The International Conference on Live Coding reaches its 10th edition in 2027: 9–13 March, at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and De Singel International Arts Center, in Antwerp, Belgium.
Two dates matter right now, and they point in opposite directions.
If you submitted: 1 November 2026
Acceptance notification is 1 November 2026 — about four weeks out. The main call closed on 1 September 2026 (an extended deadline, from an opening of 15 August).
Registration deadlines are still TBA.
If you didn’t: 1 February 2027
Satellite events accept a declaration of interest until 1 February 2027.
This is the part worth knowing about, because it is the least publicised route into an academic-adjacent conference and frequently the most interesting one. A satellite event is something you organise alongside the main programme — a workshop, an algorave, a symposium, a showcase, a jam — that runs under the conference’s umbrella without going through paper review.
For live coding specifically, satellites have historically been where a lot of the actual community activity happens. A declaration of interest is a much lighter lift than a paper: you are proposing to do a thing, not defending a contribution.
What the main call looked like
For reference, and for planning next time — ICLC’s format is unusually open compared with most conferences in this space:
| Category | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Short papers | 2–4 pages, template required |
| Long papers | 5–12 pages, template required |
| Live performances | 800-word abstract + technical rider |
| Workshops | 2–4 hours, max 700-word abstract |
| Installations | max 700-word abstract |
| Satellite events | declaration of interest, before 1 Feb 2027 |
No submission fees. Submissions in English. Proceedings are published with DOIs per article, which matters if you need citable output.
Two details that are genuinely unusual and worth flagging:
The conference provides access to performers — dancers, musicians, visual artists — for collaboration. That is a rare and substantial offer. Most conferences expect you to arrive with your collaborators; ICLC is offering to find you some. For a live coder who works with sound and wants to put movement or image alongside it, that is a reason to submit rather than a logistical footnote.
There is an environmental statement encouraging low-carbon travel, with live-streaming for remote participation. Which is both an ethical position and a practical one for anyone for whom flying to Belgium is not feasible.
The theme: Dialogues
ICLC 2027’s theme is “Dialogues” — framed as reciprocal interaction between coder and machine, performer and audience, sound and image, movement and algorithm, artistic tradition and digital experimentation.
It is a well-chosen theme for live coding specifically, because the form’s defining characteristic is that the dialogue is visible. A live coder projects their editor; the audience watches a person negotiating with a language in real time, including the errors. The gap between intention and result is the performance, in a way it isn’t when the instrument does what you tell it.
The tenth edition is also a reasonable moment for a retrospective framing. ICLC began in 2015; TOPLAP, the live coding organisation behind it, dates to 2004. Live coding has gone from a fringe practice with a manifesto to something with a conference series, proceedings, a teaching literature, and tools — TidalCycles, SuperCollider, Strudel, Hydra, Sonic Pi — that a lot of people encounter before they encounter the scene.
Where it sits in the calendar
Early March 2027 is congested: GDC runs 1–5 March, ICLC 9–13, and SXSW 13–21. If you are deciding between them, note that ICLC is the only one of the three that is cheap, small, and likely to result in you personally performing.
We track the creative-technology conference calendar continuously and publish previews about four weeks ahead of each event, plus open calls when they run. Next due: Adobe MAX (10–12 November 2026), preview around 13 October.