DARKLIGHT: Illumination, Imagination, and the Zoetrope of Spiritual Apperception. How does the balance of darkness and light, the ongoing cycle by which we live, inform artistic practice? How are themes of the 'dark' and the 'light' represented in art, music and writing? How does creative practice illuminate or reveal new ideas, concepts and ways of understanding? How does such practice tie in to broader ontological philosophes (Illuminationism, Anthroposophy, mysticism etc.)?

MEANS magazine's April theme asks these questions and more: a diverse, philosophically-considered concept exploring light and dark in all their guises.

Submit music, visual art, videos, writing, project documentation, scores, poetry, fiction, or any other creative medium.

DEADLINE: MAY 8th 2026

For this issue, we are interested in the philosophical, the revelatory, and the spiritual.

Using the Zoetrope as a conceptual starting point - the precursor to the video camera: a simple circular device with slits in the side, that when spun, produces the illusion of movement from still images - we ask how the creative consideration of both dark and light suggests new forms of creative practice.

New forms of knowledge.

Whether we are engaging with the concept philosophically (the Illuminationism of Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, or the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, for example), thematically (such as 'black' metal music, or the Dark Art movement), or even literally (such as the use of light in framing photography, or the practice of shading in drawing), we want to discover all the ways artists, writers and musicians respond to DARKLIGHT.

Send us your work for inclusion in issue 6 of MEANS magazine, due for release at the end of May 2026. 

It is free to submit, and all accepted artists will receive a £20 payment.
(We know it's low - but we are a small magazine and this represents a fair sharing of our expected profits!).

Alongside the magazine, we will be releasing a digital music compilation which we are also accepting submissions for - however, please note, music submissions on the compilation will not get paid (we'd love it if people still bought indie music, but they don't).

We will, however, promote your work on our social media and share links to your other work and releases to thank you. 

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