Dates:

12–14 November, 2026 // Prague, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

Venue:

Prague, Czech Republic; DOX: Centre For Contemporary Art, Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7-Holešovice

Call for Presentations

Authentic Interactions: Interactive Digital Narratives, AI, and the Question of Authenticity

ZIP-Scene Conference on Immersive Storytelling vol. 8.

What does it mean to be authentic in an age when our expressions can be generated, our emotions simulated, and our stories co-authored by machines? Authenticity, as research on social media platforms shows, is a negotiated tension between the desire for raw, unfiltered expression and the need to present oneself in ways that feel genuinely representative of one's inner state (Li et al., 2025). It lives in the act of expression itself, shaped by hesitation, imperfection, and the friction of not knowing what comes next. The "Romantic dogma" (Depczynski, 2025) long held that authentic art flows from the artist's inner world, guided by intuition and feeling. But as Sofian Audry puts it, contemporary art may be less about self-expression and more about estrangement: "I came to understand that contemporary art was not so much about solving problems as it was about creating problems for the viewers by bringing them into an experience, allowing the revelation of otherwise unfathomable truths about the world through its estrangement." That disruption of the familiar is precisely the point. Interactive digital narratives (IDN) have always worked in this tension. Drawing on Janet Murray, Koenitz argues that IDN uniquely affords the representation of competing perspectives and enables the exploration of different viewpoints across multiple traversals. Less a mirror, more a kaleidoscope (Koenitz, 2023).

At its heart, this is a question about human connection. IDN has from its beginnings been concerned with what happens between author, system, and interactor. Janet Murray's concept of dramatic agency describes the pleasure of feeling that one's choices genuinely matter within a story world (Murray, 2005). Later she observes that "enacted events have a transformative power that exceeds narrated and conventionally dramatized events because we assimilate them as personal experiences. The emotional impact of enactment within an immersive environment is so strong that virtual reality installations have been found to be effective for psychotherapy" (Murray, 1997). This raises a harder question: can authenticity be measured on a scale, understood as a force with short or long-lasting effects on the person who encounters it?

As AI enters this relationship as a third party, generating dialogue, shaping narrative paths, simulating characters, the question of who is actually connecting with whom becomes urgent. At what point does communication stop being ours? Seo et al. (2026) argue that as AI tools increasingly anticipate tone and generate expression on our behalf, users risk losing the very process through which a genuine voice is formed. Misreadings of relational context distort interaction, producing tones that misalign with intention, while the gradual outsourcing of self-expression creates a dependence that hollows out what communication was in the first place. Research confirms that disclosing AI authorship erodes perceived trustworthiness and sincerity, particularly in social and interpersonal writing, though higher AI literacy tends to soften these negative perceptions (Nakano et al., 2025). Yet story framing can compensate to a degree: LLM-driven characters embedded in coherent narrative structures are perceived as more believable and engaging (Sun et al., 2025), suggesting that authenticity can be constructed through relational and narrative context, not origin alone.

Embodiment adds another layer. In VR narrative, the body is not simply a vessel. A virtual body can deepen identification with characters and heighten presence (Kim & Khajavi, 2024), and may trigger the Proteus effect, where inhabiting a virtual self begins to shape behavior and self-perception. Whether that transformation is a form of authenticity or its quiet undoing is an open question. First-person perspective compounds this: it consistently outperforms third-person in emotional engagement (Liu et al., 2024).

So: is authenticity in interactive and immersive contexts less about verified origin and more about felt alignment, between self and body, between user and character, between intention and expression? Is the body one of the most reliable authenticating mechanisms we have? Is imperfection a condition of the authentic? And if AI can simulate imperfection, what remains?

As you read this, you probably started weighing whether these questions feel genuine, whether the voice behind them is real, whether the hesitations were rehearsed. ZIP-Scene invites you to bring that same restlessness to your work and submit it to this call proposals/abstracts on interactive digital narratives, performance works, and critical contributions that engage with these questions, from any angle, without predetermined answers.

Conference themes:

• Interactive storytelling methods and authoring
• Video games
• Virtual reality experiences and movies
• Augmented reality in interactive storytelling
• Interactive performing arts practices
• Interactive museums and archives
• Immersive environments (media archeology and phenomenological approach)
• Participatory practices using interactive digital storytelling in education, health care and other applied areas
• Interactive storytelling formats and their effect on mental health
• Special track #1: Performing the Self —Authenticity, AI, and Self-Presentation in Interactive Narrative
• Special track #2: The Authentic Body —Embodiment, Presence, and Human Connection in Immersive Experience

General information

The conference is intended as an in-person event in Prague. The organizer reserves the right to make changes to the event program.

Registration fee

100 EUR (physical attendance)

(Reduced registration fee is available upon request)

The fee includes entry to the ART∗VR Festival happening at the same venues. More information about visitor tickets in September.

The organizers cannot cover travel and accommodation costs. Upon request we can provide you with an invitation letter.

For Whom

The conference addresses scientific researchers, game professionals, programmers, artists, scholars and professionals from the fields of performing arts and game studies, as well as interactive storytellers, experience designers, narrative designers, VR professionals and philosophers and others concerned with the conference topics. The conference aims to bring together emerging scholars, professionals and creators in order to create a joint platform which would help individuals to understand and to develop these types of productions.

This year the conference is organized in cooperation with ART*VR festival, the biggest curated art XR showcase in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The carefully curated programme aims to present the best in the field of artistic VR creation and immerse the audience in unique, immersive virtual worlds. The programme will showcase the latest projects presented at major festivals such as the Venice Film Biennale, Annecy, Tribeca and SXSW in the USA, and IDFA in Amsterdam. The event also aims to present several projects in international or world premieres.

The festival will have a competitive and non-competitive part and will aim to present VR projects set in physical art installations. The event will take place in the exhibition space of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art and Prague Planetarium. An important part of the programme is an industry programme for film professionals, a series of lectures on VR and an accompanying programme. A special programme for primary and secondary schools will also take place in the morning of the festival.

Apply

You can apply by uploading your abstract and bio to this form, and sending a headshot picture to this e-mail: bakk (@) mome dot hu

Submit your application

Deadline for application: 1 July 2026.

Please write us an email after submitting your abstract so we can double-check your application. Reach out here: bakk (@) mome dot hu

Organised by:

Zip-Scene
Art*VR Festival
ARDIN – Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narratives

Strategic partners:

1. Code and Soda Company — codeandsoda.com
2. Random Error Studio — randomerror.studio
3. Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design

Consultant on behalf of ARDIN/INDCOR:

Hartmut Koenitz