The Collective.

What does it mean to create, act, and stand together as a collective in an age defined by fragmentation, dissociation, and algorithmic individuation? This issue of Drain invites artists, writers, curators, designers, and thinkers to reflect on the collective as a mode of making, thinking, and being together. At a moment when authorship is increasingly atomized, productivity individualized, and creativity measured through metrics and automation, the collective resurfaces as both strategy and necessity: a way to resist isolation, redistribute agency, and generate forms that exceed the singular voice.

We are interested in historical and contemporary models of collectivity, as well as speculative, affective, and resistant forms that challenge dominant narratives of authorship and originality. Contributions might explore how collectives function across artistic, political, social, and technological contexts, or how they fracture, fail, regenerate, or mutate.

Possible themes and questions include (but are not limited to):
- Coming together as practice, method, or survival strategy
- Blurred or shared authorship and the refusal of the singular genius
- Artist collectives and collaborative infrastructures
- Collaboration in public art, social practice, and activist contexts
- Collective printmaking and workshop-based production
- The atelier model and “old school” collective making
- Human collectivity in relation to, or in excess of, AI systems
- Collectivism, cooperation, and solidarity under late capitalism
- The collective unconscious and shared affect
- The team (sport, labor, performance) as collective form
- The orchestra, ensemble, or choir as models of coordination
- Gestalt thinking and forms that are more than the sum of their parts

We welcome submissions that are speculative, critical, curatorial, or experimental. Contributions may address the collective as lived experience, historical formation, political imaginary, and, or aesthetic strategy. Drain is committed to publishing work that expands the possibilities of critical and creative exchange. This issue asks: not only what we make together, but what becomes possible when “together” is the starting point.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: July 15, 2026

Please send submissions to: avantikabawagmail.com

Submission Guidelines: Essays must not be shorter that 5,000 words and can be up to 10,000 words, counting bibliography and footnotes. Essays are double-blind peer reviewed (by two reviewers).

Thought Experiments encourage contributors to write (or present visual commentaries) outside of traditional or conventional definitions of writing, genres or types of writing and can be less than 5,000 words. Thought Experiments are double-blind peer reviewed.

Creative Writing – Includes poetry, short stories, meditation pieces, new writing. They should engage directly with the call for entries. Contributions are peer reviewed.

Reviews – A critical article or report on a show, artist or publication. Reviews cover recent or current solo and group shows of regional, national or international significance. These should be 1200-1800 words. Reviews do not need to engage directly with the call for papers. Reviews are peer reviewed.

Interviews – A focused and critical conversation between two or more people on their creative practice. These should be 1200-1800 words. Peer-reviewed.

Art Projects – Drain would prefer art works created specifically for the web and virtual spaces, but welcomes any combination of still images, audio and video works that can be viewed online. Art Projects should engage directly with the call for entries. Art Projects are peer-reviewed.

Drain is catalogued by the Library of Congress