OPEN CALL for texts | Journeys of OCEAN / UNI 2026

Abstract submission deadline: February 16, 2026
Writers fee: 200 EUR
Expected length of full text: 600-800 words
Deadline to submit full text (selected participants): March 23, 2026
Format: Learning resource, Essay, Non-fiction, Speculative fiction

OCEAN / UNI: Spring semester 2026 Plural Seas, Porous Futures turns toward the human dimensions of Mediterranean biodiversity to examine how plural values, practices, and policies shape shared seas and coastal life. Rather than sustaining technocratic constructions of marine socioecological systems, our lines of enquiry explore ways of cultivating relational approaches among the living beings that constitute biodiversity.

As with the previous semesters, we offer a way to contribute to the program with commissioned texts that respond to the main sessions' topics:

Art—Science Collaboration: Complementary to natural sciences, social, cultural, and political studies help us identify the hidden values we may implicitly use in current scientific practices and, no less important, imagine the world we wish to see in the future. Under this category, we are looking for accounts or proposals for an interdisciplinary approach toward conservation. A diary or a critical examination of what did and didn't work in your previous art & science collaborative processes, concrete ideas for improvement, and specific examples of your knowledge from other fields, enriching or adding crucial context to the biodiversity issues, are all welcome.

Artistic Practice and Science for Ocean Protection: Ocean governance requires a dynamic shift from top-down regulation to inclusive, bottom-up engagement if it is to be socially fair and environmentally sound. Here, we are looking for texts examining the critical role that communities play in shaping the future of ocean governance and protection, the symbolic power of artistic practice, together with robust citizen science and participatory science, and the impact of data-driven environmental movements, that form new pathways for meaningful public involvement in ocean protection.

Conservation Narratives: The human experience underwater is almost entirely mediated by technology, which shapes how we see, move in, and sense the ocean. In contrast to the pessimistic tones in which the mediated relationship between humans and the underwater world is often narrated, we are looking for creative projects that offer a way to reconsider these technological relationships, opening space for imaginaries that move beyond dystopian narratives toward more constructive, situated, and emotionally resonant futures.

Seafood Consumption: In this category, we want to explore how everyday culinary practices crystallize political, cultural, ecological, and affective relationships along and with changing shorelines. Rather than framing shifts in eating patterns as primarily cognitive or awareness-based, we ask how they might emerge through embodied, sensorial ways of engaging with food that open space for other relationalities. How are seafood practices and memories being reshaped as marine ecologies transform, and can culinary practices linked to the sea foster more-than-consumerist relationships with a living sea? 

Sustainable Society: Discussing the idea of 'seawilding', the dynamics between marine restoration and people, and the role of mutual empowerment for transitioning into a more inclusive and sustainable society, we are looking for texts that put the motto 'Bringing nature back' into a practical context and systems that can be sustained in the long term.

We ask you again to be mindful of your situatedness to avoid appropriating knowledges of other communities. Instead, we encourage authors to draw connections between the thematic areas and their own geographies, histories, and experiences.

If these topics resonate with you and you would like to be featured—send us your proposed abstract of up to 100 words by February 16 via this Google Form. The format we are looking for is a learning resource, essay, fiction, or non-fiction, but we will consider any other creative interpretation of cross-disciplinary research that is a part of your practice or its extension. If selected, your final contribution will also be proofread by us, so don't let grammar stand in the way of your application! 

Please note that the selected participants must be able to finalize the text within four weeks and submit the final version of their texts by March 23. Published texts will be hosted on TBA21–Academy's digital venue Ocean-Archive.org under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms. In addition, the text can be used in TBA21’s future online publications and shared on other platforms besides Ocean Archive (e.g., published on TBA21’s Substack account).

To learn more about the semester and each session, click here.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out via acquisitions@ocean-archive.org.