Michel Foucault, in "La volonté de savoir" (1976), described how the mechanisms of the examination of conscience belonging to the pastoral tradition of the 17th century progressively extended to all areas of society, marking the threshold of a biopolitical modernity. Here, the ‘will to knowledge’ is not the subject’s drive for research, but the injunction to bring into the field of knowledge-power those borderline domains of life that had been previously excluded from it: death, birth, sexuality. This process of the adherence of knowledge to bodies entirely invests our time and urges us to reflect on the figures of the ‘will to knowledge’ in the new millennium: the questions of surveillance, of the constant and widespread mapping of life in its social and biological dimension, of ubiquitous visibility, of the collapse of the limits between inside and outside, between inside and outside of work, of wakefulness, of private life, are explored by artistic and design forms.

‘The will to knowledge’ also carries a more straightforward, primary meaning: here we encounter the sphere of the desire for knowledge and its challenges, a theme constantly evoked today – above all, that of finding orientation within a hypertrophic labyrinth of information. Thus, a few years after Foucault’s work, we encounter another text on the inexhaustible drive towards knowledge, its infinite resources of seduction, its lethal traps. With The Name of the Rose (1980), Umberto Eco constructs a thriller whose origin lies in the will to knowledge, with a book at its centre and, surrounding it, the desire of the aspiring initiates in opposition to the strenuous defence mounted by the custodians of tradition.
The ‘will to knowledge’ evokes both the symbol of infinity, to express the limitless scope of knowledge, and the labyrinth, to indicate its intricate structure and the countless possible paths through it.

Call for abstracts and call for papers

“Vesper” is structured in sections; below the call for abstracts and the call for papers according to categories.

All final contributions will be submitted to a double-blind peer review process, except for the section ‘Tale’.
Following the tradition of Italian paper journals, “Vesper” revives it by hosting a wide spectrum of narratives, welcoming different writings and styles, privileging the visual intelligence of design, of graphic expression, of images and contaminations between different languages. For these reasons, the selection process will consider the iconographic and textual apparatuses of equal importance.

“Vesper” is a six-monthly, double-blind peer-reviewed journal, multidisciplinary and bilingual (Italian and English), included into the list of the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research (ANVUR) of Class A journals in the competition sectors 08/D1 ‘Architectural Design’, 08/F1 ‘Urban and Landscape Planning and Design’ and 11/C4 ‘Aesthetics and Philosophy of Languages’, as of No. 1. Vesper is included in the ANVUR list of scientific journals for the non-bibliometric areas 08 ‘Civil Engineering and Architecture’, 10 ‘Antiquities, Philology, Literary Studies, Art History’ and 11 ‘History, Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology’, as of No. 1 (with the exception of their bibliometric subfields).

"Vesper” is indexed in SCOPUS, EBSCO, Torrossa and JSTOR. Open access issues are available at the following link: www.iuav.it/en/node/1011.

Call for abstracts by September 5, 2025

Project. A contribution that establishes a close relationship between a set of images/drawings and a critical text with footnotes investigating the underlying reasons for a realised project after 2000.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words, maximum 3 images.
Final contribution: maximum 3000 words, maximum 10 images with written permission of the copyright holder.

Essay. A scientific essay with footnotes, bibliography and iconography.
Call for abstracts: maximum 700 words, maximum 2 images, selected bibliography.
Final contribution: maximum 4500 word (text, bibliography and footnotes), maximum 7 images with written permission of the copyright holder.

Journey. A written or visual report describing a real or imaginary journey and its development through time and/or space.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words and 1 image, or maximum 3 images with captions, according to the selected mode.
Final contribution: text of maximum 1500 words and maximum 3 images or a visual storyboard with up to 10 images (illustrations, photographs, drawings). The images submitted must be produced by the author or used with written permission of the copyright holder.

Archive. A selection of archival materials presented along with their sources and a comment.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words, maximum 4 images.
Final contribution: text of maximum 1700 words, footnotes of maximum 250 words, 10 images with archival record information and written permission of the copyright holder.

Ring. Critical text or images selection which explains different points of view facing each other on the same ‘playing field’.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words and 1 image or 3 images with captions, according to the selected mode.
Final contribution: text of maximum 1700 words, footnotes of maximum 250 words and 4 images with written permission of the copyright holder or a selection of 8 images with written permission of the copyright holder, according to the selected mode.

Tutorial. A sequence of images and texts intended as a brief manual for performing practices and/or operations.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words, maximum 4 images.
Final contribution: maximum 15 images (illustrations, photographs, drawings) with a text of maximum 1200 words with bibliographical references quoted between relatives in the text (no footnotes allowed in this format). The images submitted must be produced by the author or it is necessary to have the written permission of the copyright holder.

Translation. Unpublished translation of a document in any language, to be published in Italian and English along with a critical review.
Call for abstracts: Text proposed for translation, critical review (maximum 400 words), 1 image.
Final contribution: Text proposed for translation: maximum of 1500 words; critical review: maximum 1200 words with 180 words of footnotes, 3 images with written permission of the copyright holder and preferably scans of the original document with written permission of the copyright holder.

Fundamentals. Critical texts on fundamental topics, always related to the theme of the issue, and each focusing on: An Author, An Idea, A Book, A Work, A Film, A Place, A Period, A Client, The section will be only in English, each author is asked to choose a fundamental for which to propose a short essay.
Call for abstracts: maximum 400 words, maximum 2 images.
Final contribution: a text with Chicago author-date style references (Author, year) and followed by a bibliography, for a maximum of 1500 words; 2 images in high definition with written permission of the copyright holder and the relative caption.

Call for paper by September 5, 2025

Tale. A narrative text (without footnotes or bibliography) or a visual narrative.
Call for papers: maximum 1500 words or a selection of 10 images (illustrations, photographs, drawings). The images submitted must be produced by the author who must be the copyright holder.

Timeline

Sections: Project, Essay, Journey, Archive, Ring, Tutorial, Translation, Fundamentals
Abstracts must be submitted by September 5, 2025
Abstracts acceptance notification by September 15, 2025
Papers submission by November 10, 2025

Sections: Tale
Papers submission by September 5, 2025
Papers acceptance notification by September 15, 2025

Publication of Vesper No. 14, May 2026

Guidelines for the submission of abstracts
Abstracts must contain: title; name of author(s), affiliation(s), e-mail address(es) and a short biobibliographical profile(s); selected section; five keywords; text according to the guidelines for each different type of contribution and/or images with captions. Please note that each contribution proposal, except for sections where otherwise indicated, must be accompanied by at least one image. File name ‘Vesper14_abstract_Last Name’. Abstracts can be submitted either in Italian or in English. Abstracts must be submitted as .pdf via e-mail to: pard.irideiuav.it. E-mail subject: ‘Vesper 14 Call for abstract / Last name’.

Guidelines for the submission of papers
Papers must contain: title; name of author(s), affiliation(s), e-mail address(es), phone numbers and a short bio-bibliographical profile(s); selected section; five keywords; summary of 150 words (for on-line publication); text according to the guidelines for each different type of contribution and/or images with captions. File name: ‘Vesper14_paper_Last Name’. Papers can be submitted either in Italian or in English and must follow the journal’s editorial guidelines, which can be downloaded at the following link: www.iuav.it/en/node/973. Papers must be submitted as .pdf and .docx via e-mail to: pard.irideiuav.it. E-mail subject: ‘Call for paper Vesper 14 / Last name’.

Full call for papers:
https://www.iuav.it/sites/default/files/2025-07/Vesper%20no.%2014_Call%20ENG.pdf

Further information:
https://www.iuav.it/en/node/956