Held on 28 Jan 2019
The programme Documents, which surveys artists’ publications, platforms, networks and independent publishing spaces, as well as archive’s potential to reinvent narratives on art and its ecosystem, centres its seventh edition on the Argentinian magazine ramona, under the guidance of its editors Gustavo Bruzzone and Kiwi Sanz.
The session, in a workshop format, seeks to playfully revise a “10+1” glossary of the key concepts to traverse ten years and 101 editions of ramona, resting its gaze on the main landmarks, rarities and novelties encircling the publication. A part of the collection of the Museo Reina Sofía’s Library and Documentation Centre, the magazine will be available as a document for reference over the course of the activity.
ramona was published in Argentina over a ten-year period, between 2000 and 2010, by the non-profit organisation the Society, Technology, Art Foundation (START) from Buenos Aires, and quickly became a vital alternative to the specialised hegemonic media in visual arts and a leading vehicle for artistic debate in Argentina. From its inception it stood apart through its commitment to imageless textual content, eschewing the formulas of academic articles and press releases, with its minimal, stark black-and-white design allowing it to serve as an accompaniment to emerging aesthetics and open up artists’ gazes and writings.
With an editorial policy agreed upon in consensus, ramona also made use of a policy of open contributions with a view to democratically and manifoldly reflecting the creative environment. Thus, more than 300 figures – artists, historians, critics, curators, collectors, gallerists, writers and researchers – contributed throughout the decade to shaping an unscripted polyphony and a unique blend of humour and experimentation in contemporary art writing.
The magazine received far-reaching acclaim, and was selected in 2006 for documenta 12 magazines, a project at the heart of Kassel’s documenta 12 (2007) which, curated by Georg Schöllhammer, invited 90 international magazines from the fields of art, culture and politics to debate the main themes in the twelfth edition.
Participants
Gustavo A. Bruzzone (Quilmes, 1958) is a collector of Argentinian contemporary art, judge and professor in the Law Department at the University of Buenos Aires. He is the co-founder, first editor and editor-in-chief of the magazine ramona.
Kiwi Sainz (Buenos Aires, 1967) is a linguist, journalist, co-founder of START, creative director of CIA (the Centre of Artistic Investigations) and editor of the magazine ramona.
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