  Let $M$ be a fixed compact oriented embedded submanifold of a manifold
$\overline{M}$. Consider the volume $\mathcal{V} (\overline{g}) = \int_M
\mathsf{vol}_{(M, g)}$ as a functional of the ambient metric $\overline{g}$ on
$\overline{M}$, where $g = \overline{g}|_M$. We show that $\overline{g}$ is a
critical point of $\mathcal{V}$ with respect to a special class of variations
of $\overline{g}$, obtained by varying a calibration $\mu$ on $\overline{M}$ in
a particular way, if and only if $M$ is calibrated by $\mu$. We do not assume
that the calibration is closed. We prove this for almost complex, associative,
coassociative, and Cayley calibrations, generalizing earlier work of Arezzo-Sun
in the almost K\"ahler case. The Cayley case turns out to be particularly
interesting, as it behaves quite differently from the others. We also apply
these results to obtain a variational characterization of Smith maps.
