A spontaneous flash of light that happened to enter and be captured by the camera OR an encounter with spirits? Or both?

Cinema Without Organs (Issue #2) currently seeks creative writings that reflect upon a personal metaphysical experience sparked by either making or watching a piece of FORMALLY EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA. No hate toward narrative work… it’s just not of interest to this issue of the zine. What is of interest is your experience tapping into a spiritual source, your creative writings that reflect upon that experience, and the ways in which experimental cinema got you there.

In your writing, there’s no real need to delve into Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy, although the zine will be contextualized using their philosophy in the introduction. There’s more of a need to go deep within yourself, honestly express your metaphysical experience, and creatively reflect upon your feelings.

Your essay should be approximately 500 words. Please reach out to Nick Karpinski (nickkarpinski16@gmail.com) with a 50-word pitch for your essay by Dec. 9. The final draft for your essay is due by Jan. 14. The following two weeks will be dedicated to making any revisions. You can also reach out to nickkarpinski16@gmail.com with any general questions before Dec. 9.

As a DIY project, there unfortunately won’t be monetary compensation for writers.

More About the Zine:

Cinema Without Organs is an interdisciplinary zine that features essays from artists and scholars who explore cinema as a site for possibility. The zine is edited by artist and filmmaker Nick Karpinski. Cinema Without Organs riffs on French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, and French psychoanalyst, Félix Guattari’s interpretation of the Body Without Organs. The Body Without Organs is a term originally coined by French artist, Antonin Artaud. For Deleuze and Guattari specifically, though, the Body Without Organs is a site for possibility — a place where experimentation and disorganization disrupt structure (the structured body) to create something new.

For Deleuze and Guattari, ‘the body’ can be generally applied to humans or non-humans or things that can be conceived as animate or inanimate. Cinema, for instance, can be viewed as a type of body.

The Body Without Organs exists alongside the structured body. The structured body abides by the rules that govern its organs. By existing alongside the structured body, the Body Without Organs constantly challenges conventions and offers up possibilities for what the body can be, or what the body can do.

Cinema Without Organs exists in that spirit. Cinema, like a human body, is not a homogeneous entity that can be reduced to its organs, or the rules that conventionally govern its practices. Cinema is amorphous. Therefore, as a zine, Cinema Without Organs is a platform for artists and scholars, through their writing, to explore cinema as a site for possibility.