OBOE Journal On Biennials and Other Exhibitions invites submissions for a special issue examining critical approaches to exhibition-making through Black, Indigenous, and decolonial perspectives. This special issue responds to the urgent need to reimagine exhibition practices amid ongoing global calls for institutional transformation, climate justice, and the dismantling of colonial structures within art systems.
As biennials and large-scale exhibitions continue to proliferate globally, questions of representation, power, and purpose become increasingly urgent. This special issue seeks contributions that move beyond critique to explore how exhibition practices can actively participate in decolonial world-making. We are particularly interested in scholarship and case studies that center marginalized knowledges while challenging dominant exhibition paradigms that have historically reinforced colonial hierarchies and exclusions.

We welcome submissions that engage with approaches challenging Western art historical frameworks and temporalities; ethical models for collaboration between institutions and historically marginalized communities; alternatives to the biennial model that are more responsive to local contexts and communities; exhibition practices that resist capitalist temporalities and extractive economic systems; the role of oral histories and embodied knowledge in exhibition documentation and preservation; and sustainable approaches to exhibition-making in the context of the climate crisis, among other related themes.

Articles submitted for consideration should not be undergoing other evaluation processes nor have publishing commitments with any other publication.
All articles must be in Word format and follow the journal’s submission guidelines: research articles should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words, including footnotes. We also welcome shorter texts, up to 5,000 words, including footnotes, analysing specific exhibitions or case studies. The abstract of 150 words, and a maximum of 5 keywords should be at the top of the article, whereas the author’s biography (max 100 words) should be sent in a separate one.

Manuscript submission guidelines (including footnote formatting, images rights and captions) can be read in detail at http://www.oboejournal.com/index.php/oboe/information/authors.

Manuscripts will be received through the journal’s online publishing platform (OJS) at the link: http://www.oboejournal.com/index.php/oboe/information/authors

Abstracts should be sent by June 15, 2025.
Notification of acceptance by June 20, 2025.
Manuscripts should be submitted by September 15, 2025.
The issue will be published in December 2025 together with a special section on Biennials in the African Continent.

OBOE Journal is an annual, double-blind peer-reviewed, open access, online journal devoted to the study of contemporary art and exhibitions. For more information please write to: infooboejournal.com or visit the site http://www.oboejournal.com/index.php/oboe/