Common Forms is now accepting submissions for Issue III. This issue’s theme is DIY, and the submissions window closes February 21st end of day.

“Do it yourself:” what does the phrase bring up for you? Is it an aesthetic signifier? Something hashtaggable? Maybe you understand D.I.Y. as a repurposing act? Or is it radical creation distinct from institutional pollutants? Alternatively, is it even possible to ever totally divorce creative material from its original context? There is not one correct answer to these questions. What DIY is, by its nature, is for you to define for yourself.

For Issue III of Common Forms, we’re looking for work that explores the theme of “doing it yourself” and all its simultaneous potentials and pitfalls. By refusing to limit the journal’s focus to one specific era, medium, or genre, we hope to encourage you to do the work yourself, as it were, and show us how D.I.Y. can materialize throughout history and across forms.

Though we encourage creative and critical submissions to take the prompt in any supported direction, here are some keywords that DIY generates for us:

• Individualism
• Community
• Organization
• Originality
• Remix
• Repurpose
• Recreate
• Reimage
• Contort
• Complicate
• Cross-Discipline
• Labor
• Self production
• Amateurism
• Expertise