Episode 4: Ben Eastham
Publishing has been a fundamental pillar of contemporary art’s existence. Whether as incubators for mythology-building; or becoming settings for communities to emerge, art is impossible to think outside of publications, as magazines, books, journals or today’s online forms.
“It was actually about this idea of how to construct relations between things, how the meaning of artworks is not independent, alienated, abstract, but instead predicated on the systems of relations. I think everyone who engages with contemporary art should feel confident in bringing those things into their experience of a work of art and not feeling intimidated by the sense that they don't understand it or they don't come from the right intellectual background to get it, or that it's not meant for them…”
Ben Eastham is someone whose work wedges exactly on this territory; founding editor of The White Review, Former Editor of Art Review, and the current editor-in-chief of art-agenda. We hear his take on art publishing as creative practice; writing and editing as a means of re-scripting and re-positioning works of art; and his first-hand take on the notorious Power 100 list of the Art Review magazine.
Episode Notes & Links
Ben has recently penned an essay for the Art Review about his experience with the rapid proliferation of online content in the art world. Unlike the skeptic majority, Ben has a fresh take, offering a stream of optimism that is much needed these days. https://artreview.com/home-viewing/
Founded by Ben Eastham and Jacques Testard in 2011, The White Review is a London based quarterly arts journal published in print and online. The magazine takes its name from LA REVUE BLANCHE, a Parisian magazine which ran from 1889 to 1903. Apart from being a top-notch publication both for the fields of literature and contemporary art, The White Review also runs prestigious short story and poets prizes. https://www.thewhitereview.org
Ben is the editor-in-chief at Art Agenda, the division of e-flux dedicated to contemporary art criticism since March 2020. https://www.art-agenda.com
Inspired by Emmanuelle Lainé’s exhibition at Hayward Gallery titled “Learn the Rules Like a Pro, So You Can Break Them Like an Artist!” in 2018, “Places and Things” is a piece of fiction written by Ben Eastham. Here is a link to the video documentation of Ben performing his work that took place in the exhibition space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igw3xwtDvHk
Imaginary museum is Ben’s upcoming book to be published this year from Harpercollins Publishers. The book takes place in an imaginary museum as the title suggests. While Ben shows us around interfering security guards, pretentious curators, skeptical visitors, angry protestors and elusive ghosts become mediators for him to reflect upon the art of today. He taps into his memories and experiences to pose questions about contemporary art while contemplating our increasingly strange and complex times as well as the world in which we live.. http://www.beneastham.com/books/
Art Review‘s Power 100 is a list that names the so-called “most powerful” 100 people in the field of contemporary art annually. Here is the link to the 2019 edition https://artreview.com/power-100/
Episode recorded on Zoom on June 4th 2020.
Interview by Can Altay.
Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.