SPECIAL EDITION: London's Digital Art Ecosystem
SPECIAL EDITION: London's Digital Art Ecosystem
A new piece for The Art Newspaper for Frieze 2024.
Sorry reader, it has been an age.
When I paused the newsletter in August it was supposed to be for just a month. But once you put down the pen, it is REALLY REALLY hard to pick it up again. Writing is rhythm and discipline - let those slide and all the other stuff soon becomes overwhelming.
One of the things I got busy with though was another feature for The Art Newspaper, which just came out this week. Titled Can London establish itself as digital art capital of the world? it’s a study of the art, artists, commercial galleries and museums, curators and researchers, universities, art fairs, festivals and more that make London one of the world’s great hubs for digital art.
More than anything, the article was a chance to let the people who make up that ecosystem speak. From legendary pioneers like artist Ernest Edmonds, to writer Catherine Mason, to gallerists Mila Askanova, Nimrod Vardi and Miki Elson, any ecosystem is ultimately a group of brilliant humans circling around each other to a broadly common cause.
I hope you enjoy the piece.
Taking this two months off has given me some space to think about what this newsletter should look like in its second year - the anniversary passed in September unmarked by me, which was a miss. All work and no play etc etc.
I am hugely grateful for everyone of you that has read this every week in year 1.
The practical truth is for year 2 and beyond, weekly isn’t going to work. I’ve just got too many things going on, and the direct income from writing this don’t add up - though the spillovers into other work have been brilliant.
So i’m going to move to a less furious rhythm starting Sunday 20th when we’ll go to a fortnightly model.
I’m also going to make the newsletter permanently free. As i’ve said to a few people IRL, I honestly didn’t realise the paywall was even on when I sent out issue one, and then suddenly people started giving me cash.
The money’s nice, of course it is, but getting the ideas I write about here to an audience is much more important.
So from next week, we go free.
Stay tuned.