anti- (an·tī, an·tē)  prefix.
Definition: of the same kind but situated opposite, exerting energy in the opposite direction, or pursuing an opposite policy; opposing or hostile to in opinion, sympathy, or practice; serving to prevent, cure, or alleviate; combating or defending against; being or composed of antimatter

Welcome to the 2024 Anti-Romance Jam, an exploration of all the messy spaces and sensations that exist against and around romance! 

This jam exists in a deep and profoundly charged intimate rivalry with Smoochie Jam. For the purposes of this jam, we invite you to think of anti-romance as a spectrum and a series of questions:

• Is anti-romance the opposite of romance, its absence, or something else entirely? Are these things mutually exclusive?
• Can anti-romance coexist with romance? Must it? How?
• If music be the food of love, what feeds (or devours) anti-love?
• Who does anti-romance look like?
• Is anti-romance a resistance, subversion, or reclamation? 
  • How does it do what it does?
• What's 🎶 love 🎶 got to do — got to do with it?

Answer/challenge/dissect/discard these ideas in any way that gets your heart beating.

Details & Rules

• Solo- and team-created submissions allowed
•  All kinds of games, art, and other media are encouraged 
  • Including but not limited to: interactive & kinetic/dynamic fiction or poetry; visual novels; TTRPGs; academic essays; zines; scripts; fiction; visual art; etc.
• NSFW content allowed with appropriate content warnings and categorisation included
• Previously published work?
  • Revisiting an old flame of a project is encouraged, so long as there is something new involved. This could include translations, substantial edits or expansions, adaptations, etc. If you aren't sure if your idea would be eligible, feel free to ask here or on the discord!
• Multiple entries (up to a maximum of 3 per creator)
• For the duration of the jam submission period and two weeks immediately following, submissions should be free to play.
• All submissions must be related to anti-romance in some way; spam entries and hateful content will be removed.
• Submissions must not contain AI-generated content of any kind.

The jam will open for submissions at midnight on 20 May 2024 and will close on 22 July 2024 (2:00 AM PST; please check above for your local timezone).

Discord | Share on tumblr (#AntiRomance2024) 

Inspiration Flowers & Jam Palettes (optional)

Want to jam but looking for a little inspiration? Here's a bouquet; smell the flowers, rip the petals off, toss 'em in a blender, or hang them up to dry: whatever gets the brain juices flowing. (If you're looking for love, it's in all the wrong places.)

💮  erotomania

💮 “It was personal. Of course it was. It had everything to do with who we are."

💮  "Consumption was a disease of love, desire and — regrettably on occasions — death." (Lawlor, C. (2007). Consumption and Love Melancholy: The Renaissance Tradition. In: Consumption and Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625747_2)

💮  "I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table." - Tupac Shakur

💮 Though I know my heart would break / I'd tell them "Put me back in it" (Hozier, Francesca)

💮 "Remorse is the poison of life." (Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.)

💮 "If we were really in love, you wouldn't have missed." (Goncharov, 1973)

2024 anti-romance jam palettes! Usage encouraged but not required. Colours selected from (inverting) the Anastasia Beverly Hills "Fall Romance" eyeshadow palette