It's not so difficult to imagine the world if… if what? That's the question, and the number of answers is unquantifiable. Promises of something different ring in our ears, delivered through a politician's platform, a scientist's hypothesis or an author's narrative. These promises make us hopeful that the world we live in is not the only world we will ever know, opening our minds to all that could be. The possibilities are endless, stretching across geographies and social landscapes, enveloping all of it or just one coordinate. Our interest in plurality is not to propose a new world, a better world, rather to examine all of our options. The dreams of some are the nightmares of others, which makes the shared notion of "a better world" wholly inconceivable. Possibilities, however - those we all share, for better or worse.
Think of the possible worlds, hundreds of them, filling the space between all that we can and cannot know. They vary in scale, clarity and movement, overwhelming in their quiet magnitude. You can always spot them in a crowd, though (they're born clashing with reality). We ask that, once you reach and grasp and hang on to one, find the words for it as well. Further, reach the perimeter - where the world ends. This is what we want to know. We want to chart the limits of possible worlds, how others have navigated them and who imagines there. Come with us, as pioneers of the 'multi-verse'.
Possible sub topics include, but are not limited to:
- World-building (3-D modeling and virtual environments)
- Psychogeography and psychotopography
- Parallax views (the irreconcilable within the imaginable)
- Parallel dimensions (in both the tradition of science fiction and those supported by theories of quantum physics)
- Double agents/double lives
- Dystopian narratives in contemporary art & pop culture
- Role-play and personal fantasy
- Historical fiction
- Language (as a constitutive force of reality)
Send submissions to submissions[at]kapsula.ca: we accept ideas, abstracts and full texts. Experimentation with formatting is encouraged - in the spirit of all possible worlds (and the man behind the epigraph) step away from convention. If you choose to submit an unfinished text, please be aware that due to our tight timelines, you may be asked to complete the text within 10 days of acceptance.