Pitches wanted (systems, hacking) | ~$240 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: DISCO JOURNAL

Deadline: 12 November 2023

SYSTEMS, visible and invisible, are all around us, in us, are us. SYSTEMS are the ecologies that accept, reject, dissect and digest all that we proffer. They are our bodies, made up of nervous, reproductive and excretory SYSTEMS that swallow and shit to mirror the metabolic processes of nature. They are the economic processes that pervade every real and virtual space, ruling the living and commodifying the dead. They are the digital technologies that mediate our thoughts and desires, binding us to an existence of surveillance and servitude. Inextricable from our lived reality, SYSTEMS clash and integrate with one another in frenzied tangles, corrupting our ability to make sense of the contemporary moment. How might we leverage our position in and as SYSTEMS to find equilibrium in such chaos?

HACKING, typically associated with the geeks of 90s computer culture, has yet to be fully imagined, let alone realised. This new iteration sheds the confines of the digital just as the digital supersedes the borders of its hardware. HACKING, thus, materialises beyond the screen, the wires, the systems of technocapital, into the IRL. It unfurls in the actions of the climate activists who disrupt board meetings of major banks to protest investment in gas and oil. It emerges in the chemical and occupational therapies that alter the neural pathways of depression, addiction and PTSD. HACKING, as a way to breach the systems of old, requires the disintegration of borders between digital and IRL. In this post-digital landscape, how can HACKING be reconceptualised as a mechanism to agitate, fracture, and survive the systems at play? In what ways can HACKING create fissures from which new possibilities emerge?

For Issue 2, we invite submissions from all disciplines to rethink HACKING as a digital and/or analogue method of deviation from, or interference with, a SYSTEM.

SUBMISSIONS CAN BE:

• Textual: scholarly, creative, fiction, poetry
• Static Art: photography, digital images, data viz, illustrations
• Audio-Visual: video, animations, sound-based
• Interactive Media: software, other time-based works
• Something completely off the rails

Whatever the format, they should use or address HACKING as a way of critically assessing a system-subject.

DO NOTE THAT:

• Written/scholarly articles as well as long-form creative writing and interviews should not exceed 3000 words (excluding citations, captions and references).
• Visual and media projects should include a project statement of up to 1200 words and up to 15 components (for example, drawings, video clips).
• Reviews should not exceed 700 words.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All prospective contributors should submit a 200-word abstract by 12 Nov 2023. For text-based submissions, please also submit a writing sample. For other types of submission (for example, audiovisual), please submit up to 5 examples of your work. Selected contributors of Issue 2 will receive a fee of £200.

The editorial committee will review all submissions and select up to 10 for the issue. Decisions will be emailed to applicants by 11 Dec 2023. If selected for inclusion in the issue, your proposed contribution must be completed by the First Draft Deadline of 2 Feb 2024. Selected contributors may receive requests for revisions from the committee, prior to publication. The contributor will have one month to revise and resubmit their work to the committee. Please review the timeline below for all deadlines.

Please note DiSCo Journal editors reserve the right to decide against publication of contributions in exceptional circumstances, i.e. if there is a significant difference between proposal and final submission.

Any questions about the submission guidelines, timeline, or general inquiries about the issue/journal, please email editors [at] discojournal [dot] com or reach out on twitter @Digital_DiSCo_ or on instagram @discojournal

TIMELINE

• Call for Submissions deadline: 12 Nov 2023
• Applicants informed of decisions by: 11 Dec 2023
• Selected contributors to accept by: 18 Dec 2023
• First Draft Deadline: 2 Feb 2024
• Final Version Deadline, including special formatting requests: 29 Mar 2024
• Issue 2 publication: 12 Apr 2024
• Issue 2 launch party: Apr/May 2024 (TBD)

STYLE GUIDE

• Looking for the DiSCo Journal Style Guide? Find it here

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: editors@discojournal.com
• Website: https://discojournal.com

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: The DiSCo Journal is an annual online publication exploring digital art, culture and methods. Rather than get stuck in tired dystopian/utopian debates, the journal’s aim is to host a critical space to probe and question what digitalisation means. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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