OPEN CALL: 'Against Visibility (or, the Right to Opacity)'

Via: Errant Journal
Deadline: 10 February 2025
Meer info: errantjournal.org

In western/modern hegemony, visibility and its accompanying regime of transparency (much like the ‘right to free speech’) are presented as neutral, unquestionable aspects of a free and liberal society without ever considering the violent history of their formation. In this world view, seeing – historically conceptualized from a single vantage point embodied by the ideal subject – becomes equated with knowing, and ultimately with reality itself.

At a moment in which representation and uncovering lost histories are trending, Errant wants to ask what other ways of knowing and being get lost in the process. When Édouard Glissant proclaimed the right to opacity, he sought not to be reduced or to be measured against an ideal scale in order to be understood and accepted. Expanding from this, unlearning imperialism should also include unlearning the ideal of visibility itself. Therefore, the eight issue of Errant wants to consider ‘other’ ways of relating to visibility and images, and asks what has been erased in a world where everything must always be visible. 

Proposal:
Because it is Errant´s aim to give form to the idea of a pluriversal world, we resolutely reject the idea of a universal way of knowing emanating from a neutral, general and/or anonymous perspective. Instead, we look for contributions that are concretely situated, personal, specific, etc. and from all possible backgrounds, disciplines, and/or embodied knowledges. We also look for and welcome contributions that come from a different epistemological knowledge or language that the editors of Errant do not understand. Most of Errant consists of essays, but we also welcome other (experimental) forms that can be made suitable for the format of a publication.

Submission:
Proposals should not exceed 300 words, accompanied by one piece of previously published (or written, if not published) material and a short bio. Please also include a list of (possible) references on which your thinking is based. You may also propose an existing text, artwork, or other material, if so please specify. The contribution can be written by as many people as you want, but note that the fee is per contribution, not per person. We ask you to only hand in one proposal per person or duo/group.

Klik hier voor meer oproepen & doorlopende regelingen.