Axon: Creative Explorations, the journal of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra, is named for the axon, the primary point of transmission within the nervous system and the means of communication between neurons.
Axon: Creative Explorations is an international, open access, peer reviewed journal that publishes works that express or are about creativity and the creative process, including:
- the methods and techniques of artists and other creative professionals
- approaches to creative-led research and the theorisation of creative practice
- the ways in which creative works are made and function
- creative interventions and explorations of contemporary matters of concern
- poetics and poetry, and
- the cultural contexts and theoretical frameworks informing creative practice.
NB: Axon does not accept unsolicited poetry, and the editors will not read unsolicited poems.
Axon publishes two general issues a year, and occasional special or capsule issues.
The growing momentum behind portmanteau terms like Arts-Health suggest the value inherent in approaches that integrate diverse ways of knowing and doing. Interdisciplinarity is considered valuable because some problems require insight from multiple disciplines, and because diverse knowledge, perspectives and methods produce creativity (Strober 2011).
With their practical expertise in working with ambiguity and multivalent meaning, artists and creative practitioners are crucial players in the future of public health and other parts of the social realm. Arts-based interventions can be considered adaptive systems (Springs & Baruch 2021) capable of engaging with complex and unpredictable challenges, such as pandemic and climate emergency.
What concepts inform the expert knowledge of collaborating artists? This edition of Axon is interested in submissions that attend to the value of personal interactions, relationships, environmental and other contexts. These priorities focus our attention on epistemological and ethical matters in collaborative practice across divides. How do we translate knowledge, and are there limits to knowledge translation?
We are calling for a broad interpretation of the theme and submissions which explore, challenge and respond in a multitude of ways: including those that illuminate points of connection within collaborations across disciplines, their productive frictions and generative integrations.
Points for consideration may include but are not limited to the following:
· Arts-Health (or other) collaborations that move past cross-disciplinarity into interdisciplinarity and beyond, through integration of information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives and concepts.
· Transdisciplinary collaborations in which researchers from a range of disciplines and stakeholders work with greater interdependence and cooperation than is usual.
· Creative practice that engages with access and inclusion techniques and knowledge (such as Audio Description, AUSLAN interpretation).
· Translation and interpretation across practice domains in writing, speech and performance.
· Knowledge translation in public health and public understandings of science.
· Communication in community-engaged and participatory research, in the field and in the literature.
For this issue we invite submissions of:
· Essays (scholarly/hybrid/creative): 4000-6000 words + references
· Visual essays (6-12 images + 1000-1500 words + references)
Final submission of full drafts : 18 November 2023
Publication date: April 2024
Our Expression of interest date has passed; however, if you have a piece that you believe fits neatly with our theme, please contact the editors to discuss your suggested contribution.
Submissions can be lodged at the Axon Submittable site: https://axoncreativeexplorations.submittable.com/submit
Please feel free to contact the editors with any queries, or to discuss suggested contributions.
Vahri McKenzie v.mckenzie@ecu.edu.au
Jo Pollitt j.pollitt@ecu.edu.au
Emily Sun emily.sun@research.uwa.edu.au
Springs, Stacey and Baruch, Jay (2021). Artists on the Research Team: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Team Science, Research Rigor, and Creative Dialogue, Health Promotion Practice Vol. 22, Suppl 1: 83S–90S.
Strober, M. H. (2011). Interdisciplinary conversations. Challenging habits of thought. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Submissions are invited on a continuing basis to Axon: Creative Explorations.
What to submit:
Submissions of articles, essays, interviews, papers and photo essays are welcome. The editors also welcome submission of creative work, other than poems, when accompanied by a 250-word statement that indicates the research aspects of the creative piece. Expected length of submissions is between 500 and 6,000 words, as appropriate to the form.
- All poetry published in Axon will be solicited by the journal’s editors. Unsolicited contributions of poetry will not be read or acknowledged.
How to submit:
• Visit the journal website at http://axonjournal.com.au, and acquaint yourself with the focus and content of previous issues;
• Read information about the journal and the submission and review process at http://axonjournal.com.au/contribute;
• Upload your submission, along with an abstract (max 200 words), a biographical note (max 150 words), your institutional affiliation (if relevant), up to 5 keywords and, for photo essays and other creative work, a 250-word research statement.
Submissions should be between 500 and 6,000 words, depending on the nature of the submission.
Please contact the editors with any queries about length, form and content.