Call for Papers: Final Deadline for Publication in June 2012:  1st December 2011 (earlier submissions are welcome), 09:00 GMT, 01.12.2011

The Olympics is without doubt a highly visual phenomenon, from spectacular opening ceremonies to iconic depictions of athletic bodies in motion to the photo-finish. Yet seductive as these iconic and spectacular images may be, they show us only one view of the Olympic phenomenon. Many other perspectives and many other images can and should be made to explore the multiple layers of this complex global event and its impact on the people and places affected by the powerful social, political and cultural forces it condenses.  To coincide with the London 2012 Olympics, Visual Studies in conjunction with the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths will publish a visually-led special issue consisting of photo-essays and written contributions. We therefore invite submissions that extend our social vision of this global event and the repertoire of images typically used for its representation, exploring its impact on individuals, communities and the urban environment. We are interested in submissions that explore these issues for previous Olympic cities as well as London 2012.

We are specifically inviting two types of submission: photo-essays and short written papers (with or without illustrations): Photo-essays should consist of coherent combinations of photographs and text exploring a specific issue or theme: approximately 6-12 images accompanied by captions and/or additional written commentary/analysis. A greater number of images may be possible where layout considerations allow the use of multiple images per page. Images and text should represent a coherent whole, and submissions should indicate intended layout. The focus of submissions could include, but is not limited to, the following indicative list:

• Everyday life and the Olympics
• Urban transformation and the Olympics
• Documentary studies of communities affected by Olympic development
• Global dimensions of the Olympics
• Visual narratives of the Olympics
• Social and political responses to the Olympics
• The construction and performance of national cultural identities

Written papers should be in the range of 1000-4000 words and reflect on the production of Olympic cities and the Olympics as a visual event. Written submissions may be illustrated where appropriate. The Special Issue will be published in June 2012 (Vol. 27 No.2) to coincide with the Games. We also envisage that further photo-essays may be produced in the immediate run-up to and during London 2012 and submissions after the Games will be considered for publication in a later issue of the journal.

Editorial team: Darren Newbury (Editor of Visual Studies), Peter Coles (Visiting Fellow at CUCR), Paul Halliday (Research Associate at CUCR) and Caroline Knowles (Head of CUCR).

All submissions should be submitted via the journal online submission system (www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rvst), clearly indicating the call. All submissions will go through a review and selection process.

Technical Criteria for Photo-Essay Submissions: For the purposes of review, low resolution images should be submitted, preferably combined into a single document (e.g. PDF) with a maximum file size of 2 megabytes, or sequenced and named using the following format: FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME_01.jpg, FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME_02.jpg , etc.  High-resolution files (300dpi) in TIFF or JPEG format must be available for publication. Please direct any queries to the editor:darren.newbury@bcu.ac.uk.