The Art Institute Review is dedicated to innovative object-centered scholarship.
Linked to the Art Institute of Chicago’s dynamic research program, this peer-reviewed journal spurs collaborative, interdisciplinary dialogue and embraces art’s radical potential to help us understand culture, history, and our current moment. It is published twice a year, in fall and spring. Each themed issue contains five to six articles and may also feature dialogues, interviews, reflections, and creative contributions.
The journal is dedicated to supporting the Art Institute of Chicago’s values of equity and inclusion. As such, it seeks to provide a platform for new stories and voices, including topics and scholars historically underrepresented in publishing in art history and related fields. The journal adheres to best practices for digital accessibility.
Call for proposals
Issue 3: In Situ
Deadline: Monday, October 11, 2021
The call for proposals is now closed.
This issue of the Art Institute Review addresses the concept of in situ—a natural, original, or existing position or place. The notion relates to basic questions art historians, conservators, curators, and other cultural heritage professionals ask about all works of art: Where were they installed or exhibited? How were they experienced in their original time and location? To what extent did these initial contexts orient and shape artistic intent? Location and place may change over time. What happens when the physical context of a work of art is interrupted or upended? What are the stakes surrounding its placement and/or displacement? Research and analysis are themselves informed by position and place. How are art historical, conservation, and material science methods shaped in situ? How must they change when addressing a work of art that has been removed from its original context(s)?
Such questions regarding the past, present, and future of artworks have always been important in art history and related disciplines, but they have taken on even greater weight in our particular moment. What does it mean to recontextualize works in new spaces? What happens when we privilege one point in an artwork’s history over another—or when we deprioritize or disregard that history? How can digital tools and technologies help us better understand, question, and critique the “place” of art?
The third issue of the Art Institute Review invites you to consider, interrogate, and visualize the concept of in situ, understood broadly. We welcome topics from an expansive geographical, temporal, and theoretical range that could include: archaeological investigation and research, theoretical and practical projects of restitution and decolonization; community-based conservation; site-specific artworks and interventions, Gesamtkunstwerk, and land art projects; digital and material re-creations of artistic sites and architectural settings; and more. We especially welcome proposals focused on historically underrepresented objects or narratives, proposals from emerging scholars, and proposals that optimize the digital platform. Not only is the digital realm itself a place ripe for critical exploration through the theme, but it also supports innovative technological experiments and creative realizations of historic, contemporary, and imagined spaces.
This issue is co-edited by Elizabeth McGoey, Associate Curator of Arts of the Americas, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives and Publications at the Getty Conservation Institute.
If you have any questions, please email journal@artic.edu.
Timeline
We aim to review proposals and notify the authors of accepted proposals within approximately one month of receipt. Full manuscript is due about two months after notification.
Word counts for finished papers are as follows:
- scholarly essay: 4,000–6,000 words
- conversation or dialogue: 2,000–3,000 words
- visual/textual/sound art: N/A (if there is a written component, it should ideally be under 2,000 words)
What we’re looking for
A successful submission will
- present original research and/or ideas that imaginatively engage new topics and perspectives
- enrich and complicate the issue’s theme
- relate to current concerns in the world at large
- engage with objects in a meaningful way, whether at the micro or macro level
- be appealing and accessible to intellectually curious but nonspecialist readers
- articulate its relevance to thinkers and makers outside its discipline and specialty
- adopt a definite point of view on its material, even if that view embraces ambiguity and complexity
While not required, we welcome submissions that
- explore historically underrepresented fields of inquiry
- are collaboratively produced and/or co-authored
- make use of the platform, investigating what it means to publish digitally
- utilize case studies drawn from or relevant to the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection and current projects
Our born-digital journal offers various interactive tools. In addition to conventional static images, contributors have at their disposal
- zoomable, layered, and annotated images
- 360-degree views
- videos
- interactive maps
For examples of these tools in action, explore the contents of the Art Institute of Chicago’s digital scholarly catalogues, especially “Methods behind the Magic: The Techniques of Ivan Albright” and “Paris Street; Rainy Day.”
We invite contributors to submit proposals that require new tools. Be sure to include any notes relating to the use of existing or potential digital tools in your proposal.
How we assess proposals
The issue coeditors and the Art Institute Review internal team will assess the suitability of proposals and respond within approximately a month of the deadline. Those whose proposals have been accepted will have two-and-a-half months to submit the complete manuscript. The coeditors and the internal team may provide questions or feedback to guide the development of the manuscript.
Upon receipt of the full manuscript, the coeditors and the internal team will assess how well it fulfills its intended aims (as spelled out in the proposal), engages pressing issues in its field, and relates to the issue theme, among other considerations. Approved submissions will advance to peer review.
Our approach to peer review
The Art Institute Review is committed to realizing the potential not only of the content it publishes but also of those who create that content. Scholarly essay contributions are subject to anonymized peer review or an open-review model. Both aim to be collegial, constructive, and generative processes that maximize quality of product while upholding equity in its development. The ethics and details of both models are spelled out in our peer-review ethics statement.
Honoraria
There is a $1,000 honorarium for contributions from non-Art Institute of Chicago staff.
A note on translation
The Art Institute Review welcomes proposals from scholars working in other languages. The proposal must be in English, but if it is accepted, the author may write in their preferred language, and the journal will oversee the translation.
Past Calls for Proposals
The calls for proposals for past issues are available below.
INTERNAL TEAM
Jill Bugajski, Executive Director, Research Center
Lauren Makholm, Associate Director of Production and Manager of Digital Initiatives, Publishing
Lisa Meyerowitz, Editorial Director, Publishing
Joseph Mohan, Director of Production, Publishing
Greg Nosan, Associate Vice President, Publishing
Amy R. Peltz, Senior Editor and Editor of the Art Institute Review, Publishing
ADVISORY BOARD
Francesca Casadio, Grainger Executive Director of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago
Delia Cosentino, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, De Paul University
Hendrik Folkerts, Dittmer Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago
Pablo Garcia, Associate Professor, Contemporary Practices, and Director of the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Tempestt Hazel, Curator, writer, artist advocate, and director of Sixty Inches from Center
Lucy Ives, novelist, and faculty member, XE: Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement, New York University
Paul Jaskot, Professor of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies, Duke University, and Director, Wired! Lab for Digital Art History and Visual Culture
Annelise K. Madsen, Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Associate Curator, Arts of the Americas, Art Institute of Chicago
Aisha Motlani, Lecturer, Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Tina Shah, Senior Developer, Experience Design, Art Institute of Chicago
Ginia Sweeney, Associate Director of Interpretation, Learning and Public Engagement, Art Institute of Chicago
Leslie Wilson, Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Arts, Smart Museum of Art, and Assistant Professor, Art History, Purchase College, SUNY
