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Image 2: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2020), "21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual". Photo: © Kaj Lehmann.

A chequered picnic blanket with a bowl of strawberries; in front of it, the back of a postcard with text; next to it, a few postcards shown from the front; the front covers of ‘21: Inquiries’ can be seen on the front of the postcards.

The first print edition of the journal, photographed against a backdrop of yellow flowers.

We look forward to receiving new submissions, welcoming new authors, guest editors, and peer reviewers, and to everything that lies ahead! #21inquiries #arthistory #openaccess #diamondopenaccess #academicpublishing #openscience

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Special thanks to Kaj Lehmann for the graphic design of our journal and to the team at @arthistoricum.bsky.social for the excellent collaboration and technical support.

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A great milestone for our journal – and a wonderful occasion to thank everyone who is helping to make an open scholarly exchange possible by writing, reviewing, reading and discussing for @21inquiries.bsky.social!

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Together with 248 authors, we have published 108 articles, 113 reviews (including eight exhibition reviews), and eleven contributions to the "Debate" section across 23 issues (including ten special issues).

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

We are turning 6 today! 🎉 Six years ago, our very first issue was published: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... Since then, 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual has been published consistently in Diamond Open Access.

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Our issue 1/2026 features a selection of six book reviews by Romedio Schmitz-Esser, Edhem Eldem, Max Boersma, Pedith Pui Chan and Hanni Geiger: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #21inquiries #arthistory #visualculture #bookreview #arthistoryreviews #diamondopenaccess #scholarled #academicpublishing

Four covers of books reviewed in the journal.

Two covers of books reviewed in the journal.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Lia von Arx and Nora Lardon invite readers to revisit the Zentrum Paul Klee's exhibition "Anni Albers. Constructing Textiles" (November 2025 - February 2026) through their review published in our issue no. 1/2026. Continue reading online: doi.org/10.11588/xxi...

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Allison Stielau visited the exhibition "Schatzfunde – versteckt, verschollen, entdeckt" at the Historisches Museum Basel and wrote a review about it for our Spring Issue 1/2026: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... The exhibition is still on until 28 June 2026: www.hmb.ch/ausstellunge...

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It invites scholars not to offer isolated contributions, but to engage in a sustained dialogue across disciplinary, regional, and epistemic boundaries, and to develop such exchanges as a methodological principle for art history. Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis, with no fixed deadline.

Call for Papers | 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual

The project aims to bring together scholars and artists with different regional and disciplinary perspectives in a series of constructive, self-reflexive dialogues, unfolding in continuous relation to one another.

doi.org

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Discover the CfP for a new, exciting dialogue series on “Pluriversal Openings. Relational Thinking and Art Historical Practice” by Birgit Hopfener, Lena Bader, Mona Schieren & Monica Juneja in our spring issue 1/26! doi.org/10.11588/xxi...

Small Formations as Logistic Inversions | 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual

It argues that techniques by Robert Walser, Franz Kafka, Anni Albers, Léna Meyer-Bergner, and Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt function as "logistic inversions": embodied acts thwarting the hegemony of standardized code. Would you like to find out more about this topic? 🔍 Continue reading online (link in bio).

doi.org

Challenging narratives of linear progress, Sandra Neugärtner's article "Small Formations as Logistic Inversions. The Trace and Alternating Knots as Critique of Administrative Rationality" analyzes resistance against administrative rationality through the "small formation" paradigm.

Dense text forming a textile, lying mostly flat with one big, flowing fold on the right.

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Isabell Franconi's article "Mediale Grenzgänge. Aushandlungen von Autorschaft in fotografischen Selbstporträts des 19. Jahrhunderts" examines how nineteenth-century photographers negotiated authorship under these technical constraints. Continue reading online doi.org/10.11588/xxi... (🔗 link in bio).

