Diagram Your Practice for ILSSA
February 17, 2026
A few months ago, a friend forwarded me an email of an open call to Diagram Your Practice. It was published by ILSSA, which stands for Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts. Well, I don't need much of an excuse to make a diagram, so of course I decided to participate.
I was also excited to learn of the existence of ILSSA, which describes itself as a union for reflective creative practice, focusing on the immaterial working conditions of their members. All are welcome to join, which involves subscribing to their listserv and mailing them a physical letter. They are based not too far from me in Connecticut, and the printed materials they publish are very beautiful, mainly created with letterpress and risograph. It's no surprise that the main operators are a book artist and a professor of graphic design. (Also, their website is a testament to the elegance of minimal CSS.)
In their open call to submit diagrams, they invite us to:
- Diagram your creative practice. Consider practices, processes, methods, spaces, tools, materials, sources, influences, histories, places, contexts, communities, resources... the result may be simple or complex.
- Diagram your practice as it currently is. If it is helpful, consider also speculating on how you would like it to be.
- The end is in the means: what will you discover about your practice & your process through diagramming it?
The original deadline for the diagrams has passed, but it is porous and currently extended to March 15, if anyone is interested in participating. You can view the full open call here.
For my submission, I drew a diagram in fine-tip marker on an acrylic-painted sheet of 8 * 12 inch, 3/32" thickness lauan plywood. I started with the main nodes:
- Making art
- Documentation
- Collaboration
- Contemplation
- Administration
...And then worked my way out from them / between them. Using a piece of material with a limited size kept me from going too far with this, but I could imagine continuing to explode this diagram until it was the size of a wall, over a longer time span.
I think the most interesting part that came out of this is the Venn diagram describing tools made by me vs. tools made by others. Making tools is a big part of my art practice, but that can mean a lot of things; most tools are made with (or within) other tools. I want to write more about this at some point.
Anyway, my diagram and member letter are in the mail now, and I hope they arrive safely. I look forward to seeing what future open calls ILSSA will send out in the future.
