Call for Pitches: Contradictions of Looking, a special issue of the Full Stop Quarterly, guest-edited by Keely Shinners
The world of contemporary art is, indeed, contradictory. Is there any other industry where billionaires rub shoulders with radicals over complimentary glasses of wine? Where the friction between aesthetics, ethics, and economy is so decidedly combustible? Where a single image can be looked at one way as representative of all the world’s beauty—and then, from another angle, representative of all the world’s bloodshed?
In times like ours, times of fracture, depravity and upheaval—times which are really not that different than any other time on earth, except for the speed and scale at which violence is exercised—what is the value of art? Why should we write about it? How do we sit within all the contradictions of looking?
The “Contradictions of Looking” issue seeks feature essays, reviews, and interviews that sit with these questions: essays on the history of the book object, treatises on art criticism as a literary form, reviews of photo books, interviews with poets-cum-painters and painters-cum-poets, to name but a few examples.
What We Are Looking For and Rates:
Essays should be between 2,500 and 4,500 words and should explore multiple works at the intersection of art and literature to advance a thesis: $200.
Reviews should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words, preferably focused on art- and photobooks published by small and independent presses in the last year or forthcoming: $100.
Interviews and intellectual exchanges that dialogue with the issue: $50.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, or translations of those. All submissions should be previously unpublished.
How to submit:
Send a 100- to 200-word pitch to [email protected] and include “Contradictions of Looking” in the subject line. Please also include 1–3 links to previously published work as well as your current bio (no more than 150 words). Please submit proposals by March 28, 2025.
If you have any questions, contact Keely at [email protected].
Deadline: March 28, 2025.
This post may contain affiliate links.