Eight 19th-century photographers pictured with their cameras. Image: Numa Verdier, Constantin et Cie., Roth fils Mouret and unknown photographers, Photographers with their Cameras (1860–1880), in the public domain.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

From the 1840s until the late 1890s, it was – except when photographing one's own reflection – technically impossible to stand in front of the camera and operate it simultaneously. Nevertheless, photographic self-portraits have survived since the public introduction of the daguerreotype in 1839.

A black-and-white photograph of a man’s head in a special mirror: the head appears in a larger circle in the centre, surrounded by ten smaller circular images of the same head. Image: Charles Nègre, Self-Portrait in the Witch’s Mirror (1845), in the public domain.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

In addition to articles by Isabell Franconi & Sandra Neugärtner and reviews of two exhibitions and six books, this issue features an exciting CfP on “Pluriversal Openings. Relational Thinking and Art Historical Practice”. If this sounds like something for you, get in touch: 21-inquiries@unibe.ch!

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Just published: @21inquiries.bsky.social's spring issue issue #1-2026! 🔗Find the PDF/HTML of the issue open access here: doi.org/10.11588/xxi.... Cover and graphic design by kajlehmann.ch. #21inquiries #arthistory #openaccess #diamond #academicpublishing #scholarled #bookreview #exhibitionreview

Yellow journal issue cover with an Aztec numeral for "21".

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Featuring research articles by Alex Potts, Joe Bucciero, Julia Secklehner, Perrin M. Lathrop, Daniel Spaulding, and Thomas Hughes, alongside eight book reviews and a review of the ongoing exhibition in the Kunstsammlung NRW “Queere Moderne 1900 bis 1950”:

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Out now!🎉 Just in time for the holidays: @21inquiries.bsky.social's double issue 3/25 & 4/25 on “Pictorial Realism and Time. Early Modern to Now”, edited by Thomas Hughes & Rachel Stratton💫 🔗Read the open access PDF/HTML/XML Part I & II here: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... & doi.org/10.11588/xxi....

Leuven University Press @leuvenup.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Reposted by 21inquiries

Book Review of 📘 'Women, Art, Freedom: Artists and Street Politics in Iran', Pamela Karimi @21inquiries.bsky.social 📖 Read the full review 👉 doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #IranianArt #WomenArtists #womenlifefreedom #BookReview

What Karimi’s study ultimately demonstrates is that, even in the face of a grim political reality, activist art in Iran has continually reinvented itself for decades, embracing new and creative forms of resistance. - Verena Straub, 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Published today! Our Summer issue #2-25 - with an orbituary by Ursula Frohne for our co-founder Michael F. Zimmermann, an article "On Leisure and Limbo. Adriatic Nodes of Tourism and Migration" by Hanni Geiger, an exhibition review & 7 book reviews: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #ArtHistory #OpenAccess

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

@21inquiries.bsky.social's summer issue #2-25 is coming soon! With an obituary for our co-founder Michael F. Zimmermann, an article by Hanni Geiger on "Adriatic Nodes of Tourism and Migration", an exhibition review, and many book reviews. More here: 21-inquiries.eu/en/preview #ArtHistory #OpenAccess

Cover for "21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual"'s summer issue. The cover is illustrated with a thermometer showing 21 degrees Celsius.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Out now! Spring issue #1-25 of @21inquiries.bsky.social, with articles on board games in 17th-century France, the 19th-century painter Johann Moritz Rugendas’ "Voyage Pittoresque dans le Brésil", and on climate activism in museums: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #ArtHistory #DiamondOpenAccess

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Spring issue #1-25 of @21inquiries.bsky.social in preparation and coming soon, with articles by Sasha Rossman, Miguel Gaete Caceres, and Marlene Militz, an exhibition review and five book reviews. Sneak preview on our website: 21-inquiries.eu/en/preview #ArtHistory #OpenAccess

21-inquiries.eu

21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual

Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte und visuellen Kultur

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Find the full text open access (PDF/HTML) here: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #openaccess #arthistory #StellaKramrisch #IndianArt #Transculturation

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Just published - in time for the holidays and highly recommended as an exciting read: @21inquiries.bsky.social's issue #4-2024💫 A special issue on "Stella Kramrisch and the Transculturation of Art History", ed. by Matthew Vollgraff & Jo Ziebritzki: doi.org/10.11588/xxi...

