Lantern Journal Call for Submissions - Volume 3
Register/Submit Deadline: Sunday, Feb 16, 20147:59 AMEDT
Related
Submission Deadline for Issue 1 is 02.01.14; Publication is 03.20.14
http://lanternjournal.org/category/submissions/
At the conclusion of Volume II, we purposefully chose to focus on Death as a theme, not merely as a topic of timeless intrigue and artistic fertility, but to mark, as it were, a major transition for Lantern. For more than two years now through eight issues, we have labored in this collaboration, faithful to the idea that we can be greater as a collective than as individuals. We have weathered, as in any partnership, the ups and downs that life has to offer and have sustained this project as anyone sustains themselves—through sheer force of will and by leaning on each other when we’ve needed it. It is because we are proud of, fulfilled by, and inspired throughout this process that we continue to walk this path.
We endeavor to make Volume III a celebration of the collective bonds that have ferried us to this point, of the commitment that continues to bind us, and of the nearly singular element that has sustained us: collaboration. Through these two Volumes, we have created a small and vibrant community of readers and contributors that have given us the impetus to explore the nature of collaboration in greater detail and across a broader spectrum of individuals, coalesced around the ideas that define this Journal: free expression, artistic and philosophic inquiry, and endarkened exploration.
In so doing, Volume III will be a new chapter for Lantern in several respects that we need to flesh out a bit for our readers and authors, past and prospective. Much of what we’ve done will remain the same: we will celebrate each equinox and solstice with an issue that centers on a theme we have selected for that quarter’s publication, we will continue to solicit submissions and work with authors that we think offer exceptional and insightful takes on those themes, and we will continue to offer the same web format for the journal involving our familiar publications elements (Calls For Submissions, submissions via submittable.com, Letters from the Editors for each Issue, etc.). Two aspects of our approach will, however, change.
First, as noted, Volume III will celebrate collaboration by nourishing the growth that collaboration fosters. As such, the four issues of Lantern Journal in 2014 will each feature several year-long projects between two or more artists we’ve deemed Fellowships. Each of these Lantern “Fellows” will produce a piece for each issue in the hope that as the year progresses, the work developed will reflect both an improvement in the individual’s contribution to the work as well as demonstrate an elegant weaving of the elements of the contributors’ talents into a coherent whole, exceeding the sum of its separate parts. It is, at its heart, an experiment with the hypothesis that a commitment to open and honest collaboration will, without fail, produce startling and beautiful results, whatever those may be.
As such, for Volume III, there are two unique aspects of this Call: one invites makers of all walks to join forces with their fellows and to pitch us an idea for a year-long collaboration that would produce four progressive pieces in March, June, September, and December of 2014; the other permits authors and artists to seek to join existing Lantern Fellowships with the intent to bring their flame to the collective fire. So, for example, we will consider submissions until February 1, 2014, of those who would seek to be a Lantern Fellow for 2014 and to develop a collaborative piece for each of the four issues. For those without a plan to collaborate with someone specific, we will also consider proposals throughout the year to join an existing collaboration, to expand the collaboration beyond the initial pairing of artists and authors.
None of this changes that we will still be looking for the most creative and eloquent iterations of each of the themes to support each issue. Our intent is not to force collaboration, but to encourage it where we can and where it can work. We will still accept, review, and publish the best work we find. Each issue will feature both collaborative and individual content, and we will continue to broaden the Lantern community. Published individuals will be given opportunities at repeat publications if they provide successful proposals for expanding their work into a collaborative effort with others.
The second significant change is that we are announcing in this Call each of the themes for the four issues of Volume III, instead of making periodic announcements throughout the year. The editorial staff feels that this will provide our collaborators with a better opportunity to consider the trajectory of their work over the next year, and it will provide all of our prospective authors with the opportunity to focus their work over longer periods of time, enhancing their exploration of the various themes. Our intent is to provide a set of themes that is both very flexible and progressive. We want to build something in this Volume, and we want to build it with YOU.
Accordingly, the themes for Volume Three are: Inception [Spring], Creation [Summer], Emergence [Fall], and Unknown [Winter]. We view this set not as a linear progression, but as a cyclic one. Each gives way to the next, making room for growth, retracting into the darkness as it awaits its re-call.
For Spring 2014, the theme will be Inception--an airy habitation, an openness that begets, merely a first deep breath. It is a germination manifested at the outlying shimmerings of your periphery, the lucid dream that feels fleetingly like the answer to a riddle. It is a body of thoughts and images that lack cohesion, yet yearns for clarity. It’s the smell of newly primed canvas, unbegun manuscripts, fresh rolls of film. These are the maker’s aphrodisiacs, the open invitation, Davinci’s beckoning hand. The collaborations begun in Volume Three are a new departure, an embarkment from which to set about our work, to strike out something new, to lay the first stone. We envision the authors, thinkers, and artists in this issue meeting in an open field, shaking hands, and sketching something in the soil below their feet from their brief exchange of electricity.
As always, we hope the Call inspires you as it has us, and we look forward to your submissions: architecture, poetry, short fiction, essays, images, paintings, music; we want it all. We are interested in thought and expression and connection, and we don’t much care what forms those things come in. We will value your work for its strength of character and for its contribution to the Issue’s exploration of the theme and to the Volume’s celebration of collaboration. Please view Inception and the subsequent themes as you wish—creatively or destructively, literally or figuratively—and feel free to wander through them as we walk beyond the lantern’s glow to the endarkened places where academic and other such publications stop. We invite you to join the collective journey in Volume Three.
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