CODES

C155—Autumn 2023

Accepted until: 1 April 2023

What codes do you follow and why? Where do codes come from? At their most basic, codes are transfers between systems of communication; they imply movement between at least two points, a translation between A and B. There are ethical codes, social codes, policies, and law. There is code-switching, secret meanings, and citational practices designed only for those “in the know.” In computation, coding creates commands for machines based on human desire. In new media art, early codes were initially used to rebel against systems like capitalism before the medium, too, became subsumed by it. Yet this innately digital art is still used to imagine various futurisms or reconfigure the socio-political codes of what we know. New media, old problems.

Codes are rituals, instructions, practices written and unwritten; they are a set of beliefs, etiquette, ceremony, and language. Can a recipe—a container of living and knowing passed through generations—be a code? How does this code differ from that of AI, gradually learning the mechanics of human concepts and feelings? What are the codes of your being and how do you access or adapt them to be in intimacy with others? What does it mean to break the code? We encourage pitches on artistic practices and creative criticism to think specifically and expansively about what codes are, and can be, from a multitude of perspectives.

Thematic feature, artist project, and column pitches accepted until April 1, 2023. We suggest pitching early to avoid disappointment. Review pitches, which are not required to be thematic, are accepted on a rolling basis.

Send pitches to pitch@cmagazine.com, with a subject line that starts with the word PITCH and goes on to indicate the submission type (review, essay, interview, One Thing, for example).

Please include ~150 words about your subject and how you’ll approach it, including hyperlinks wherever relevant. An estimated word count is appreciated. If you have not written for us recently, include a link to your website—or a copy of your CV—and one or two writing samples (ideally ones written in a style similar to your pitched piece). Submitted work must be original; we do not publish reprints nor adaptations of any kind.

Thank you for understanding that we are unable to reply to unsuccessful pitches.

Please see our submission and writer’s guidelines for more information.

Note: we do not accept pitches from platforms regarding their own programming.