DI: Rectangle
Call for Participation
DesignInquiry and Directangle Press invite you to participate in DI: Rectangle, a collaborative publishing initiative that will take place over an investigation of collective research and culminate in a series of publications and a two-day symposium in Bethlehem, NH. The symposium will be open to the public and will take place at Directangle Press and various locations in Bethlehem from July 31st - August 1st, 2026.
Join us as we investigate the concept and form of The Rectangle, presented as both a constraint and creative catalyst. Rectangles shape how we see, organize, create, communicate, and publish. Their ubiquity renders them nearly invisible, transparent containers for content rather than active participants in meaning-making.
Instead, consider The Rectangle in relation to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (1986) — as a thing that holds something else, a bag/belly/box/house/medicine bundle, a tool that brings energy home.
The Rectangle, a ubiquitous geometric form, is not a transparent vessel subordinate to content, but rather an active collaborator in meaning-making. We invite investigation into how this seemingly neutral carrier, “the container for the things contained” (Le Guin) actually shapes seeing, thinking, organizing, and communicating — determining what can be gathered, how elements relate to one another, what stories become possible to tell, and what it means to be human.
“If it is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or beautiful, into a bag, or a basket, or a bit of rolled bark or leaf, or a net woven of your own hair, or what have you, and then take it home with you, home being another, larger kind of pouch or bag, a container for people, and then later on you take it out and eat it or share it or store it up for winter in a solider container or put it in the medicine bundle or the shrine or the museum, the holy place, the area that contains what is sacred, and then next day you probably do much the same again — if to do that is human, if that’s what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time.”
Let us collectively reframe the frame.
How to ParticipateWe ask for contributions in the form of an edition of 10 prints, zines, small books, visual investigations, essays, and/or objects in response to the theme of The Rectangle. If you aren’t able to contribute a finished edition, we can help facilitate the production of your contribution. We will then release a limited edition portfolio of 10 complete deluxe sets featuring original contributions from all participants, accompanied by a high-quality Risograph facsimile book, an accessible print-on-demand edition, and a downloadable PDF facsimile.
All proceeds support DesignInquiry Fellowships, funding creative practitioners from underrepresented backgrounds. This year’s DI Fellows will be featured in the editions and present at the symposium.
To participate, complete and submit THIS FORM by March 1st, 2026 and we will be in touch! All contribution submissions must be recieved by May 1st, 2026.
We welcome your contributions and look forward to seeing you!
Important InformationDeadline for submitting participation form: March 1st, 2026
Deadline for contribution submission: May 1st, 2026
Symposium dates: July 31st—August 1st, 2026
Symposium location: Directangle Press, Bethlehem, NH
Participation form: https://forms.gle/oPGtNVrYBAj1rkvR7
Contact: info@designinquiry.net
DesignInquiry is a non-profit collective exploring the intersection of design, art, and cultural discourse through immersive group experiences and creative research.
Directangle Press is a letterpress, Risograph, printmaking, and book-arts studio located in Bethlehem, NH that provides dedicated time and space for artists to research, create, and collaborate.