LA+ SPECULATION - Call for Abstracts

In this moment of seemingly compounding global crises and existential concerns about the future of the planet, this 16th issue of LA+ pauses to consider the values and implications of speculation. We begin by asking whether speculation should be understood as a fundamentally creative endeavor or a profoundly destructive enterprise? In this way, what does the speculative act actually allow for? Is speculation irresponsible or essential? Are there limits to speculation? Can speculation be rigorous? How are speculative acts understood differently within specific disciplinary structures versus broader cultural perceptions? Why have theories of the terms speculate, speculation, and speculative proliferated across a wide range of disciplines throughout the first decades of the 21st century? Speculative Design, Speculative Art Histories, Speculative Urbanization, Speculative Realism, Speculative Sociology, Speculative Taxidermy, and on and on.

LA+ SPECULATION invites contributions from across disciplinary perspectives to reflect on the divergent forms, values, and cultural resonances of acts and theories of speculation—both contemporary and antecedent. Whether employed as a means of influence, a method of production, a form of practice, a manner of inquiry, a way of seeing, or a motivating ideology, this issue engages speculation and the speculative as world-shaping concepts worthy of deep and critical reflection. Email abstract and short bio to laplus@upenn.edu. More information on submissions can be found here.