Videotage will publish D-normal/V-essay: Videotage Edition - Open Call in June 2026. From now until 6 February 2026, video creators worldwide are invited to submit their video essays.

As a keen observer of media arts, Videotage seeks to move beyond the usual curatorial framework. We not only emphasise “what kind of video articles we want to encourage,” but also further ask “what video essays could be,” and “in what ways is the video essay a timely intervention to invoke new agencies and affordances in our milieu.” Our open call, therefore, is to invite collaborators (judges and participants) to re-imagine the video essay to push its boundaries. Our “collaborators” are not limited to artists, but also include a wider range of video creators. Anyone who expresses with moving image and sound are welcome to participate.

This issue continues the video zine series initiated by the Hong Kong artist collective “Floating Projects” in 2020. Encompassing open submission and selection, six issues have been published to date, featuring nearly a hundred video creators and video essays respectively.

In this round, Videotage will organise and edit the seventh issue of the video zine. With the intensifying presence of generative technologies in the AI milieu, we hope to gather video creators from around the world through an open call. Submitted works will contribute to broadening the horizons of the established video essay to incorporate new modes of imaging technologies. How would a broader range of technology shape our personal articulation of how we lived and how to live?

To include the diverse range of video creators, the open call will divide submissions into seven categories by their content. Each submission can respond to up to three categories, which will serve as reference rather than for criteria for selection. The theme of the video zine will be tailored around the shortlisted video essays – please refer to previous editions for the past themes.

All shortlisted works will be added to D-Normal/V-Essay’s website, as well as the Videotage Media Art Collection for learning and resource purposes. In addition to online publication, we will showcase the awarded entries at Videotage for a designated period. By promoting these works through various channels, we hope to engage a broader audience in the video communication-driven community, advancing the vocabularies that wecan use in our digital society.

The categories include:
1. Object Lives / Object-logues
2. Let’s Talk about Me
3. On-site Documentation
4. Thematic Exposè / Expressive Journaling
5. Narration & Monstration
6. Visualising the Unseen and Untouchable
7. Detailed Explanation of a Single Artwork

Submission:
via D-normal/V-essay online system: https://d-normal-v-essay.floatingprojectscollective.net/ (computer only)
Submissions are free and all are welcome.

Deadline
6 February 2026, 17:00 HKT

Result Announcement & Video Zine #7 Launch: 1 June 2026
Guest Jurors: Linda Lai (Research-based Transdisciplinary artist and Independent scholar), Priyanka Sen (Writer, Researcher, and Film Programmer), Chan Wai-lok (Choreographer and Performer) Videotage representatives: Chung Wing Shan, Stanley Ng, Doris Poon

Awards and Showcase
● Shortlisted video essays will be collected in the Videotage Media Art Collection and exhibited in D-Normal/V-Essay website
● Best Video Essay: $2000 HKD
● Special Mentions: number varies based on jury recommendation
● Awarded works will be showcased at Videotage exhibition space in June 2026 (details TBD)

Initiated by: Floating Project

Supported by: Hong Kong Arts Development Council*
*The Hong Kong Arts Development Council supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.