Magazine de Arte is one of the leading art magazines in Spain. It is a magazine that provides a focus on the art market, reports about contemporary art exhibitions and art fairs from around the world, articles about new artists as well as about the most famous artists in contemporary art. The magazine also offers a wide range of interviews with artists. In addition, the magazine has a very careful design. After a parenthesis, the magazine came back to life in 1968.
Since then, the magazine has continued to develop and maintain its position in the field of arts publications. It is one of the few art magazines that combines high level cultural journalism with a critical vision of the most important events in contemporary art. The magazine is a must-read for art collectors, curators and all those interested in the latest developments in contemporary art.
It is easy to confuse magazines about the visual arts with art publications. There is a tradition of artists who have produced artist-run magazines as well as artists’ editions in which the publication functions as the artwork itself. These works are not, however, comparable with the type of publication which has been referred to as ‘artists’ magazines’ or’magazine art’. The latter is a category which has been used to identify certain types of works which, in the ’60s and later, were produced by artists as part of their artistic practice and addressed issues surrounding publishing and the role of art in the mass media.
Amongst these, some dealt with the issue of the Magazine de Arte relation between the object and its reproduction or questioned the role of the artwork in the context of the ’60s. These artists replaced the traditional intermediaries between themselves, their work and its public. The magazines that they produced, whether they focused on the visual arts or not, were another means for these artists to disseminate their work and to reach a wider audience.
Today, magazines that deal with the arts continue to play an essential role in presenting and discussing new art. They are a valuable source of information about current art trends and offer a platform for debate. They are the ideal medium for promoting young and emerging artists as well as renowned and established ones. In addition, the specialized magazines can be found at the leading international art fairs such as ArtsLibris in Barcelona, ARCOmadrid and ARCOlisboa and are distributed worldwide. In a time in which the consolidated art market and a greater awareness of digital media are increasingly important, art magazines provide a vital link between the worlds of contemporary culture and the mass media. They are also an important forum for discussions on the role of art in society and the place of art in the media and in the private lives of individuals. This is especially true of magazines which are devoted to the fields of the contemporary art scene, but not exclusively so.