ISSUE 03

BACKSTAGE

PASS

Keywords: behind-the-scenes, process, labor, access, intimate, production, set, craft, status. 

For the third issue, ETUI is pulling back the curtains and inviting you backstage.

Do you want access?

Spanning fashion, art, music, theater, in any kind of onstage production, a backstage pass can be an object of fascination. It plays into the fantasy of entering an exclusive space reserved for a select few. At the same time, it’s the mundane credentials to access a working environment for the crew who tend to the stage and run the show. 

Backstage exists both as a space of possibility and constraint. It's a space that is situated between the private and the public, between the raw, the unfinished, the “not yet there”, and the perfect, polished front, a fantastic façade of dreams and desires. It is carefully coordinated with clearly defined hierarchies, beating to the rhythm of a master’s drum, providing ground for expression but only within a carefully confined set of predefined rules. It involves what eventually becomes visible while remaining largely unseen itself.

On the other hand, the backstage also performs a sort of dreamlike function, just like the front. Everybody who is a part of it is, in a sense, “in”, even if just for a brief moment. Behind every backstage, a myriad of others exist, where the origins of materials and the workforce remain largely unknown. It is therefore also a place of privilege, even when the work itself hardly qualifies as such. With an assurance of “no money, but great exposure”, to be backstage is to acquire a certain status, one that can provoke envy by those even further removed from the front. 

To think of the backstage is to focus on the process. It’s the before, during and after. It’s the countless mistakes, the overthinking, the sheer exhaustion, and the sweat inherent in anything human-made.

This issue opens broader questions on what’s concealed, exploring the connections and desires that lie at the heart of any meaningful creative work.

Send in your submissions via email to etuimagazine@gmail.com until December 18th 2026. We accept all forms of original visual and textual work, including more experimental formats. Use the theme and keywords for inspiration but feel free to interpret them in your own way.

Text submissions should range from 500 to 3000 words.

You can contact us through DM or email with any questions or ideas for submissions; we’re always happy to chat!