Special Issues

Arts publishes Special Issues to create collections of papers on specific topics, with the aim of building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions. Special Issues are led by Guest Editors, who are experts on the topic and all Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process. The journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, checking their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies and Guest Editor responsibilities can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Arts and Refugees: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Vol. 3)—the Global South submission deadline 30 Jan 2026 | Viewed by 1529
Keywords: arts; refugees; global south; inclusion; exclusion; racialization; intersectionality
Dance Objects
edited by and Anna Pakes
submission deadline 31 Jan 2026 | Viewed by 720 | Submission Open
Keywords: dance objects; ontology; materialism; visual culture; commodity; ephemera
Creating Musical Experiences
edited by Róisín Blunnie and Orla Flanagan
submission deadline 27 Feb 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 3559 | Submission Open
Keywords: music performance; artistic programming; concert design; curating musical experiences; historical and contemporary performance design; collaborative creativity and performance
The Visual Arts and Environmental Regeneration in Britain
edited by Rupert Ashmore
submission deadline 28 Feb 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1369 | Submission Open
Keywords: environmental arts; farming; food production; communities; rural economies; arts research; film and photography
(This special issue belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
Arts of Abolition and Liberation
edited by
submission deadline 28 Feb 2026 | Viewed by 870 | Submission Open
Keywords: abolition; liberation; anti-capitalism; socialism; communism; anarchism; protest; activism; leftism
Presence and Media
edited by Ken Feinstein
submission deadline 28 Feb 2026 | Viewed by 441 | Submission Open
Keywords: presence; new media; otherness; ethics; interaction; dialog
Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Objects, Places and Interactions in the Western Scythian World
edited by
submission deadline 28 Feb 2026 | Viewed by 359 | Submission Open
Keywords: archaeology; Eurasian nomads; Hallstatt; Hillforts; Iron Age; material culture; Northern Black Sea region; Scythians
Bodies on Edge in a Globalized World
edited by Rebekah J. Kowal and Gerald Siegmund
submission deadline 1 Mar 2026 | Viewed by 595 | Submission Open
Keywords: exile; displacement; dislocation; dispersion; dispossession; embodiment; choreography; dance; performance; global; world
Al-Bustān: Recreational Estates in the Islamic West and Sicily—Architectures and Spaces of Prestige as Symbols of Power
edited by and Julio Navarro Palazón
submission deadline 15 Mar 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 10895 | Submission Open
Keywords: Al-Bustān; belvedere; qubba; botanical gardens; Nymphaeum; pools
Attitudes, Practices, Rituals and Funerary Arts Across Disciplines and Cultures
edited by Debra Andrist
submission deadline 30 Mar 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1358 | Submission Open
Keywords: death; mortality; funerary; ritual; burial; mourning; afterlife
Music, Gesture, and Embodiment: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Gesture–Sound Studies
edited by
submission deadline 31 Mar 2026 | Viewed by 507 | Submission Open
Keywords: embodied music cognition; music and gesture; gesture– sound relationship; gesture analysis; motion capture technologies; multimodality; interdisciplinary approaches; video-based gesture recognition; multimodal interaction; video-based gesture recognition
Rethinking Art History and Culture: Defining an Ecological Approach
edited by Claire Farago
submission deadline 31 Mar 2026 | Viewed by 431 | Submission Open
Keywords: study of planetary culture; intra-disciplinary collaboration; sociobiological synthesis (interrelationship of biological and social processes); nature/culture as a cultural construct; ecology; sustainability; connectivity; post-human/more than human; indigenous ontologies; ontoepistemology; performative; relationalities; (re)articulations; intra-activity
Swan Songs: Philosophical Reflections on Death, Time, and Memory in Testament Films
edited by Vasco Baptista Marques and Susana Viegas
submission deadline 1 Apr 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 3369 | Submission Open
Keywords: film philosophy; testament films; philosophy of death; mortality; memory
Art from the Medieval Mediterranean: A Critical View
edited by Justine M. Andrews
submission deadline 1 Apr 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1880 | Submission Open
Keywords: Mediterranean; art history; medieval; Byzantine; Islamic; Jewish
Animals and the Art Academy
edited by Rosemarie McGoldrick and
submission deadline 15 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 387 | Submission Open
Keywords: art; artist; animals; humans; ethics; academy; relational
