Burnaway invites proposals for longform essays, features, and artist projects tied to three editorial themes that will organize the magazine’s publishing activities during 2022.
In 2022 Burnaway Magazine will continue our yearly editorial focus with three new themes; “Invasive Species,” “Artist Environments” and “Non-Human.” Together, this year of stories will broadly explore our changing climate and the environmental history of the South which have inspired artists working in the region for generations.
Stories, artist projects, and other media related to each theme will be published simultaneously throughout the year and guide the development of the 2022 Reader.
Artist Environments will index the rich tradition of large-scale world building by artists in the South as a means of exploring alternative modes of living among the landscape and repurposing the refuse of industry. By diving deeper into the history of well-known environments like St. EOM’s Pasaquan, while also introducing lesser known environs to a wider audience, this theme will celebrate ways of creating immersive artistic experiences and communities beyond traditional urban art centers. This theme will also consider new ways of imagining artist environments in the realm of intentional communities, mutual aid, and contemporary approaches to land art.
Invasive Species will explore the organic and inorganic forces that infect our landscapes and obscure our understanding of ecosystems, moving beyond the recurring trope of kudzu. From rampant chemical pollution, strip mining, invasive flora and fauna, and the vestiges of settler colonialism, the South’s relationship to notions of the “invasive” has inspired generations of artists and writers. Beyond the literal, this theme will also attempt to complicate the idea of belongingness, indigeneity, and symbiotic relationships in the material and immaterial qualities of art and culture.
Chimeras, bots, animals, ghosts, and aliens will be among the subjects explored in Nonhuman. These stories will engage theories of post-humanism, the agency of other species, and new perspectives that invite a reappraisal of how we value nonhuman life. By exploring both the historical symbolism of nonhuman creatures in Southern culture as well as speculative reimagining of ourselves and our planet, this theme will demonstrate the richness of non-anthropocentric art and ideas.
To submit, please send a brief proposal by email to [email protected].
Proposals should be for longform essays, interviews, experimental art criticism, artist projects, or other ambitious forms of writing about art. Though we will continue to publish exhibition reviews, we will not be accepting pitches for reviews related to these themes. Proposals should include two samples of previous writing.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to accommodate all proposals and please note we may not be able to send responses to each pitch received.
