It has been 35 years since the Clash wondered if they should stay or they should go, but the question is still pertinent: whether as an order, permission, or act of defiance, go to stay means an option between a blind leap for change and finding your ground.

Change provides the opportunity for mutation, rebirth, reinventing oneself in a hopeful leap of faith; but it also may mean ruin and annihilation as it inevitably begins with letting go of the current time and place. On the other hand, to stay is not necessarily a passive surrender to the status quo: it is also a process of creating roots and constructing bases for the architecture of being, of becoming.

Novelty's 5th issue is dedicated to the theme 'Go to stay'. We're looking at the summer days ahead as ones of hope and dread, as we embrace or wilfully opt for change or struggle for equilibrium and finding one’s footing on our own grounds.
Ultimately, this issue is about movement, idleness, wandering and getting lost.

Novelty is a quarterly online magazine interested in fresh perspectives on unconventional themes. Each issue focuses on an unusual theme, exploring it through essays, articles, columns, fiction, photography, music, illustration, visual arts, video and animation.

Novelty is launching an Open Call to all art forms.

As always, we are open to all interpretations of the theme and means of expressing them. The aim is to challenge collaborators to delve into the topic by looking at it with fresh eyes, offering a personal perspective. Like your regular conversations with friends – we go into a topic and we never know where it will end up.

See our concept cloud for further inspiration and go to http://noveltymag.co.uk/submissions/">http://noveltymag.co.uk/submissions/ to apply. Deadline is 4th August at midnight.

So, are you joining the conversation? Let's get talking.