Myths in Art, XV–XVII Centuries
edited by Robert Huber
submission deadline 30 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 879 | Submission Open
Keywords: alchemy; allegory; astrology; neo-Platonism; Hermeticism; Renaissance painting; prisca theologia; mythology; humanism; magic
Artist-Led Practice: Bridging Art and Life
edited by Julie Crawshaw
submission deadline 30 Apr 2026 | Viewed by 726 | Submission Open
Keywords: artist-led practice; John Dewey; aesthetics
Twenty-Five Years After Post-Black: Reframing Contemporary African American Art
edited by
submission deadline 1 May 2026 | Viewed by 271 | Submission Open
Keywords: African American Art; Contemporary Art; African Diaspora
Ecocritical Lens: Photography, Environment, and the Anthropocene
edited by Karla McManus
submission deadline 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 1653 | Submission Open
Keywords: eco-photography; art and the Anthropocene; ecocritical art history; material histories of photography; photography studies
Aesthetics in Contemporary Cities submission deadline 30 May 2026 | 7 articles | Viewed by 19139 | Submission Open
Keywords: landscapes of urban spaces; public realm aesthetics; aesthetics in the urban context; street art; aesthetics perception
Performative Imaging: Post-Digital Medialities in Contemporary Moving Image Practices
edited by Gabriel Menotti, and
submission deadline 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 1315 | Submission Open
Keywords: performance; installation; moving image; embodiment; participation; environmental; spatiality; post-digital; archives
Ethnographic Film Cinematography: Capturing Culture and Human Experience Through the Lens
edited by
submission deadline 20 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 286 | Submission Open
Keywords: ethnography; ethnographic film; anthropology; visual anthropology; ethnographic video; cinematography
Film Music
edited by Nick Poulakis
submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 8284 | Submission Open
Keywords: film music; film sound; cinema; musicology; film studies; cultural studies
Active Women in the Art Market: 1950–2020. Mapping Gallerists, Collectors, Maecenas, Auctioneers, Curators in Emerging Markets submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 6478 | Submission Open
Keywords: art market; Global South; feminism; female studies; women gallerists; women art dealers; women collectors; women artists; women curators; gender equality
Human-Animal Interactions in Western Art
edited by
submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 4619 | Submission Open
Keywords: human– animal interactions; art history; animal studies; Western art
The Art of the Brain: Unlocking the Power of Neuroaesthetics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
edited by
submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 510 | Submission Open
Keywords: neuroaesthetics; Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs); creativity; cognitive function; emotional regulation; Artificial Intelligence (AI); Brain– Computer Interface (BCI)
Cinema and the Century: Film as a Mirror of Modern Life
edited by André Rui Graça
submission deadline 30 Jun 2026 | Viewed by 13 | Submission Open
Keywords: film studies; creative and cultural industries; film and history; media studies
(This special issue belongs to the Section Film and New Media)
The New Politics of Art: Artworks in an Age of Corporate Globalism
edited by Lenore Metrick-Chen
submission deadline 1 Jul 2026 | Viewed by 339 | Submission Open
Keywords: art; audience; alternative; politics; economics; activism; values; critical theory; equity; transformative; capitalism; resistance
Queerness in 18th- and 19th- Century European Art (2nd Edition)
edited by Andrew Shelton
submission deadline 1 Jul 2026 | Viewed by 315 | Submission Open
Keywords: queer; art history; 18th- and 19th- century
(This special issue belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
Ontological Investigations in Visual Art Studies
edited by Lampo Leong and
submission deadline 31 Jul 2026 | Viewed by 167 | Submission Open
Keywords: digital and AI art; immersive installations; contemporary ink; formal elements in visual art; technological innovation in art; ontological approaches in visual art studies; formalistic aesthetics; spiritual expression in art
Contemporary Development of American Film
edited by Catherine L. Benamou and Philana Payton
submission deadline 1 Aug 2026 | Viewed by 771 | Submission Open
Keywords: biopics; film adaptation; independent cinema; film and television labor; social justice; exhibition practices; narrative form; queer/trans representation; marginalized filmmakers; production studies; race/gender/class/sexuality
Divine Visions: A Global Exploration of Devotional Art and Iconography, c. 1200–1700
edited by Katharine Scherff
submission deadline 1 Aug 2026 | Viewed by 349 | Submission Open
Keywords: devotion; iconography; materiality; embodiment; transcultural; performance; multisensory; ritual; representation; sacred
