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			{{Short description\|Italian art magazine}}
	'''''Flash Art''''' is a bimonthly magazine focusing on ]. It was founded in Rome in 1967 by Italian publisher and art critic ]. The magazine has been based in ], ] since 1971. Originally a bilingual publication, it was split in two separate editions, ''Flash Art Italia'' (in ]) and ''Flash Art International'' (in ]), in 1978 when ] joined the editorial team. It also publishes ''Flash Art ] & ] Edition''.
			{{Use dmy dates\|date=September 2021}}
			{{Infobox magazine
			\| image_size =
			\| image_file = Flash_Art_International_October_2015.jpg
			\| image_caption = ''Flash Art International'' October 2015
			\| editor_title = Editors
			\| editor = Gea Politi, Cristiano Seganfreddo
			\| previous_editor = Giancarlo Politi, Helena Kontova
			\| staff_writer =
			\| category = ]
			\| frequency = Four times a year
			\| circulation = Global
			\| publisher = Politi Editore
			\| founded = 1967
			\| company =
			\| country = Italy
			\| based = Milan
			\| language = English, Italian
			\| website = {{URL\|www.flash---art.com}}
			\| issn = 0394-1493
			}}
			'''''Flash Art''''' is a ] magazine, and an ] and international publishing house. Originally published bilingually, both in ] and in ], since 1978 is published in two separate editions, Flash Art Italia (Italian) and Flash Art International (English). Since September 2020, the magazine is seasonal, and said editions are published four times a year.

			''Flash Art'' extensively covered the ] artists in the 1960s, before they became known in the English-speaking world.<ref>Suzaan Boettger, ''Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties'' (], Berkeley, 2002): p. 261. {{ISBN\|0-520-24116-9}}</ref> It is especially known for featuring ]'s final interview before his death in 1987.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.warholstars.org/andy-warhol-last-interview-2.html\|title=Andy Warhol's Final Interview\|website=www.warholstars.org\|language=en\|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref>
	Since 1980 Flash Art has an editorial desk in ]. Jeffrey Deitch, founder of ] and current director of the ] was ''Flash Art'' first U.S. Editor; he was followed by Francesco Bonami, currently artistic director of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin and of Pitti Immagine Discovery in Florence, curator of the 2003 ] as well as the 2010 ]; Massimiliano Gioni, currently artistic director of ] in Milan and associate director and director of exhibitions at the ], New York; and Andrea Bellini, currently co-director of ] Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin.

			It also publishes ''Flash Art Czech & Slovak Edition'' and ''Flash Art Hungary''.
	It has been described as "the confident, international journal of ]an and ]n ], and features interesting viewpoints on American art from a European perspective."<ref>Tony Stankus, ''Journals of the Century'', (], Philadelphia, 2002): p. 125. ISBN 0789011344</ref> ''Flash Art'' extensively covered the ] artists in the 1960s, before they became known in the ] speaking world.<ref>Suzaan Boettger, ''Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties'' (], Berkeley, 2002): p. 261. ISBN 0520241169</ref>

	==~~Contributors~~==		== History ==
			The first issue of ''Flash Art International'' featured the seminal text "The Italian Transavantgarde" by ], whose ‘Ideology of the Traitor’ introduces the art of ], ], ], ], among others.
	Contributors have included ], Bernard Blistène, ], Francesco Bonami, ], ], Barbara Casavecchia, ], Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, ], Alison M. Gingeras, Massimiliano Gioni, ], ], Yuko Hasegawa, ], ], Francesco Manacorda, Rosa Martínez, Bob Nickas, ], Jeff Rian, Michele Robecchi, ], Jérôme Sans, Barry Schwabsky, ], Eric Troncy, Benjamin Weil, Catherine Wood, ], ] and ].

