Calls for Papers

Immersion

Issue 116

Upcoming Theme

Deadline: 1 September 2025

Essays of 1,500 to 2,000 words about all forms of immersion in contemporary art and theory. See the Editorial Policy and Protocol below.

Read the Call for Papers…
Submit a text

Off-Features

Essays or in-depth articles of 1,250 to 1,500 words (including notes) dealing with an issue, theme or practice not related to the theme of an issue. See the Editorial Policy and Protocol below.

Submit off-feature

Reviews

Reviews of recent exhibitions, events, or publications (500 or 950-1,100 words). Refer to the Editorial Protocol for details.

Submit review

Features

Off-Features

Reviews

Young Critics Competition

Open to students registered in a bachelor’s or master’s program at a Canadian university (texts between 750 and 1,250 words).

Details of the Competition

Next Publication – 115

Deadline: 10 May 2025

Submit a text

Editorial Policy

Esse arts + opinions, published by Les éditions Esse, is a bilingual magazine focusing on contemporary art and multidisciplinary practices. The magazine favors critical analyses and essays on current practices, with texts that address art in relation to its context. Each issue features a thematic section accompanied by a portfolio of works, as well as non-thematic critical articles, columns and reviews of exhibitions, events and publications. The esse.ca platform, in addition to reproducing all of this print content, also publishes original digital articles on current artistic events, research residencies, round table recordings, as well as an archive of past issues of Esse.

Texts submitted to Esse are evaluated by an editorial board, which reserves the right to accept or reject them. Selection criteria are based on the quality of the analysis and writing, the relevance of the text to the theme, and the relevance and current interest of the chosen selection of works and artists.

A 6-week deadline is required for the selection of texts or notes. The decision to reject a text is final. In view of the number of submissions received, the board cannot commit to commenting on unsuccessful submissions.

Authors are invited to submit texts on January 10, April 1, and September 1. Texts must be sent in DOCX or RTF format to [email protected]. Please include a short biographical notice (35 words) as well as your e-mail and mailing address.

The texts can be submitted for one of the following 3 sections:

1. Features
Essays of 1,500 to 2,000 words. The theme is made available online 4 to 6 months before the deadline: https://esse.ca/en/call-for-papers/. Persons wishing to first submit a note of intent (250-500 words) for the feature are invited to do so on a set date, i.e. January 10 (for the April 1 deadline), June 1 (for the September 1 deadline) and October 1 (for the January 10 deadline). No notes of intent will be read after this date. Authors who have not submitted a note of intent may nevertheless submit a completed text by the issue deadline.
2. Off-Features
Essays or in-depth articles of 1,250 to 1,500 words (including notes) dealing with an issue, theme or practice not related to the theme of an issue, excluding exhibition reviews. Given the limited space allotted to off-feature articles, final texts are requested for this section (notes of intent will not be considered). Submissions: January 10, April 1 and September 1.
3. Reviews
Coverage of recent exhibitions, events or publications (500 words, no footnotes, or 950-1100 words, one or two footnotes maximum). Given the short format, final texts are required for this section (notes of intent will not be considered). Submissions: January 10, April 1 and September 1.

Editorial Protocol

  1. Unless otherwise agreed with Les éditions Esse, the author agrees to submit an original and unpublished text.
  2. Unless otherwise agreed, the board will not accept submissions that are a potential source of conflict of interest between the author and the subject covered (for example, submissions by artists about their own practice, submissions by curators of exhibitions or events, or submissions by an artist’s gallery).
  3. With due respect for the author’s vision and style, the editorial board reserves the right to request corrections of semantic or other nature: quality of language, general structure of the text, clarity, shortcomings, relevance of headings and subheadings, standards of composition.
  4. Texts accepted with conditions will be discussed between the author and the editorial board. If modifications are requested, the author will be given fifteen (15) days to make them.
  5. Authors agree to adopt a gender-neutral writing style and to use syntactic feminization procedures (doublet, medial point).
  6. All expenses for typographical correction of the author’s text will be assumed by Les éditions Esse, with the exception of author’s corrections, if any, which will be assumed by the author.