CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Volume 10, Issue 2 (Winter 2027)
Digital Decadence
Over recent decades, decadence studies has moved beyond earlier identifications of decadence with the Western European literary and artistic canon of the fin de siècle. Recent scholarship has, for example, developed new critical approaches to decadence, from translation studies to affect and sensory studies to postcolonial theory; illuminated the global dimensions of decadence; traced its afterlives and new literary histories; and examined its significance across diverse artistic and sociocultural practices, from food and fashion to performance and popular media. Taken together, these efforts underline the continued resonance of decadence as a capacious and multifaceted phenomenon for thinking about the many faces of modernity.
This Volupté special issue contributes to these conversations by considering decadence from a digital perspective. How might decadence, broadly understood, relate to digital, computational, and informational culture? Is decadence, often associated with countercultural and counter-progressive attitudes, at odds with technological change or could it anticipate aspects of digital culture, within and against existing dynamics of class, gender, race, religion, and sexuality? How might modern media be understood as decadent, and how might decadence function as a form of media criticism? Are there new digital genres of literature, music, and art, including automations, generative art, e-poetry, and video games, that engage with decadence in disruptive and different ways? Could developments in technology – particularly AI – be a decadent driver of the collapse of human critical thought or function as Baudrillardian simulacra leading to the decay of the so-called “information age”? Finally, how might digital collections and computational approaches – whether as methodology or as theoretical and critical frameworks – mediate or illuminate decadence?
We welcome submissions that explore the intersections of decadence and data, media, and computation, broadly understood. We also welcome proposals for creative contributions (e.g. short fiction, poetry, artwork) that reflect on or are inspired by the intersections of decadence and data, media, and computation. Following the field’s global turn, we are open to submissions that explore the stakes of digital decadence in countries and regions within, and outside, of Western Europe, such as Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and more. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Media studies and media archaeological approaches to decadence
Decadence and media aesthetics
Decadence and (pre-)digital culture
Decadence and modern information culture and practices
Decadence and computation (including computational approaches to decadence)
Decadence and algorithms or algorithmic culture
Data, datafication, and decadence under late capitalism
Digital literature and decadence
Dead internet theory, social media, cultural stagnation, memes, gaming, and decadence
Artificiality, artifice, and artificial intelligence
Digitization collections and projects related to decadence (see below)
All textual material should be in Microsoft Word format and follow the MHRA Style Guide, though we are also open to accepting a wide range of digital files for relevant projects and artworks.
We also invite submissions of “Data Biographies,” which present collections, corpora, datasets, performance art, poetry, or exhibitions of digital or digitized media related to decadence (including text, image, audio, or other kinds of media). These submissions should be 300-500 words in length and should include:
A name or title for the collection
A short introduction to the collection and how it relates to decadence (this can include: the conception/origin, purpose, and context of creation of the collection)
An overview of the materials included in the collection
The names and brief biographies of the creators or curators of the collection (if known) and/or the name of the submitter
A link to the collection
You do not need to be a creator or curator of the collection you submit, but please ensure the collection is openly accessible and free of copyright restrictions, or indicate in the submission any access requirements. We expect these biographies to form the starting point of a library of digital and digitized resources for the decadence research and creative community.
We will hold a small online symposium about Digital Decadence on Friday April 16 2027. Contributors to the special issue will present their drafts in a 10 to 12-minute presentation and circulate verbal feedback through a Q&A.
Please send 250-word proposals to the guest editors Sandra Leonard and Cherrie Kwok at drcherriekwok@proton.me by Friday 15 January 2027.
The deadline for final submission will be Monday 31 May 2027.
