pythons role in the artistic process is for your submission.
• Submissions MUST be exported to a video file of resolution 1920 x 1080 and MPEG-4 formatted.
• We require that submissions avoid rapid flashing, strobing, or intentionally disorienting content for health and safety reasons.
• Must follow PyCon 2020 Code of Conduct.
• If you are interested in submitting something that cannot be exported to video it must still adhere to the above requirements, additionally you should reach out to an organizing member of the No Signal project to work out if we are able to facilitate your needs. Some examples might be: Video Games, Interactive works requiring sensors or a camera, or AR/VR works. Please Contact: morgan.visnesky@gmail.com for more information regarding non-video submissions.

Submissions will be judged and selected on the following criteria assuming they have met the above requirements

• Meets all the above requirements and adheres to PyCon 2020 code of conduct.
• MUST USE PYTHON
• Creative use of python.
• Quality of python code, and amount of python code in submission.
• We are seeking works achieved via computational methods, despite probably being very creative and engaging, works using processes that are not code based will not be selected, though we encourage you to check out this: The Art of Python, a project that played a large role in the inspiration for No Signal: Python for Computational Art.

NOTE: projects may contain code from other languages, or usage of other tools, but as mentioned above, the amount of python you use and how creatively it is used is a key factor in whether your work will be selected to display or not.

After the Event, selected artists submissions will live here: NO SIGNAL GITHUB GALLERY

For examples of some beautiful art made with python check out the links below:
Jeremy Behraendt’s computational art in Blender
Eric Davidson / freeCodeCamp: Generative art with python

The python community is a welcoming one, let’s keep it that way. Here is a link to the code of conduct, all of these guidelines apply to No Signal as well as the convention. Please read this thoroughly: CODE OF CONDUCT

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY HERE: ARTIST SUBMISSION FORM