Forthcoming Issues

No. 26. Marcel Duchamp issue - Call for contributions

From spring 2026 onwards a major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp will be shown in three iterations at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Grand Palais, Paris. Given such a significant re-evaluation (it has been billed as the first North American Duchamp retrospective in over fifty years) the journal Dada/ Surrealism has decided, for the second time in its history, to devote a special issue to this major figure of Dada and surrealism.

As well as publishing one or more substantial reviews of the retrospective and its implications for the overall positioning of Duchamp in twentieth century art, we will be looking to publish significant new critical approaches to Duchamp and new advances in scholarship. Broadly speaking it is the Duchamp who was tangentially, but decisively, connected to Dada and surrealism that we aim to concentrate on. However, aspects of his legacy will also be considered, especially in so far as they have post-Dada/surrealist connections (e.g. Duchamp’s importance for Fluxus, Nouveaux Réalisme, Situationism, 1960s counter-cultures, etc). Duchamp’s relationship to artistic support systems (dealers, critics, galleries, historians, etc) is a topic that especially invites re-consideration; likewise the various milieus in which he operated, or with which he had connections, later in his career (e.g. Paris, Milan, London, as well as the USA).

Possible contributions might focus on neglected areas of Duchamp scholarship: for example new accounts of relatively neglected readymades and assisted readymades; relatively unexplored themes in his work (legal issues; artisanal connections; his output in terms of graphics and posters, etc.); interpretative angles responding to contemporary debates (e.g. transsexualism; ecology); and so on. It should be emphasized that these are simply suggestions, and we are open to any scholarship that advances our appreciation of Duchamp as artist/anti-artist/anartist. All methodologies and styles of exposition are welcome.

Submissions for this special issue  should be sent by email to Professor David Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of Glasgow, UK (david.hopkins@glasgow.ac.uk), with CC to timothy-shipe@uiowa.edu, by 30 September 2026. However, exhibition reviews that focus on the Philadelphia or Paris venues may be submitted up to a month following the openings in those locations. (Unfortunately, we cannot fund travel to the exhibition). A CV and note of institutional affiliation should be included, but please note that postgraduates as well as established academics and researchers are encouraged to submit. 

Dada/Surrealism uses MLA 9th edition and U.S. spelling and grammar for its house style. Initial submissions may use any bibliographic format, but following peer review, authors of accepted articles will be expected to prepare revisions conforming to house style. 

Those intending to write an article for this issue are encouraged (but not required) to submit a tentative abstract of no more than 800 words no later than 30 May, so that we may assess whether the proposed topic falls within the scope of our special issue. Approval of an abstract does not necessarily imply acceptance of the completed article, which will undergo double-blind peer review.