Move
One continuous flow of energy across all four walls, edge to edge. No seams, no gaps.
About Trialogue
A live design lab where architecture, art and technology build together. This edition runs two programs side by side: DATUM and DOT
0Days of exhibition at IAPEX
0Programs, each with its own open call
0Curators leading the work
2.6The edition you can be part of
What happens inside
Where disciplines meet
2.6
Architecture
Teams shape space, ground and the way a body moves through a room.
Art
Light, material and memory turn a room into something you feel first.
Technology
Sensors, code and live data let the work respond to every visitor.
Knowledge
Ancestral methods and craft sit beside new tools, not behind them.
Deadlines
The open calls are closing
DATUM open call
5 Oct 2026
00Days
00Hours
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Submissions for DATUM are closed.
Apply to DATUM →- Theme
- The Space of Encounter
- Deadline
- 5 October 2026
- Exhibition
- 4.5.6 December, IAPEX
Curator's note
Every act of creation casts a shadow
Light carries the promise of progress; shadow holds its consequences, while earth carries the memory of both.
Every act of creativity produces a corresponding effect, a shadow. We continue to build forward while simultaneously utilizing foundational elements such as ground, historical context, and knowledge systems that predate contemporary tools.
We are living through a moment obsessed with the horizon. Architecture, art, design... and now AI are constantly pushed forward: toward the next material, the next system, the next form of intelligence. What is the outcome of our relentless pursuit to keep building? This is not an argument against invention. It asks what invention does without knowledge, memory, or consequences. The future does not begin with another new idea; it begins with understanding what we already know, questioning what still holds, and deciding what we carry forward. Ancestral methods, ecological knowledge, and emerging technologies do not need to stand in opposition; they can occupy the same space, challenge one another, and create new ways of seeing and making.
The Space of Encounter brings together people who work within this tension, not toward a finished answer, but toward the encounter itself: a space where different forms of knowledge meet, and where another understanding of the future can begin.
Faisal Anwar is a Canadian hybrid artist, curator, and immersive art producer working at the intersection of diverse mediums, emerging technologies, and ecological and human storytelling. He served as Chief Curator for the Karachi Biennale 2022 and is the founder of CultureLab.art.
Inside the room
Four ways to experience DATUM
Light
Sepia grade, grain, scanlines and field-note stamps. The record, not the live signal.
Now
Live tracking data from the people in the room, drawn as it happens.
Source of Knowledge
The walls become a LIDAR-style point cloud forest, with flight paths floating through the room.
The future does not begin with another new idea. It begins with what we already know.DATUM, curator's note
- Theme
- Woven Ground
- Deadline
- 5 October 2026
- Exhibition
- 4.5.6 December, IAPEX
About the program
Where cloth becomes architecture
Before walls, there was cloth. Woven Ground looks at the soft skins we build with: fabric, membrane, thread and the hands that make them.
DOT. asks how softness can hold memory. How a weave can carry a place, a family or a craft forward, and how those soft skins can shape the spaces we live in today.
The program invites architects, artists, designers and makers to work with textile thinking, craft knowledge and new materials, and to build one encounter together at IAPEX.
Program text is a draft for review. Final wording to be confirmed by the curatorial team.
Threads to explore
01
02
03
Three threads of Woven Ground
Soft skins
Fabric, membrane and surface as architecture: light, flexible and made to move.
Memory
Craft passed down through hands. What a weave remembers about people and places.
Ground
How soft structures meet the earth, shelter a body and make a space to gather.
Every thread holds a memory. Every weave builds a ground.DOT., Woven Ground
Open call
How it works
01
Apply
Choose DATUM or DOT. and send your team and concept before the deadline.
02
Get selected
The curators review every submission and pick the teams.
03
Build
Selected teams develop and install their work with mentor support.
04
Exhibit
The work opens to the public at IAPEX Lahore, 4.5.6 December.
Team
Students and young practitioners in architecture, art, design and technology.
- Build inside DATUM or DOT.
- Work with a mentor
- Exhibit at IAPEX 2026
Mentor
Offer expertise and guidance to a participating team during development: technical, curatorial, or disciplinary mentorship, as little or as much time as you're able to give.
- Technical mentorship
- Curatorial guidance
- Disciplinary expertise
Sponsor or partner
Fund a team's participation: materials, production, travel, or fabrication costs. Or collaborate as an institutional, venue, or media partner.
- Sponsor a team
- Co-present or host
- Extend the reach of the open call
DATUM
The Space of Encounter
Submission deadline5 October 2026
Open call
We invite multidisciplinary architects, artists, design-led practitioners, creative programmers, inventors, scientists, storytellers, and start-ups working at the edge of their fields to step into this tension with us. Bring your collective imaginations, finished or unfinished ideas, your prototypes, your questions, your instruments.
- Your team and the disciplines you bring
- Your idea or prototype, finished or unfinished
- Links to your portfolio or past work
Applications open in Google Forms, in a new tab.
Apply via Google Form →
Questions
Before you apply
Can't find your answer? Write to us and we will get back to you.
What is the difference between DATUM and DOT.?
They are two programs inside Trialogue 2.6. DATUM, curated by Faisal Anwar, explores light, shadow and knowledge. DOT., curated by Kiran Khan, explores Woven Ground: soft skins and the architecture of memory.
Can I apply to both programs?
Details will be confirmed by the curatorial team. For now, send a separate application for each program.
Who can apply?
Students and early-career practitioners from architecture, art, design and technology. Mixed-discipline teams are encouraged.
Can the public visit the exhibition?
Yes. Trialogue 2.6 is open to visitors at IAPEX Lahore on 4, 5 and 6 December 2026.