Collateral is a multilingual online platform for encounters between text and image, between art and analysis, and between critical and artistic research. An online-only peer-reviewed journal, it fosters interactions between different critical and artistic formats, diverse methodologies, and divergent disciplinary traditions, while remaining firmly committed to practices of critical reading—in the broadest sense.

Collateral welcomes pitches and submissions in the three formats that we publish:

Clusters: Combinations of four responses to one particular text, image, performance, event, occasion, etc. Juxtaposing different forms of critical engagement, emphatically including artistic forms (video essays, visual work, poetry, etc.), this format exemplifies the various ways in which artistic and analytical practices can enrich cultural objects. Each cluster is guest-edited by the convenor. Collisions: One-off interventions that take one particular cultural object (in the broadest sense) as an occasion for critical, analytical, and/or artistic elaboration. This format eschews the platitudes of traditional academic writing and aims for a more direct and impactful mode of engagement. Conversations: A new format in which a contributor enters into dialogue with an artist, critic, scholar, or cultural practitioner to explore cultural, methodological, and/or societal concerns. Conversations can take shape as traditional interviews or push the boundaries of that genre.

We welcome your ideas collateral.journal@gmail.com. We give you an initial decision on your pitches within three weeks. If the initial decision is positive, we provide peer review within two months.