LOST FUTURES volume 3: meanwhile...

In LOST FUTURES, we want to hear about worlds that could have been, should have been, or weren’t. Futures that tried to bring themselves into existence but whose spark burned out. Of the lives you might have had if things were different.

volume 2: still life is heading to the printers soon and is available for preorder now!  https://lostfutures.bigcartel.com/product/lost-futures-volume-2-still-life

volume 3's theme is ‘meanwhile...’. In the final episode of season 2 of Twin Peaks, the dream apparition of the recently dead Laura Palmer tells the protagonist,  Agent Dale Cooper, "I'll see you in 25 years. Meanwhile..." She twists her hands in a strange movement. Wrist crosses wrist. Something unknown has been communicated: something that cannot be said with words.

To think in meanwhile is to think in juxtaposition. To be meanwhile is to be between two things, or to be in parallel. One thing was happening- meanwhile, this other thing was happening. What happens when our attention is turned elsewhere? When we're focused on the foreground, what is happening in the background, unbeknownst to us?

What has been happening whilst we made these first two issues of LOST FUTURES? We started the zine with a simple idea but that idea has grown and changed. You as audience-artists are interested in such a vast range of strange, esoteric and weird things. What has LOST FUTURES started to become in your hands? What is our meanwhile?

Meanwhile makes us pay attention to the corners of our vision. The things that lurk just out of sight, out of touch, but are there if you pay attention.  The things that go bump in the night. The demons that are waiting to jump at you. What have they been doing in the corners? Where were they before, and why have they come out now?

But meanwhile,  thankfully, might also offer a respite.  When we are amongst loss, grief and horror, strange new things might be growing. The soil might be nourishing new seeds. Awful things are happening, but meanwhile beauty and hope are taking root.

You might also be inspired by dreamscapes. Like Agent Cooper, you may be plagued by visions. You sleep, and meanwhile your dreams take strange and bizarre new form. What are you trying to tell yourself? What is the universe trying to tell you? Or what strange and different worlds do you find yourself in? How do you make sense of the flickering nonsense of dreams?

LOST FUTURES takes submissions in any format. If you have an idea, we’ll work it out. Primarily it is intended to be a paper zine format, but if you’ve got something that needs to be heard or watched, we’ll find a way. If in doubt, contact me and we can think about how it might work. You may submit 3 pieces to this issue, though we will only accept a maximum of 2 pieces per person in this issue. If you are submitting a submission over 1000 words, we may only accept 1 piece.

Visual pieces should fit onto an A5 page or double A5 spread, and ideally should be at 300 dpi - but no worries if you can't do that, we can always work something out. No one has submitted music or video yet. I dare you to be the first.

We take art, poetry, prose, design, stories about your life, photography, documentation of exhibitions, music, personal essays, extended rants, screenshots of texts you feel like somehow explain the meaning of life. Anything. We’ll work it out together. We don't publish anything oppressive. No misogynistic, racist, hateful, ableist, transphobic, classist content.

We cover print costs. Once print costs are recouped, whatever’s left is shared equally amongst accepted contributors.

Submit your work here: https://kieran054498.typeform.com/to/UB0hQ1U5

If you have any questions, feel free to email me here: kieran[at]fractalsdesign[dot]uk.

Submissions for issue 3 close 30th April 2021.