About the Open Call

Visible is an experimental, open-ended magazine. The 2025 Visible Mag Contemporary Art Essay Prize seeks unexpected insights on art and culture today. In line with the Magazine’s experimental nature, short essays that reference photography in any way are welcomed for this year’s prize. The Essay Prize celebrates diverse perspectives in the arts, encouraging submissions from various viewpoints such as economic, financial, sociological, historical, political, anthropological, anecdotal, legal, conservation, critical, cultural, Science, Technology, and Society (STS), and transdisciplinary. Creatives share the invisible parts of their lives, offering hope for change, with philosophical and theoretical discourse welcomed but not required.

What is Offered

Essays by the finalists and winner will be published by Visible. The winner of the Essay Prize will be awarded membership to Visible’s Founding Patron program.

Requirements

Essays should be approximately 500-1000 words, with a maximum of 1500 words all-inclusive, presenting a coherent argument in an accessible, personable voice to a general audience. Essays already published or offered for publication elsewhere (print or digital) are not eligible. Footnotes are not supported by the submission form. There is no age or education requirement for applicants.

How to Apply

Submissions are made via the online form: https://visible.fillout.com/t/u7jtCfLXmKus. Required materials include personal details (name, email address, a link to your profile e.g. personal website or LinkedIn profile) and the essay (title, body). An optional PDF addendum for images, diagrams, graphics, or illustrations can be uploaded; authors must clearly identify the author of each graphic and ideally hold the copyright.