CFP: Mutant Landscapes: Practices, Aesthetics, and Representation in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

The international journal Miguel Hernández Communication Journal announces a call for papers for the special issue "Mutant Landscapes: Practices, Aesthetics, and Representation in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture." This issue invites researchers and academics to submit articles analyzing aesthetic, narrative, and technological transformations in contemporary audiovisual culture. The deadline for the submission of full manuscripts (via the journal's platform) is April 1, 2026.

Contemporary audiovisual culture is characterized by its dynamism and the convergence of diverse languages, platforms, and formats that redefine the production, distribution, and reception of content. In this context, aesthetic and narrative practices are not only instruments of representation but also spaces for the construction of identity, memory, and cultural experience. Technological transformations—ranging from digital visual effects to the integration of algorithms and artificial intelligence—have opened new possibilities for experimentation and the hybridization of genres, formats, and audiences, redefining the role of the spectator and the modes of participation within digital communities.

This special issue seeks to explore these phenomena through a critical, interdisciplinary, and reflective approach, considering both the artistic/formal dimension and the social/cultural one. We especially value works that examine how processes of globalization, transculturation, and technological mediation shape new narratives and aesthetics, as well as those studying the impact of these transformations on audiences and the construction of identities in local and global contexts.

Research Questions and Areas of Interest

Issues to be addressed in this monograph include, but are not limited to:

How are aesthetic and narrative strategies evolving across different audiovisual formats, from series and cinema to performance and digital platform content?
What role do new technologies, visual effects, and artificial intelligence play in the creation, mediation, and reception of audiovisual content?
In what ways are identities, representations of subjectivities, and cultural imaginaries reconfigured through contemporary audiovisual culture?
How do digital platforms, social media, and other media environments influence audience construction, participation, and content reception?
What tensions arise between the global standardization of audiovisual practices and local or regional singularization?
How does aesthetic and affective mediation occur in content that combines narrative tradition with formal experimentation?
What new forms of hybridization of genres, formats, and audiovisual languages are emerging in the current context?

Priority Research Lines:

Aesthetics and formal evolution in different audiovisual genres.
Transmedia narratives, hybridization, and narrative experimentation.
The impact of technology and artificial intelligence on audiovisual production and reception.
Representation of identities, bodies, and subjectivities in contemporary audiovisual culture.
Globalization, transculturation, and the circulation of aesthetic and narrative models.
Reception, active audiences, and fan communities in digital environments.
Marketing, mediation, and communication strategies on audiovisual platforms.

Keywords: Audiovisual aesthetics, contemporary narrative, new technologies, identity, cultural representation, digital media, audiences, transmedia.

Inquiries: For questions regarding the suitability of a proposal, please contact Rocío Cifuentes Albeza (rcifuentes@umh.es) or Francisco de la Coba Tena (francisco.coba@goumh.umh.es).

Author Guidelines: https://revistas.innovacionumh.es/index.php/mhcj/about/submissions

Rocío Cifuentes Albeza Tenured Professor (Profesora Permanente Laboral) in the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at Miguel Hernández University (UMH). She holds a PhD accreditation (Contratada Doctora) and a Degree in Fine Arts from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). Member of the Research Group "Observatory of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising" (OCAP, UMH) with one recognized six-year research period (sexenio). Her research focuses on the functions of the image and communication design, ranging from contemporary visual identity practices to new paradigms in advertising. Her academic work integrates the critical analysis of cinema with the study of structures and narratives in new formats. A specialist in the convergence of technology and culture, she investigates virtual reality systems and cultural-ludic applications in video games and interactive audiovisual products.

Francisco de la Coba Tena PhD candidate in the Social and Legal Sciences Program, specializing in Communication, Journalism, and Society. He holds a Degree in Journalism from Cardenal Herrera-CEU University. His research focuses on the role of media in the integration processes of migrant communities, with a special emphasis on the Spanish and Latin American diaspora in the United Kingdom and the study of the newspaper El Ibérico Gratuito as a case of community media abroad. He is the founder and editor of El Ibérico Gratuito, a Spanish-language media outlet for the Hispanic community in the UK, through which he has developed editorial projects, cultural initiatives, and communication strategies aimed at the diaspora.