Touch

Touch

We can feel a grain of sand between our fingers, wet raindrops on our face, and the hard pavement as we walk. We're not always aware of it but our sense of touch helps us to complete most tasks and it's difficult to imagine life without it. Skin covers our whole body with thousands of polymodal receptors which puts us in direct contact with the world. It grows intimacy between each other and the outside, solidifying our surroundings. 

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Touch and emotions are intrinsically woven together. Different sensations of touch form a crucial part of our communication, sculpting our human experience. Touch binds us together to build trust and empathy, without it we can feel lonely and detached.

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How does it feel when you embrace someone, feel the food you cook with, feel water over your body, the fur of an animal, when you can't touch something, can you feel the softness of a dusty pink color, or feel someone's gaze?

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For this issue we would like you to explore the sense of touch.

 

Some things you may want to explore…

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Touch as communication i.e relationships

Interspecies touch

Extension vs limitation of touch

Politics of touch in institutional contexts (i.e. galleries, museums)

Tactility of cultures

Sensuality of touch

Practicalities of touch

Touch and technology

Science of touch

Textures 

Touch and movement

Interaction between mind and body

 

This is not an exhaustible list…

 

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Submission formats?

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Essays

Poetry

Fiction

Visual art

Photography

Video essay

Video art

Mix

Podcast

Apply to takeover our instagram account

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Also not an exhaustible list

 

Submission guidelines

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  • Please provide a short paragraph explaining the work’s intent and how it relates to the theme (200 words max).

  • Submission formats: Up to 5 still images, 1 short video clip (5 minutes max. duration), 1500 words max for written pieces, up to 3 poems or for an instagram takeover up to 5 post ideas.

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Work does not have to be unpublished. But let us know if it has been published elsewhere so that we can give appropriate credit.

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Submission deadline: June 30th 2020 

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Shortlisted candidates will be notified by early June.

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Please contact l3m0ncur5@gmail.com for further enquiries and information about submissions. 

“But precisely, when my gaze meets yours, I see both your gaze and your eyes, love in fascination - and your eyes are not only seeing but also visible. And since they are visible as much as seeing, I could precisely touch them, with my finger, lips or even eyes, lashes and lids, by approaching you - if I dared come near to you in this way, if I one day dared. (...)"

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Jacques Derrida - On Touching, 2000