The theme for VIS Issue 14 is The Heart of the Experiment (and the art of failure). Editor: Michael Francis Duch, co-editor Tale Næss. Deadline for proposals 4 December 2024.
VIS OPEN CALL #14
The call for VIS Issue 14 is open! Deadline for exposition proposals is 4 December 2024.
EDITOR: MICHAEL FRANCIS DUCH, CO-EDITOR TALE NÆSS
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS 4 DECEMBER 2024
The Heart of the Experiment (and the art of failure)
“I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I'm doing.” ― John Cage
In this edition of VIS we would like to pay attention to experimental art practices and artistic research where the experiment is at the heart of the practice and the main pulse of the art work. Where one does not know the specific outcome of the process and what the final artistic product will be.
In many artistic research projects and proposals there seems to be a need of a clear and specific artistic outcome, but doesn’t that limit the possibilities within experimental art where the experiment is both the process and sometimes even the artwork itself?
What does this do to our understanding of failure in art and in artistic research?
In certain cases, failure is an expected part of both process and outcome, such as Tom Johnson’s Failing – a very difficult piece for solo string bass. Here the performer can only keep failing and failing better, to paraphrase Beckett.
Although failure most often has negative connotations, it can also be seen as something positive.
In this issue of VIS we would like to highlight and show how failure can be used as a method and as an integrated part of the process in both artistic production and research.
We especially encourage proposals which deals with experimental ways of using the possibilities within Research Catalogue as a digital platform for both presenting and documenting artistic research.
Contributors can experiment with different formats, the balance of visual content, interactivity, and the expectations placed on the reader.
We ask: How does the process of experimentation, including its failures, become visible? Can the format of presentation itself shape our understanding of it? And could there be a potential for multiple readings where «mistakes» can occur and where they create a productive disturbance in the way we see our material?
“Failure exists in relation to goals. Nature has no goals so can’t fail. Humans have goals so they have to fail. Often the wonderful continuities produced by failure reveal the pettiness of the goal. Of course we have to go on striving for success otherwise we couldn’t genuinely fail. If Buster Keaton wasn’t genuinely trying to put up his house it wouldn’t be funny when it falls down on him”. ― Cornelius Cardew
HOW TO SUBMIT AN EXPOSITION
Find all details about submitting here: VIS submission and editorial process (external link).
To apply for the open call: create, design and submit an exposition (in draft) using the Research Catalogue (RC). You need to register a full account in RC. Note that this can take 1–2 working days. On the RC, click ”create exposition” and use the help offered in RC-guides, tutorials and RC-support. Submit your exposition to the VIS Portal Page in RC (in the menu, choose “Submit for review” and then choose the portal “VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research”, confirm by “Submit”).
You should consider your “exposition-draft” as only a proposal. You can leave notes within the draft that explain further developments and ideas. If your proposal is chosen by the Editorial Committee, you will be invited to further develop it into a complete exposition. The submitted full exposition will be peer-reviewed. You will have about 4-5 months for further development, editing and peer-reviewing before publication in VIS Journal.
The Editorial Committee selects seven contributions to each issue of VIS.
Note. Due to the large number of submissions received in response to the initial call and submission deadline, the Editorial Committee is unfortunately not able to give detailed review feedback to rejected submissions.
Contact us for more info:
visjournal@uniarts.se
CHECKLIST FOR SUBMISSIONS
- Once you have chosen an editor type in the Research Catalogue, you will be asked to fill in information about your exposition. You need to fill in: Title (title of the exposition), Abstract (summary that briefly explains what your exposition is about, Copyright (your first and last name), Language (exposition language), Affiliation (university/organisation, or the city/country you are studying/working in), Keywords (add keywords describing your research and artistic field). External link is optional, it could be a link to your website/portfolio.
- Once in the editing tool, describe the outline of the artistic research, how the artistic research will be exposed and how the exposition will make use of Research Catalogue as a publishing platform. It is recommended that the exposition-draft is developed beyond a text-only abstract to give examples of how and what media will be incorporated. You can add content such as text, images, audio, video, slideshows and pdf’s.
- Include a CV with contact details in the exposition.
- Submissions may be made in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English.
- Your exposition should not have been published previously. If only certain parts of the exposition have been published, this is acceptable. Please describe in the submission how and when partial previous publication has taken place.
- Copyright issues: be sure that you have taken care of any ownership/rights issues pertaining to any material that you add to your exposition.
We also strongly recommend you to consider the following:
- Use Chicago style for references.
- Be sure that the links are working; external links should be opened in a new window
- Test the exposition in different browsers
License
Authors need to use the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND (read more) for the exposition. Content within the exposition, such as certain video, audio, images and text, can – if necessary – have another CC license.
Fee
VIS does not pay authors for their work on the expositions. Peer-review and publication are fully covered by VIS, and are free of charge for participating authors.
THE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE OF VIS CONSIDERS THE FOLLOWING WHEN SELECTING EXPOSITIONS
- How well the exposition proposal relates to the theme of the issue of VIS
- The general quality and relevance of the artistic research
- Whether the exposition takes place within artistic practices and contributes to further research
- Whether the exposition contributes to insight, knowledge and awareness of methods, ethics and context in artistic processes
- Whether the exposition proposal is conceived for the benefit both of those within the field and those beyond the sphere of artistic research.
HOW TO USE RESEARCH CATALOGUE
The RC functions as a platform for the dissemination of self-published content as well as peer-reviewed publications. The RC hosts a number of journals and institutional publications that are peer-reviewed.
To be able to participate in VIS, you need to register an account in Research Catalogue (RC). Peer-Reviewers register a "basic account" to be able to participate in the review-process. Authors need to register a "full account" to be able to create expositions. RC is free of charge.
Learn how to create expositions with the RC-guides. Some institutions that are portal partners in RC gives lessons in how to use the publishing tool. Portal partners in RC can be found here. When you have a registered account in RC you are able to share your exposition with different contributors.
Once you have an upgraded membership ("full account") in the Research Catalogue, there will be a "Create exposition" button on your profile page. When you click on the button, select "Editor type". Choose between graphical, block or text based. There are three types of editors with different ways to create an exposition. Choosing an editor.
Once you have chosen the editor, you will be asked to fill in brief facts about your exposition in step 1 and create the exposition itself in step 2. Below you will find instructions.
PEER-REVIEW-PROCESS
VIS holds an open call for every issue. 7 expositions will be selected by the Editorial Committee. As described above, all expositions are created in the database Research Catalogue.
If your submission is selected for consideration by the Editorial Committee, it will first go through an editorial review-process, then an external peer-reviewer will be chosen to evaluate it. The peer-review will take approx. 2 months; the review process will be partly dialogue-based so that it may be collaborative and developmental as well as evaluative. After peer-reviewing, you will have the opportunity to carry out further work on the exposition and you will get in copy- edited before submitting it for publication. Learn more about VIS peer-review-process.
Read more about the peer-review-process: VIS – the Editorial Process.
ARE YOU A POTENTIAL PEER-REVIEWER?
VIS is interested in exploring new ideas for the process of peer-review in artistic research. Models that combine rigorous scrutiny of work with a collaborative and developmental process are of particular interest to the Committee.
As a peer reviewer for VIS, you will be an expert in your own field and have a solid knowledge of what artistic research means. It is a great advantage if you are experienced with the exposition format in the database Research Catalogue or have peer-reviewed expositions and articles in experimental and unconventional formats.
Do you fit this profile and does the process of collaborative and developmental review appeal to you? If so, please send your expression of interest, accompanied by an up-to-date curriculum vitae, to: visjournal@uniarts.se