			In the November 1967 issue, "prime mover of the Arte Povera movement" ] published a ] entitled "Notes for a Guerrilla War," engaging political issues with the art of ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] among others. In 1977 the committee for the ] hosted the exhibition “Pictures”. On its occasion, ''Flash Art'' published texts by ] and artists ] and ], highlighting the birth of the ].<ref>Douglas Eklund (ed.), The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984, exhibition catalogue the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4/21/09 – 8/2/09, (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009). {{ISBN\|978-0-300-14892-3}}</ref>
	==Other activities==

			In 1972, ''Flash Art'' dedicated an entire issue, on the occasion of ], with a cover by ].{{citation needed\|date=April 2017}}
	Politi, besides the three magazines, publishes different books and catalogues, including ''Art Diary International'', a directory that lists addresses and phone numbers of ]s, ], ], and ]s. In 1993, Politi published the catalogue of ] a section of the ] organized by his wife Helena Kontova.<ref>Malcolm Miles and Tim Hall, ''Interventions'' (Intellect, Bristol, 2005): p. 42. ISBN 1841501182</ref> Also in 1993, ] opened the Trevi Flash Art Museum in his hometown, ], which eventually closed due to the lack of public support. In the 2001 Giancarlo Politi started, together with ], the Tirana Biennale in ]. In 2003 they started together the Prague Biennale in the ] and they have been the directors of the first five editions (2003-2005-2007-2009-2011).

			In 1973 was established the Giancarlo Politi Editore, which started publishing ''Art Diary'', a landmark for the art system with the addresses and the contacts of institutions, museum, galleries, art critics and artists.
	==Current editorial team==

			In 1980 the editorial board started to give increasing attention to the New York City art scene; ] reviewed on ] at ] Gallery / Nosei-Weber / ] as well as the famous "Three Cs" (Chia, Clemente and Cucchi) at ], helping to bring the central figures of the ] to public attention.<ref>David Rimanelli "Time capsules: 1980-1985 - Calendar," Artforum (March 2003).</ref>
	*Editors: Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova
	*Editors (features, reviews): Umberta Genta and Lucy Rees
	*iPad digital edition: Maciej Tajber
	*Editor at Large: Gea Politi
	*U.S. Editor: Nicola Trezzi
	*Los Angeles Editor: Patrick Steffen

			] independently published his iconic, color lithograph advertisements in 1988 in ''Flash Art'' along with ''] and ]'', advertisements that later became famous for being "deliberately provocative, questioning the merits of 'high art', whilst also endorsing popular culture."<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/114735/art-magazine-ads-arts-1988-1989?artists%5B26788%5D=26788&search_set_offset=17\|title=Art Magazine Ads (Arts) (1988 - 1989)\|website=www.nationalgalleries.org\|language=en\|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.artspace.com/jeff_koons/art-magazine-ads-flashart-art-in-america-artforum-arts\|title=Art Magazine Ads (Flashart, Art in America, Artforum, Arts), Jeff Koons {{!}} Artspace.com\|website=Artspace\|language=en\|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref> "With slogans such as "Exploit the Masses / Banality as Saviour", the ads reflected Koons desire to 'remove bourgeois guilt and shame in responding to banality'".
	==History==

			During his tenure as ''Flash Art'' U.S. Editor ] started to collaborate more and more with ]. The latter continued his special relationship with ''Flash Art International'' in a series of sardonic interviews with young and promising artists. Years later, ''Flash Art International'' was featured in the form of a social-art experiment in the documentary "]" released in May 2017.<ref>{{Cite news\|url=http://www.deejay.it/eventi/maurizio-cattelan-be-right-back-il-film-sul-genio-del-nostro-tempo-in-sala-solo-30-e-31-maggio/520376/\|title="Maurizio Cattelan: Be right back" il film sul genio del nostro tempo, in sala solo 30 e 31 maggio {{!}} Radio Deejay\|date=2017-05-22\|work=Radio Deejay\|access-date=2017-06-20\|language=it-IT}}</ref>
	;1967
	The first issue of ''Flash'' appears in Rome, edited and published by Giancarlo Politi as a newspaper in tabloid format. This very first issue, with its journalistic tone and emphasis on information, clearly distinguishes the new publication from all other art magazines in Europe and the United States. Italian artist Piero Gilardi publishes the first of a series of reports from New York and European art capitals. This is the first European discussion on ] and a few American artists such us ] and ]. ]’s ] Manifesto – entitled ''Notes for a Guerrilla War'' – engages political issues with the art of ], ], Giulio Paolini, Giovanni Anselmo, ], ] and ] among others. On the verge of 1968 ''Flash Art'' registers and anticipates the ideologization of culture. Encounters and collaborations with ] and ] – at that time the most effective creators of art with a direct impact on socio-political reality – are soon to follow.