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Coming soon! Exciting special issue on "Stella Kramrisch and the Transculturation of Art History" in preparation, ed. by Matthew Vollgraff & Jo Ziebritzki - get a first impression here: 21-inquiries.eu/en/preview With four articles, an "Archival Dossier", seven book reviews and an exhibition review!

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

... 21: Inquiries is also on Instagram: instagram.com/21inquiries/ and Threads: threads.net/@21inquiries

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

"21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual" is now on LinkedIn! linkedin.com/company/21-i... Follow us there and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to be informed about all our activities and upcoming issues: 21-inquiries.eu/en/newsletter

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

Published today! Fall issue #3/24 of @21inquiries.bsky.social, with articles by Caroline van Eck, Aaron M. Hyman, Marina Gerber, Leena Crasemann & Anne Röhl, lots of images - and four book reviews: doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2024.3 #arthistory #openaccess #globalarthistory

Cover for #issue 3/24 of 21: Inquiries: https://doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2024.3 (illustration: three dominoes whose eyes add up to the number 21).

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 09/09/2024

The "Placing the first pillar" of the "new Crystal Palace, Sydenham", London (1852). Find more on this special building - a legacy of the Great Exhibition of 1851 - in Andreas Fahrmeir's contribution in @21inquiries.bsky.social's special issue on world exhibitions: doi.org/10.11588/xxi...

Anonym, The new Crystal Palace, Sydenham. Placing the first pillar, 1852, Papier, in: Illustrated London News, 14.08.1852 © Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy Stock Photo.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 09/09/2024

We are preparing @21inquiries.bsky.social's autumn issue #3-24! 🍂 Check out our website for a sneak preview: 21-inquiries.eu/en/preview #ArtHistory #OpenAccess

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 06/08/2024

Notre nouveau numéro spécial rassemble des articles sur le thème des "expositions universelles" sous des angles très différents. Ils sont présentés individuellement dans les deux éditoriaux (allemand/français) : doi.org/10.11588/xxi... et doi.org/10.11588/xxi....

Pavillon de la Tunisie construit pour l'exposition coloniale de 1907. Sources : Carte postale du CIRAD - © Photo Nathalie Tirot.

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 06/08/2024

Our new special issue brings together articles on "World Exhibitions" from very different perspectives. They are presented individually in the two editorials (German/French) - always a good starting point for a first overview: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... and doi.org/10.11588/xxi...

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 12/07/2024

Out now! @21inquiries.bsky.social's special issue #2–2024 "Welten ausstellen, Welten ordnen (19.–21. Jahrhundert)/Mondes exposés, mondes ordonnés (XIXe–XXIe siècles)", ed. by A. Haß & C. Trautmann-Waller: doi.org/10.11588/xxi... #openaccess #arthistory #expositionuniverselle

Cover: https://doi.org/10.11588/xxi.2024.2

21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

@21inquiries.bsky.social in Lyon at the "Salon du Livre" of the 36ème Congrès du CIHA! Huge thanks to our fantastic colleagues from @arthistoricum.bsky.social for displaying our bookmarks #CIHA2024 #CIHA #Lyon #arthistory #openaccess

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21inquiries @21inquiries.bsky.social · 13/06/2024

Coming soon! New special issue on: "Welten ausstellen, Welten ordnen (19.–21. Jahrhundert)/Mondes exposés, mondes ordonnés (XIXe–XXIe siècles)", ed. by Annika Haß & Céline Trautmann-Waller: 21-inquiries.eu/en/preview #Weltausstellungen #Expositionsuniverselles #OpenAccess

Cover design by Alex Balgiu (http://designingwriting.com/); graphic design by Kaj Lehmann (https://kajlehmann.ch/).