Restitution Beyond Repatriation: Rethinking African Tangible Heritage in Twenty-First Century Museums
edited by
submission deadline 31 Aug 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 6303 | Submission Open
Keywords: restitution; African art; museum; repatriation; decolonization
Picasso Studies (Third Edition)
edited by Enrique Mallen
submission deadline 31 Aug 2026 | Viewed by 97 | Submission Open
Keywords: Picasso; language; cubism; collage; interdisciplinary
(This special issue belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
Visual Culture, Emotion, and the Body in Early Modern Europe
edited by
submission deadline 6 Sep 2026 | Viewed by 292 | Submission Open
Keywords: physicality; anatomy; medium; sensory; embodiment; mortality; emotion; perception; memory; materiality; agency; humanism
(This special issue belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
Gender, Craft, and the Avant-Gardes: Reimagining Artistic Practices in Transcultural Modernisms submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | Viewed by 121 | Submission Open
Keywords: avant-garde; transculturality; global modernisms; gender; feminism; queer art history; crafts; material culture; critical modernism studies; critical art history
(This special issue belongs to the Section Applied Arts)
Intersecting Dialogues: Contemporary Art and Architecture in the 21st Century
edited by Pablo Meninato and Gregory Marinic
submission deadline 1 Oct 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2095 | Submission Open
Keywords: contemporary art; architecture; interdisciplinarity; art theory; architecture theory
[Re]thinking and Georeferencing Aesthetic: Heritage, Identity and Time
edited by Maria De Fátima Lambert, and
submission deadline 30 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 231 | Submission Open
Keywords: aesthetic as heritage— between me and you and the other; decolonial aesthetic thought: increasing and repairing; georeferenced aesthetic systems— analysing; reviewing beliefs; reviewing feminist aesthetic thought; revisiting aesthetic and cultural heritage; revising principles; canons and stereotypes; restoring women philosophers for aesthetic historiography; temporality of aesthetic systems— categories and insurrections
Ornament Now: Re-Thinking Ornament in Art, Philosophy, and Everyday Life
edited by
submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 262 | Submission Open
Keywords: ornamentation; repetition; rhythm; material culture; architecture; craft; digital design; ecology; assemblage; everyday aesthetics; affect; pattern; bio-art
Photography, Civil Society and the Crisis of Democracy
edited by Terri Weissman
submission deadline 15 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 369 | Submission Open
Keywords: photography & democratic crisis; photography & justice; surveillance & sousveillance; photography & evidence; post-truth media; photography & collective action
Relationships Between Biological Diversity and Art: Exploring the Intersection
edited by , Aixa Ofelia Rivero-Guerra and Estrella Alfaro Saiz
submission deadline 30 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 312 | Submission Open
Keywords: artistic expressions; biodiversity conservation; design; ecocriticism; illustration; motifs; symbology; contemporary art
Conditions of Transcultural Curating: Ecology, Decoloniality, and Global Exhibition Practices
edited by Marianna Tsionki
submission deadline 30 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 212 | Submission Open
Keywords: transcultural curating; ecological aesthetics; decolonial exhibition practices; global art circulation; more-than-human perspectives
Latin American Photography
edited by Nathanial Eli Gardner and Carmen Fernandez Galán Montemayor
submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 133 | Submission Open
Keywords: Latin American photography; visual theory; visual literacy; semiotics and photography; text and image
(This special issue belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
Perspectives of Acoustics
edited by
submission deadline 1 Mar 2027 | Viewed by 130 | Submission Open
Keywords: psychoacoustics; auditory perception; architectural acoustics; sound art; immersive technologies; audio engineering; ambisonics; VR/AR audio; sound aesthetics; music production
The Study of Animation Art
edited by Daniela Sirbu
submission deadline 1 Mar 2027 | Viewed by 22 | Submission Open
Keywords: animation aesthetics; animation history; animation theory; animation narrative; immersive animation; interactive animation; game animation; projection mapping; AR; VR; visual effects
Film at the Crossroads of Media and Art submission deadline 30 Mar 2027 | Viewed by 78 | Submission Open
Keywords: film and media art; interactive film; expanded cinema; post-cinema; intermediality; digital film aesthetics; cinematic installation; transmedia storytelling; art and technology; hybrid moving image; contemporary film theory
(This special issue belongs to the Section Film and New Media)
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