aAh! – your arts and culture magazine

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Welcome to the next print edition of aAh! Magazine.

Every issue we publish is based around a single word.

This time it’s…

S P A C E

We are looking for:

• Cover-Art Competition – submit high a resolution image of your work responding to the theme. Everything is welcome – illustration, photography, graphic design, fine-art etc. The most SPACE-like will be featured.
• Flash fiction/Poetry – responding to the theme SPACE. We encourage tenuous links. Surprise us. 350 words/40 lines.
• Featured Artists – a spotlight on a visual artist. Submit up to ten images and we will pick our favourites to be featured throughout the magazine. Fine artists of all practices welcome – illustrators, photographers and graphic designers. Send us a brief bio and explanation of how your work relates to the theme SPACE.
• Self Portrait – take this however you like. It could be a literal portrait, a painting, a sculpture, a found object – anything that captures your inner SPACE.

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We are also looking for design and illustration based around our featured articles in the SPACE issue:

1) Astrovirology: Coronavirus in Outer Space

The search for life on other planets with inevitably involve alien viruses. How would they relate to lifeforms on Earth? Can the coronavirus pandemic teach us anything about how we treat them?

2) Astrology: What Your Star Sign Says About What Type of MMU Student You Are

Comedy piece. Are you late to every lecture in GM? The life of the party? Do you submit your assignments three months early? Your star sign will tell you.

3) The Future is Green: 8 Tips For Conserving Our Environmental Spaces

Tips including recycling, using public transport and using sustainable brands.

4) Feature: Political Spaces, Conflict, War and International Relations

TBC – any work related to the theme will be considered.

5) Spooky Spaces: The Reason That Buildings Seem Haunted Could All Be Down to ‘Para-Design’

Researchers at MMU take people into ‘haunted’ locations and conduct experiments on how the shape, size and lighting of a room can influence whether people believe in the paranormal.

6) Old and New: The Architectural Divide in Manchester

Analysing the debate between those who value traditional, historical buildings in Manchester, and those who want to see development of modern spaces. Interviews with architects.

7) From Japan to Manchester: How I Utilise My Spaces More Effectively

Experience piece about how living in a ‘box apartment’ in Japan causes someone to see student accommodation in Manchester differently.

8) Interview: Manchester’s History

Interview with Michala Hulme, a local historian, discussing the importance of Manchester’s cultural heritage.

9) Women’s Spaces

Best spaces for Women in Manchester, how they work etc.

10) Fashion: Little bags

Analysis of the latest ‘little bags’ trend and interviews with students and designers.

11) Fashion: Interview with Fallowfield students about the latest styles

Photo essay and interview. Which style? Why?

12) Spaces Between Races

Experience piece highlighting how ‘imposter syndrome’ can affect BAME students and leave them feeling isolated at university.

13) Feature: Finding Space in Relationships

TBC – any work related to the theme will be considered.

14) Headspace: You Are Your Environment

How tidying your room and cleaning up your routine has positive impacts on your mental health.

15) Finding Your Inner Space

Tips and tricks to finding rest and relaxation in everyday life, in order to ease anxiety etc.

16) Imaginary Spaces: Why, In a Time of Political Turmoil, Does American Writer Charles Bain Look to Manchester for Inspiration?

Interview with Charles Bain, author of fantasy comic books. He discusses the similarities between English and American politics, and how discontent influences his creative work.

17) Film Review: An Exploration of Life and Loneliness in Ad Astra

Review of the film, and how recent space-themed films (Interstellar, Gravity) explore the depths of the human spirit in the vacuum of space.

18) Rising Star: “Music Was The Thing That Helped Me Understand Myself”

Interview with Grace Carter, discussing her friendship with Lewis Capaldi, touring with Dua Lipa and the Teletubbies.

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Submissions for all categories should be sent to aAh.editor@gmail.com. Please make sure to include your name and category of submission in the body of your email.