Third Open Call Circa 106

Third Open Call - Reconfiguration of thought as a communal act Online + physical publication The current pandemic has shown us that the definition of care work should be revisited and thought of, as well as exposing how the capitalist determination of wage work is dismissing forms of care which do not produce profit in the constant flow of reproduction. We can also think of care as a form of communal resistance against the commodification of societal affection. One essential factor is time and how work is temporal and durational. We would like to offer a schedule that allows each person to spend time with the thoughts of fellow artists/writers and perform a gesture of creative care. Contributors would engage in a 2 week communal process of thinking and responding to the text of others. We see reading and writing as entities that can flourish by the act of care. We propose to use different manifestations of language not only in English, but any which does just to your initial thought. We would like to have a small publication which holds a number of contributions and then host an event soon when Circa106 opens its door to the public again; and share the printed version. If we think of the print process in the computer, almost all the applications in the category of “productivity” offer the possibility of pressing command + P, or Ctrl + P in most cases to generate a printable version of whatever workspace we are looking at. This composition is being suggested so instantaneously, one might forget that there is a very particular force at stake which homogenizes the results produced by multiplicity of the creators/users. Printing becomes, in our everyday experience, the most common way of going from the digital to the physical in an action that is at the same time remarkable and mundane.Curating is similarly an organizational force, tends to tie works and thoughts together, hence deals with the very question of how to do justice to the multiple positions suggested by the authors/artists. The final outcome of this open call besides the physical publication will take the form of a website that intervenes in this process and uses the command + P as a fluid mechanic which produces alternative compositions, respectful to the relationality of the works and interconnectedness between the thoughts. This site, designed in collaboration with the artists/writers, will explore typography, font size, orientation, movement, overlays and opacity, among other visual metaphors, as additional forms of non-textual communication. Additionally, the visitors will be able to interact via small gestures with the site and finally print (command + P) a unique variation of the site that materializes both the original care process and their particular reaction to it. To apply please send us an initial text until the 31st of May, which can be of any format (poetry, essay, fiction etc) to info@circa106.info with a character limit of 800 words, contributions can be submitted in any language. Contributors will be provided with a 50 Euro participation fee.