CfP: Hijacked Futures: Counter-(Hi)Stories and Complex Temporalities in Modern and Contemporary Art

University of Vienna & TU Wien | March 19–20, 2026
Deadline for Abstracts: May 18, 2025

We invite submissions for a peer-reviewed journal on the role of art in challenging and reimagining future narratives. The event will bring together scholars to explore how modern and contemporary art can subvert dominant future imaginaries, using a range of media to create alternative visions that question the temporal and political power structures of the present.

The workshop will focus on the complex temporalities in artistic practices that reflect fragmented and non-synchronous futures, often intersecting with issues of colonialism, climate change, and socio-economic inequalities. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Counter-worlds and speculative fiction

• Ecofiction, Afrofuturism, Indigenous futures

• Post-histoire and complex temporalities

• Bodies and histories in contemporary art

Please submit an abstract (max. 1 page) and CV to thomas.moser@tuwien.ac.at by May 18, 2025. Travel and accommodation may be partially subsidized. The full CfP can be viewed here.

Organized by Laura Bohnenblust, Thomas Moser, and Barbara Reisinger.