The end of ARP! is upon us. Please review the following call for submissions and figure out if you could write something for us at last!

Endings are: happy, tragic, unexpected, poignant. It’s cliché to mention 2012, but let's whisper it. A burial ritual demands celebration and festivities–and a review of how all came to pass. Spin a creation story for us, explain/bullshit the origins of what we commonly know. Write an eyewitness account of what the end is like. See below for a variety of suggestions.

*"The End," in Dutch.

Suggested proposals deadline: October 23, 2009
Final Draft due: January 29, 2010
Release Date: April 9, 2010

These deadlines have all passed, but we're running slow. If you think you've got something amazing, let us know!

How this Reality Came to Be

Back in the day, healthcare reform didn’t matter. The National Endowment for the Arts had no grounds for controversy. It was only single celled organisms at one point. You, me, Tony Danza, George Clooney, Unsolved Mysteries, the printing press actually being invented in India—none of this mattered because it was all the same.

Then, a small union of people, young and old alike, began to shine a beacon into the abyss. We discovered that ARP! had always been there, waiting for a fish to wrap. And so it was.

Het Einde

Sunken Ships -- Remains of disasters are as intriguing as they are alienating. What picture do they paint of the past and how as our impression of it changed as technology has redefined what it means to travel? How does art travel in time and space, and what can we learn from its wreckage? And don’t forget Moby Dick!

Etymology of the word ‘review’ -- and/or - What does it mean to review art, and why do we do it? How is it necessary for artists, and how is it harmful? What could be different in the world of ‘professional artists’ (whatever this means) if the function of reviews was somehow altered? What is the function of community arts publications in this regard, and what role could they play in the future?

Make a Wish -- How does Freud’s theory of wish fulfillment relates to the visual arts in a commodified world?

Chaos Theory and Cosmology -- Both surface in analysis of systems, activities, markets, and perceptions. Who is determining what and why we feel that determinism might not be correct? Unless there is trickery that leads us to believe that the moment of experience is new, thus making festivals, celebrations, and Karnevals less confusing than the visceral mandates of human life.

How have effective systems developed? -- In what way is a river like a computer?

Mountaineering -- New worlds and opportunities always lie beyond the horizon, or at least appear to in our minds. That is to say, the limits of our vision are the very factors that encourage us to challenge that which we cannot even imagine or conceive of. The symbol and image of the mountain, in sight as well as language, has served a variety of functions across cultures and art forms, not to mention as a sport in contemporary life. Explore it on paper. Subtopic: Abysses and Peaks are not quite opposites.

Amusement Parks -- Where did the concept of leisure come from, what is the function of play, and how have evolutions in the labor market influenced our perception of entertainment? The circus, vaudeville, the cinema–popular culture, as a ‘modern phenomenon’, was unique in its birth because it existed outside of class, being so reliant on a money economy. What makes roller coasters enjoyable, and how much does intelligence and cognitive sophistication determine what we perceive to be ‘fun’? Can it be fun to work—is that the ideal of artistry? Talk about art!

Local Reality TV

Bottom of the Cornucopia -- To a new history of horizontal thinking.

Ettiquette -- What is the best way to introduce yourself? Why? The best way to say goodbye? Create a list of traditional beginning and ending phrases.