FROG 2026

FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming 2026
“PLAYING ART”

20th Vienna Games Conference
November 20–22, 2026
Belvedere 21, Vienna

Since 2007, FROG has brought together researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines to discuss key questions in game studies and game development, to reflect on the significance of play for society, culture, education, and democratic participation, and to jointly explore the future and realities of gaming. With the 20th edition, FROG enters a new chapter at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna: for the first time, the conference will be hosted by an Austrian museum and complemented by the preceding SUBOTRON game jam series.

Under the theme “PLAYING ART” FROG 2026 explores the relationship between art and play as a contemporary cultural practice and asks how art can be experienced, interpreted, and made accessible through playful formats – and how games themselves operate as independent forms of cultural expression. FROG 2026 invites scholars from various disciplines, educators, artists, curators, game designers, and developers to discuss these questions together and to present their research, projects, concepts, and critical perspectives on “PLAYING ART” at the conference.

Call for Abstracts

Submission Deadline: September 15, 2026

FROG 2026 | Programme

Friday, November 20, 2026 – Game Jam Showcase & Awards Ceremony

The Game Jam entries will be playable on-site. Each team will give a short presentation of their game on stage. Learn more about the SUBOTRON Game Jam series here.

  • Doors Open: 8:30 AM
  • Event Starts: 9:00 AM (Opening of the exhibition / Game Showcase / Guided tours for school classes)
  • Game Presentations: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM (duration depends on the number of participating teams)
  • Awards Ceremony: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Saturday, November 21, 2026 – FROG Conference

Conference sessions on the theme PLAYING ART.

  • Doors Open: 9:30 AM
  • Conference Begins: 10:00 AM
  • Lunch Break: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • Networking Get-Together: 6:00 PM
  • End of Event: 8:00 PM

Running throughout the day: Game Showcase

Sunday, November 22, 2026 – FROG Conference

Conference sessions on the theme PLAYING ART.

  • Doors Open: 9:30 AM
  • Conference Begins: 10:00 AM
  • Lunch Break: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • End of Event: 5:00 PM

Running throughout the day: Game Showcase

FROG 2026 | Chairs and Programme Committee

Main Organisers:
Natalie Denk
Jogi Neufeld

Programme Committee:
Alexander Pfeiffer
Sonja Gabriel
Felix Schniz
Margarete Jahrmann
Stephan Schwingeler
Eugen Pfister
Harald Koberg

Creative Support:
Constantin Kraus

FROG Organizers, Partners and Funding

The Vienna-based association SUBOTRON develops, promotes and discusses the history, present, and future of digital games beyond entertainment since 2005.

Over 400 talks, panels, workshops, festivals, curations and cooperations with international key players from science, education, art and industry have established the platform as one of Europe’s most sustainable centers for impact games.

subotron.com

The Verein für Angewandte Spieleforschung (Association for Applied Game Studies) is an independent platform that strengthens the field of applied game studies by developing academic insights, making them widely accessible, and bridging research and practice across diverse interdisciplinary contexts and audiences, while fostering responsible dialogue with practitioners and society.

The association’s team has played a key role in organising the FROG from the very beginning.

www.angewandtespieleforschung.at (coming soon)

The Belvedere in Vienna is one of the world’s leading art museums. Across three locations, it presents Austrian art in an international context. The collection spans works from the Middle Ages to the present day, including the world’s largest Klimt collection as well as key works of Viennese Biedermeier, Austrian Baroque, and the Vienna around 1900 era. Alongside its core missions of exhibiting, researching, collecting, mediating, and preserving, the Belvedere develops digital and participatory formats to open up new ways of engaging with art and history. Under the motto “Discovering Art Through Play”, the museum has for several years been using games as a deliberate instrument of cultural education.

FROG 2026 is funded by grants from the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Kunst, Kultur, Medien und Sport)

https://www.bmwkms.gv.at/

FROG 2026 is funded by grants from the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt Österreich).

https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/