Ocula Magazine: A Pitching Guide
We’re looking for pitches for profiles, reported features, thematic essays, opinion pieces and news stories.
We will consider pitches sent to editors@ocula.com. Please clearly label your pitch as such in the subject line and keep your email succinct. Ensure you have done a clip search checking what has already been written on the subject. Tell us why this is the right time to publish this story and why you’re the person to write it. Explain who you would speak to for the piece and what access you already have. Importantly, give a clear narrative and angle.
If you haven’t written for Ocula before, please include a few lines about yourself and some links to your previous work. We commission around six weeks in advance of publication.
Conversations
Consider current, forthcoming and recent institutional exhibitions and prizes to paint a convincing picture of why this figure should be profiled now. One show at an artist’s representative gallery is not enough for us to commission an in-depth interview. Consider how the themes of the artist’s work resonate with wider narratives in the world right now, and check whether they have already been interviewed in Ocula magazine.
We are also looking to receive pitches for profiles of interesting, influential and behind-the-scenes figures who are involved in or adjacent to the artworld, such as a wildly successful auctioneer, a shadowy artist business manager or a ghost artist who makes work for a famous artist. Interviews need to take place in person so please consider location when pitching.
Past examples include Cecilia Vicuña interviewed by Rachel Connolly, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst interviewed by Ned Beauman and Maja Malou Lyse interviewed by Izabella Scott.
Reported features
Investigations into unusual or offbeat stories. We are keen to showcase grassroots, incidental and otherwise unseen examples of the visual arts in contexts that go beyond the traditional art world. This could be reporting behind the scenes at an art storage facility in Switzerland or documenting hand-painted murals in Mexico City.
We are also seeking reported features with timely news hooks, such as investigating a museum staffing dispute, exploring how changes to international trade policy could affect emerging galleries, or telling the stories of artists making work amid war.
Past examples include a report from Gerry's Pompeii parade and a feature on how Lebanon’s art scene is coping in ‘war mode’.
Thematic essays
Critical thematic essays which seek to open up and answer a particular question about the current cultural landscape. Please give at least three examples of current or forthcoming exhibitions, films, books or events which you would write about and any examples of the same theme in wider cultural contexts eg. celebrity culture or current affairs.
Past examples include why South Asian art is booming in London and the history of protest at the Venice Biennale.
Opinion pieces
Opinionated columns on topical issues such as class, gender, economics, identity, access, mental health, censorship or nationalism within the art world, as well as pieces which reflect on a new or recent release (such as an exhibition, book or film), giving a way into discussion of a bigger issue. Do some research around what has been written on this topic already, and include this context in your pitch. How does your argument advance the conversation and respond to or say something different to what other writers have said?
Past examples include Koyo Kouoh’s Death and the Politics of the Silent Black Subject, Why Fame Overseas Comes First for South African Artists and a review of this year’s Serpentine pavilion.
One Work
Short reflections on a single artwork in a current exhibition or artbook. Do you have an emotional connection to the work? How does it relate to wider social, political or cultural concerns? Be positive – or not. This is a space for critical reflection, discussion and debate.
Past examples include Domenico Gnoli’s anti-pop art bed scene and Nan Goldin’s ‘Cookie at Tin Pan Alley’.
Art Week Diaries
A subjective view on a fair and broader week of openings, as well as the goings-on around town that surround them. These should have a clear sense of personality and irreverence, and offer an insight into both the absurdity and delight of the art-world bubble and its associated parties.
Past examples include Spirituality and Sex Appeal: On the Ground at the 2026 Venice Biennale and ‘Perfect Strangers’: Goings On Around Town at Frieze London.
Got a news tip?
Ocula is keen to hear from readers who have stories that need telling, and reporters with scoops or potential leads. To get in touch, anonymously or otherwise, please email Philippa Kelly, News Editor: philippa@ocula.com. You can also reach Ocula via the encrypted messaging app, Signal: +44 077758409888.
Previous reporting includes Venice Pavilions Shutter and Protesters Clash with Police Amid Anti-Israel Action and Faced with a 300% Rent Increase, Glasgow Artists Escalate Landlord Dispute.
