10/07/2026
AI/CC Monthly Challenge October 2026 | THRESHOLD
Before Halloween became costumes, pumpkins and trick-or-treating, the end of October was already a time of mystery.
In traditions surrounding the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, the turning toward winter marked a powerful seasonal threshold. Later folklore associated this time with encounters with the supernatural, while Christian traditions of All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day brought their own rituals of remembrance and the dead.
Across centuries, these traditions evolved, intertwined and travelled — eventually becoming part of what we now recognize as Halloween.
But behind the masks and lanterns remains an ancient fascination:
What happens at the boundary between worlds?
For October, AI/CC invites you to explore THRESHOLD.
Imagine the moment when the familiar world begins to change.
▪︎ A doorway appears where none existed before.
▪︎ The dead return.
▪︎ A forgotten ritual opens something that should have remained closed.
▪︎ An ancestor leaves a message.
▪︎ A creature from folklore steps into the present.
▪︎ A human crosses into another realm — and returns transformed.
▪︎ Or perhaps the threshold is not a place at all, but a moment between identities, realities, dreams, memories, life and death.
Draw inspiration from Halloween traditions, ancient folklore, mythology, seasonal rituals, supernatural beliefs or your own imagined worlds.
Your work can be eerie, beautiful, ritualistic, surreal, cinematic, spiritual or deeply unsettling.
▪︎ Look beyond the familiar symbols of Halloween.
▪︎ Go back to the mystery beneath them.
▪︎ Stand at the threshold.
What waits on the other side?
Share your work on Instagram and:
▪︎ Send your submission to [email protected]
▪︎ Follow and
▪︎ Tag
▪︎ Mention AI/CC THRESHOLD Challenge in your caption
▪︎ Include and
Tell us about the idea behind your work. We want to discover your interpretation of the threshold.
