The call for abstracts (first stage submission) for the CA²RE Évora Conference, 18th CA²RE Conference on Architectural and Artistic Research: Mapping, to be held in Évora on October 9^th through 11^th, 2025, is open until June 16th.

Aimed at PhD students and artistically based research using project-based research methodologies, this call invites submissions from researchers and practitioners from diverse fields engaged in Design Driven and Artistic Research, wishing to share and discuss their projects through intensive peer review and critical dialogue.

The Community for Artistic and Architectural Research (CA²RE) is a network of researchers in Design Driven Research (DDR) intended to bring together senior and early-career researchers, to improve research quality through intensive peer reviewing at key intermediate stages. The CA²RE Community is developed through the CA²RE Conferences, organized at several European universities.

Traditional mapping has long been a tool to delineate physical spaces, often reflecting prevailing power structures and control mechanisms. However, mapping as a concept now seeks to transcend these conventional boundaries by incorporating both methodological and instrumental dimensions, as well as symbolic, cultural, aesthetical, and ecological aspects.

This edition of CA²RE suggests this expanded approach goes beyond traditional mapping providing an open and diverse debate that welcomes examples of multi- and trans-disciplinary thinking and doing.

Applicants are encouraged to submit abstracts under three lines of research:

i) Mapping INTO artistic and design driven research: Using mapping techniques to create, study, analyse, and understand art and design practices, histories, theories, urban or social contexts. Here, mapping is a tool to investigate phenomena within or about the discipline;

ii) Artistic and design driven research THROUGH mapping: Often associated with practice-based or design-driven research. In this case, mapping – whether drawing, diagramming, creating atlases, assembling, etc. – is the central method of research. Knowledge is generated through the act of mapping itself;

iii) Mapping FOR artistic and design driven research: Mapping is conducted to produce knowledge, tools, or strategies that directly inform or support future artistic or design practices, interventions, or methodologies.

Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July 7th, 2025. Participants’ essays will be published in the conference book of abstracts. Selected applicants will be invited for publication, depending on the focus of the planned presentation and discussion with international reviewers. (Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license).

Read the full text of the call on the conference website or as a PDF.

For the submission, applicants are asked to provide the following:

• Extended illustrated abstracts: 800-1200 words including illustrations (max two A4 pages of images, as an integral part of the submitted file) in an anonymous PDF file;
  
  
• Artefacts: 600-800 words including illustrations (max four A4 pages of images, as an integral part of the submitted file) in an anonymous PDF file;
  
  
• A short reflection on the importance and role of the DDR approach, methodologies, techniques and tools employed in the research project (max 250 words), referring as well to the conference’s main topic, should be included on both previous formats.
  
  
• A short CV (max 100 words) should be uploaded as a separated PDF file.