Tania Evans, Managing Editor and Anne-Marie Jean, Publication Coordinator of Art Monthly Australia

Rebecca Cason, Business and Advertising Manager, of eyeline (Sarah Follent, Executive Editor, was attending the ‘Anti-Aesthetic vs. Beauty’ panel discussion at the time of this photo)

Georgia Thorpe, Advertising and Subscriptions Manager, Imprint

Robyn Stuart, Editor-in-Chief, and Nick Garner, Production and Direction Manager, of das Platforms that publishes das Super Paper

Okay – so I’m shamelessly plugging, flogging, whatever. But these people acted as my people during my hours of wandering around the fair, and I’m grateful to them for giving me a cozy place to sit down and rant or simply rest my feet.

Art publications are the unsung heroes of the art world. The editors and staff of these publications do what they do out of love for being in the mix of new and old ideas, artists, politics, markets and provocation. Sure, making a living comes into it, but the hours are endless in putting out a well-crafted publication that sets high standards of critical dialogue, thoughtful reporting, and art world news. 

Art mags supply the juice that feeds the circuits that run the machine. And they do so by providing space for advertising, of course. But where the real contribution comes in is in being the reliable platform for thinking, communication, imagery — all the visuals (text and pictures) that make art hum along and get out into the greater world.

Probably anyone reading this blog is familiar with these magazines and publications, so I don’t really need to go into the love/hate relationship artists have with art mags. I do want to say, however, that my dealings with Australian and American editors and staff have always been collegial and supportive. And I’ve always loved transacting business – publishing – by written word.

As you know, changes in the art world’s cultural boundaries and in artists’ ways of making art are rapidly and multifariously transforming. Publications that document the present will later form an important historical resource. And that’s right, art history is not dead, no way. It’s just that the old hierarchies are branching out in so many directions they can no longer function in terms of hegemony.

Other publications hosting booths at the fair included Art Almanac, ARTAND, Art Guide Australia, artshub, Flash Art, Photofile, Pipeline, Art Asia Pacific, Australian Financial Review, Art Collector, Artist Profile, Visual Arts and Culture Broadsheet, and Vault.