submit

long con magazine is an international quarterly that publishes art about art. While based in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (known by settlers as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), we welcome submissions from established & emerging artists across the world.

Submissions are accepted year-round on a rolling basis, and we publish digital issues in winter, spring, summer, and fall.

long con magazine, long con workshops, and Collusion Books are a unified not-for-profit operation. All revenue and donations are used to compensate contributors and to keep the lights on.

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED:
ISSUE 17 submissions will be accepted
starting in late 2023

For future submission calls, follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter.

our permanent theme:

"art about art"

long con was founded on the idea that all artworks exist in conversation with all other artworks, and the magazine’s purpose is to publish artworks that bring this long conversation to the surface.

For us, “art about art” means artworks created in direct response to other objects, artifacts, or performances that can be considered “art”—including all forms of writing, gallery & theatre arts, and pop culture (fashion, sports, comics); infrastructure (monuments, architecture, tools); ephemera (ads, memes, user manuals); propaganda (parades, political speeches); and non-human creations (elephant paintings, bird nests, insect dances).

Despite this expansiveness in our definition of “art,” we do not publish artworks that skip over engagement with individual objects, artifacts, and performances in order to respond only to the entirety of an artist’s oeuvre or an artistic movement, period, or form.

If you’re still not sure whether your artwork would be a good fit, please ask us at longconmag@gmail.com.

what to submit

Visual, video, audio, & interactive submissions must be unpublished in any print or digital magazine, anthology, or book but may have been otherwise already exhibited, performed, released, or circulated. You may submit up to 6 individual artworks.

Literary submissions (including translations) must be unpublished in any print or digital form. Poetry & prose poetry submissions may include up to 4 poems or one long poem / sequence. Fiction & script submissions may include short pieces up to 10 pages (up to 10 pages total) or single pieces (up to 15 pages). We do not publish nonfiction (whether creative essay, review, interview, or otherwise).

For us to consider publishing your artwork, you must include an artist statement that identifies⁠—by title, creator name, and year, whenever possible⁠—the object(s), artifact(s), or performance(s) to which your artwork responds. See our latest issues for examples.

Because long con is a niche magazine, our publication rate is higher than usual (between 10% and 20% of submissions received per issue). Nevertheless, we cannot consider or respond to submissions outside our permanent theme.

Our response time is 3 to 4 months, depending on when you submit. Logistically, we cannot respond to off-theme submissions and those sent by email without prior approval; these do not receive responses.

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. The con is long but life is short, so submit wherever you want! If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please email us to withdraw it as soon as possible.

Collaborative submissions are encouraged. In the context of long con, ‘collaboration’ means two or more artists creating a shared response to another work of art or culture. (Two or more artists responding to each other should consider submitting to Collusion Books, our chapbook press for collaborative projects.)

Contributor payment is CAD$50, or CAD$25 for short literary contributions (poetry under 50 lines total or prose under 1000 words total). Compensation is delayed: we are in the process of paying all past contributors and will reach out as soon as our payments catch up to the issue in which your work appears. The current wait time between publication and compensation is approximately six issues.

Past contributors must wait one year (i.e., four issues) before submitting again. If we’ve published you as a solo artist but you wish to submit a collaborative piece (or vice versa), you may disregard this waiting period.

Artist copyright always remains with you, the artist(s). Through contributor payment, long con purchases only the right to publish your work for the first time in periodical form. You don’t need our permission to re-publish or otherwise present your work after its inclusion in a long con issue.

Our acceptance rate ranges from 10% to 20% of submissions per issue, which means all on-theme work is carefully considered and has a relatively high chance of being accepted. We like this high acceptance rate! It’s part of the reason we keep our permanent theme in place.

commitment to publishing artists of different backgrounds & experiences

In recognition of the many historical and immediate barriers to artistic creation and recognition, we prioritize submissions from First Nation, Inuit, Métis, and other Indigenous artists; Black artists, Brown artists, artists of colour, and other racialized artists; 2SLGBTQIA+ artists; artists with disabilities or chronic illnesses; and artists with experiences of trauma, incarceration, poverty, or displacement.

