Call for Commissioned Contributions

Creative Knowledge Resources (CKR) is a project funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the University of Cape Town which seeks to document and study socially engaged art and art interventionism. It also seeks to engage with the pedagogical approaches to art historicism and writing, and is aimed at establishing a collaborative network of artists, cultural practitioners and art historians across Africa. 

Creative practices have become the site for political discourse, catalysing the necessary debates about belonging, citizenship, race, gender, class and sexuality. Increasing unconventional art forms and socio-cultural interventions in Africa and its diaspora do not only present novel ways of re-thinking the tenets of the art history discipline but also necessitate a careful inquiry of art, politics and social dynamics. The objective is to develop art scholarship based on the continent to generate transnational dialogues about socially engaged art and art interventionism. 

With this in mind, CKR is calling for 3000 – 3500 word articles, opinion pieces and any other form of writing i.e poetry, short stories, illustrations etc…

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Art collectives and movements in the Global South;

  • Live art and social engagement art;

  • Decoloniality, disruption and the creative fields;

  • Public spaces/Politics of Space, protest, citizenship;

  • Affect, play and the creative fields;

  • Creative Pedagogies;

  • Art institutions and art organisations in the Global South.

We encourage the submission of articles written in African languages. English, French, Portuguese and pidgin articles will be also be accepted. All submissions will undergo an editorial process overseen by the editorial committee. Article submissions should not have been previously published. 

CKR is not an academic journal but rather a writing platform for exploring and nurturing transdisciplinary thought in the creative fields.

How to submit:

Please submit an abstract of between 250 and 300 words via the CKR website at creativeknow.org. Any questions related to the open call can be sent to admin@creativeknow.org with the subject line: Open call for Writers Enquiry.

Application form accessible here.

Deadlines:

Submissions are welcome all year around.