Dark Side – Call for tales for Quinta Colonna

«There is nothing darker than those torches that we need not to see in the midst of darkness, but to see the darkness.» Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, 64 AD.

Darkness is the field of the unknown or the reign of the possible, where the imagination is left free. Darkness creates fascination and fear, but above all, it questions us and determines the conditions for change. In representing what cannot be seen, in prefiguring what does not appear, people acknowledge a break in the balance that throws into a deep condition of suspension and uncertainty. If, on the one hand, the darkness in the collective imagination takes on a negative meaning, since it is interpreted as a metaphor for the evil and the unconscious, on the other, it represents the necessary condition for the existence of what we consider "positive". It is one of those conditions in which the dichotomy provides the meaning of its elements.

In this scenario, we are looking to understand what factors and dynamics define darkness and its allegorical interpretation through the arts, sciences and history. The investigation into the dark, the obscure, will take place through tales instead of papers, because of the possibility to build a proper atmosphere. Quinta Colonna, to continue its research on architecture and design, wants to go beyond the thresholds of the disciplines to explore the dark side of the world around us and the personality of those who live there. Dark Side is an experiment for an open narrative form that we are pleased to face together with the future authors selected through the present call.

The next issue of the webzine Quinta Colonna (ISSN 2704-9922) starts from this frame and much further. Most of all, "Dark side" is a non-linear narrative experiment. Possible authors are invited to contribute to the building of a four-dimensional story. Their task will be to enrich the story with multiple narrative developments resulting from their point of view. The goal is to build an experience – not a story – where fiction, art, design, architecture, illustration, music and other disciplines coexist in a unique and dynamic product. It all begins with a story written by us – inspired from the celebrated "Excercices de style" of R. Queneau – which is concluded, but open in many points that correspond to words or symbols. Each contribution proposal must concern only one of these points, but an author can propose several contributions and therefore follow more than one idea. The story can be deepened and explored by building those parts of it apparently hidden, making them explorable and alive. They will enrich the plot by changing, why not, the sense of the story. The drawing of a painting that the protagonist observes, the plan of the city in which the incident is set, the spin-off of the story of a passer-by, the music that the protagonist listens to. Each contribution of the authors will cooperate in making the reading experience as immersive and rich as possible.

Please find the base-story and all other information on our website.