OPEN CALL // Submissions for COVEN BERLIN Issue #5: Labor or Labor

COVEN BERLIN - _Issue no. 5 image_, graphic image_ courtesy of COVEN BERLIN COVEN BERLIN – “Issue #5: LABOR OR LABOR” (2015), graphic image; courtesy of COVEN BERLIN.

For COVEN BERLIN’s new issue, which will be titled LABOR OR LABOR, the collective is inviting submissions of ‘imperfect craft and unprofessional writing’, from all creative types. The new edition will sink its teeth into the way that society functions around labor, dissecting the Imperialist and sexist mechanisms of control that are so ingrained in our social infrastructure. These constructed systems affect every single person, and almost every aspect of our lives: ‘Be it how we work, how we give birth, or how we use our bodies in order to make money, we carry traces of labor exploitation and social privilege in our sweat’. Whether through creative writing, video art, illustrations, and so on, COVEN BERLIN wants to hear your thoughts on these issues.

Established in 2013 by co-founders Lo Pecado and Judy Mièl, COVEN BERLIN are self-proclaimed ‘feminist conqueerors’; a ‘sex-positive transdisciplinary genderbender collective’. Focusing on feminism, love, gender, sexuality and art, the collective aims to create an open zone of communication and interaction, using both words and visuals to confront and deconstruct normative social constructs surrounding sexuality and gender, and to think critically about such issues as immigration, race and sex.

If you need some food for thought, allow these questions to start nudging your curiosity, and prompting your responses: Which queer feminist strategies help us challenge the oppressive working dynamics of patriarchal neo-liberalism? What are the socio-political implications of unpaid care work, mail-order brides, and child labor? Have any of you experienced orgasmic birth? Have you ever felt trapped in an unending loop of internships? What defines sex work? What does “having it all” mean? What does it feel like to be “fulfilled”?

Submissions should be sent to hello@covenberlin.com, and the deadline is December 1st 2015.

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