Help us make more informed editorial decisions by identifying any backgrounds or experiences that have made it more difficult for you to create art or be recognized for your artistic labour. These backgrounds and experiences don’t need to be addressed in your submission, bio, or artist statement: include them in the “Additional notes for the editors” field to ensure they remain confidential.

If your names, artistic names, or pronouns change after we’ve published you, we would be very happy to help you celebrate by quickly correcting our website: please feel free to let us know at longconmag@gmail.com.

long con Submission Form

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED

Please ensure your work fits our permanent theme, "art about art": *

Each artwork I am submitting is a response, prompted in some way by at least one other object, artifact, or performance that I did not create.
For each submitted artwork, my artist statement clearly identifies the object(s), artifact(s), or performance(s) to which my artwork responds—including a title, creator name, and year, whenever possible.

We cannot consider or respond to submissions that do not consider and respond to our submission requirements. We are very grateful to artists who do carefully consider these requirements, as we understand it can require more time and effort than typical submission processes.

How did you discover our magazine? (optional; confidential)

We exist entirely online, so it's very helpful for us to know which social media platforms, websites, or previous previous contributors are helping artists discover us.

1. Artist Info

Name *

For collaborations: enter the names of all collaborators or the name of the artist collective.

Email *

For collaborations: enter the best email address for contacting all collaborators.

Biographical statement *

Write the biographical statement in the 3rd person (not using "I"/"we") and include your pronouns ("they"/"she"/"he" or similar).
For collaborations: enter short bios for each collaborator or the description of the artist collective with list of members.

Location (confidential) *

Knowing your location will help our editors make each issue international in scope. Your location will not be published unless it is also mentioned in your bio.

Additional notes for the editors (optional; confidential)

Your background and experiences (especially those posing barriers to artistic creation or recognition) will help our editors make more informed decisions when curating an issue. Your additional notes will not be published.

Because long con magazine is a digital publication, our ability to tag contributors in promotional social media posts is crucial to sharing the work in each issue. If you use any of the below platforms to share your artwork or to connect with other artists, please consider entering your profile URL(s) or handle(s) and following @longconmag.

Primary artist website

Collaborations: enter up to one website for each collaborator or the website of the artist collective.

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

2. Submission

A submission method will appear once you select your primary art form.

Submission title(s) *

Please enter each artwork's title on a new line.
For visual, video, and other applicable artworks, please include relevant gallery label information (such as year of creation/release, medium of creation, and artwork dimensions) after each title.

3. Artist Statement

Artist statements are published alongside accepted artworks.

For each artwork you submit, include an artist statement that clearly identifies the object(s), artifact(s), or performance(s) that your artwork responds to—including a title, creator name, and year whenever possible—that your artwork responds to. If your artwork responds to many works by the same creator (e.g., 'Picasso's Blue Period'), you must identify one or more pieces of special significance to your response. This specificity plays a large role in how we consider submissions for publication.

If your artwork responds in an obvious way (for example, if your work lifts words, images, or content from another artwork), then your artist statement could be very short. If the way you're responding is not obvious, your artist statement may need to be longer, identifying the existing object(s), artifact(s), or performance(s) and also explaining exactly how your artwork is a response. You might also describe historical context or your personal encounter with the object(s), performance(s), artifact(s), etc.

If you submit a sequence or series of artworks (such as a musical album, a photographic essay, or a series of poems) that responds to the same object(s), artifact(s), or performance(s), you can include a single artist statement for the whole sequence or series.

Artist statement(s) *

Write artist statement(s) in 1st person (using "I"/"we").
We appreciate artist statements under 100 words, but we understand that some statements could, should, or must be longer.

Having trouble with the submission form?
Email us at longconmag@gmail.com