Critical Condition

COMMODE is commissioning a series of essays for Critical Condition, an open call for writing that explores alternative ways of working within and beyond contemporary art institutions in New Zealand and internationally.

The project takes as its starting point the growing atmosphere of institutional anxiety, political ambiguity, and risk aversion shaping the arts in Aotearoa. Over the past decade — accelerated by Covid-19 and intensifying global crises — contemporary art institutions have become increasingly defined by precarity, symbolic politics, and a culture of caution that can mistake silence for neutrality. Critical Condition asks what this means for artistic and curatorial practice, and what alternative infrastructures make political and cultural life possible when dominant institutions are constrained by funding dependencies, administrative burden, and fear of controversy.

The project is particularly interested in infrastructures that already exist outside dominant models: artist-run spaces, independent publishing, queer nightlife and social spaces, mutual aid networks, reading groups, alternative economies, digital platforms, and autonomous education. Essays might engage with collective organisation, underground scenes, withdrawal from institutions, non-commercial practice, or any form of cultural organisation that exceeds what is currently permitted within the local context.

Contributions may be analytical, speculative, historical, theoretical, or experimental. COMMODE especially welcomes writing grounded in lived organisational experience and perspectives from outside dominant institutional structures. The series is open to artists, writers, curators, organisers, academics, activists, and cultural workers.

Alongside invited contributors, a number of commissions will be selected through this open call. Each published essay will be 1,500–2,000 words and paid at a fee of NZD $800. Essays will be published progressively throughout 2026 via COMMODE.

How to apply:

Submit a short proposal of approximately 300–500 words, a brief biography, and examples of previous writing or practice documentation — all combined into a single PDF — to info@commode.co.nz by Monday 22 June 2026.