Open Call:

Tools For Radical Cooperation

 
 

Open Call Overview

Tools for Radical Cooperation is a new collaborative publication that will feature the work of contributing artists, designers, writers, philosophers, and dreamers on different tools and modalities to overcome social division. This cooperative project invites us to create our dream future together.

This published text will be hand-bound and acquired by Montgomery College in the Mudd Art Library, the Hamiltonian Artists library, The Annex, the Baltimore Jewelry Center, and the Tucson Herb Store. This publication is made with the intention to share ideas and designs that can be applied, modified, and deployed at various scales, both nationally and internationally, to overcome divisive propaganda, hate, discrimination, and the rise of global authoritarianism.

The book will house a collection of works and ideas that will address the challenges of today and provide frameworks of hope, speculative design and actionable steps for the readership of this text and the current human condition. 

All contributors will be credited with their name, submission title, and the year the work was made, in addition to any photo credit information on supplied images, unless the creator would like to otherwise remain anonymous. 

Application Anonymity and Inclusion/Exclusion of Location Information

The request to share location information in the application seems relevant to the project to identify the challenges specific to regions, climates, communities, cities, and countries at large. For instance what is going on in Minnesota is far different than what might be occurring in Texas. Both have their challenges, but the location does in fact offer context to the submission. Submissions from people living in Canada, Palestine, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, Greenland, Denmark, Mexico, etc. all face different conflicts and the location helps the reader contextualize the challenges. This is why the question is included in the application.

However, given the threat of ICE targeting Americans, and governments of other countries and employers both target people speaking out, the project open call by no means wants people to share their location and name if they do not feel safe to do so. There are instructions in the application for submissions to remain anonymous and not location bound for the safety of those contributing to the publication . Please be safe and know this open call is only here to create a book of tools to help, not endanger people in the process.

Below is a proposed outline of the book in different chapter sections:

  • Tools to hold and processes loss and grief

  • Tools to survive

  • Tools to overcome fear 

  • Tools to unlearn, decolonize, and upend systemic injustices 

  • Tools to create ecologies of care

  • Tools for mutual aid, medicine making and collective healing

  • Tools to gather, educate, and mobilize 

  • Tools for radical cooperation and consensus building

  • Tools to rest, pause and recenter

  • Tools to destabilize and topple tyranny 

  • Tools to wayfind through times of uncertainty to a new beginning 

  • Tools for our dream future

  • Tools to help us remember

Who Can Submit

Anyone! There are no eligibility requirements. No prior publication experience is required. Multiple submissions are welcome (and encouraged!). Please share old work and new work.

Deadline

May 1st 2026 11:59 pm EDT

Documentation & Professional Support

Your submitted work may be in any format, written, sculpture, a proposal, etc. However, if your submission(s) includes physical (art)work (2D or 3D) and you are willing to temporarily loan the work for documentation, a professional photographer will be hired to photograph the work for the book. High-quality digital images will be provided free of charge to contributors to support portfolio development and future professional advancement in art and design fields. 

Multiple Submissions Welcome
The book is not limited to the number of submissions so feel free to submit another application if more ideas surface. This book in and of itself is designed to be a tool housing a collection of tools to help the collective dream up a new inspiring future and develop the tools we will need to bring that dream to fruition.

What is Considered a Tool?

The word, Tool, can mean many things. Ranging from a physical instrument used to complete a certain task, to more elusive examples like seeing imagination as a tool. Your tool can take on any form or format. 

Some examples of Tool Formats can include but are not limited to:

  • Joke

  • Riddle

  • Game

  • Collection of inspirational quotes

  • Diary entry

  • A physical reimagined tool

  • Written manifesto

  • Drawing

  • Speculative tool

  • A set of instructions

  • A lesson plan or curricular outline

  • Infographic

  • Recipe

  • Sculpture

  • Book

  • Playlist

  • Collection of shower thoughts

  • Poem

  • An invention

  • A diagram or proposal

  • Architectural models and renderings

  • Meme

  • Dance

  • Herbal concoctions 

  • Painting

  • Performance

  • Screenplay

  • Storyboard for a pilot episode 

  • Rituals and practices

  • Nervous system regulation tools

  • Fidget toy

  • Self-care support

Apply