			In a 2017 ] feature, ] founder ] revealed that "he people hired by Flash Art were always interesting because they really liked art. I was interested in their peculiar hiring policy."<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.artnews.com/2017/05/02/the-artnews-accord-alanna-heiss-and-massimiliano-gioni-in-conversation/\|title=The ARTnews Accord: Alanna Heiss and Massimiliano Gioni in Conversation {{!}} ARTnews\|website=www.artnews.com\|date=2 May 2017\|language=en-US\|access-date=2017-05-23}}</ref>
	;1970
	''Flash Art'' becomes even more international, concentrating on foreign artists and publishing direct reports from the artists’ native country. Texts are frequently printed in the authors’ native language. The informative nature of ''Flash Art'' consolidates and goes hand in hand with the avant-garde’s now predominant ideas on the end of interpretive criticism.

			Since 2015, Gea Politi is editor and head of Flash Art. Since 2019, she and Cristiano Seganfreddo are editors of the magazine, distributed in 87 countries, and of the publishing house that produces catalogues, essays, artists’ books and editions, with more than 300 titles. Flash Art, since 2019, works on ad-hoc communication projects for contemporary culture, collaborating with art institutions, galleries and fashion brands along with its partner Agenzia del Contemporaneo.
	;1971
	An issue with a cover by ] and ] including a statement – written by the former devoted to the so-called ‘Conceptual Art’ – is out. The text accompanies a picture of the Italian version of ]’s ''Seventh Investigation (Art as Idea as Idea) Proposition One''; the project – displayed in three different places (a billboard in New York Chinatown, an advertising space in the ''Daily World'' and a large band in Turin) – is afterwards exhibited during the “Information” show at New York’s MoMA. ] and ] make their first appearance on the cover of an art magazine. ''Flash Art'' is more and more devoted to the artists' texts: ]’s ''Letter to Immortality'', ]’s ''Cultural Confinement'' and ]'s ''Sentences on Conceptual Art'' are just a few examples. The magazine’s headquarters shifts from ] to ].

			==Reception==
	;1972
			It was described by Tony Stankus as "the confident, international journal of European and North American contemporary art" and by '']'' as a "distinguished by a cacophony of voices and congenial chaos".<ref>Tony Stankus, ''Journals of the Century'', (], Philadelphia, 2002): p. 125. {{ISBN\|0-7890-1134-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-262-16119-0\|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Flash Art: Two Decades of History - XXI Years by Giancarlo Politi\|work=PublishersWeekly.com\|access-date=2017-04-14\|language=en}}</ref>
	On the occasion of ] V, the magazine dedicates an entire issue, with a cover by Hans Haacke, to this large-scale exhibition. Already mixing art and marketing, ''Flash Art'' makes an appearance during Documenta, distributing T-shirts reproducing the faces of the artists who at the moment were most discussed, such as ], ] and ].

			== Format ==
	;1973
			''Flash Art'' acquired a magazine format in 1974. The magazine was published in three languages: ], ] and ] and was divided in two main parts. In 1979 it split into two editions: ''Flash Art International'' and ''Flash Art Italia''.{{citation needed\|date=October 2014}} After ''Flash Art Russia'', the brand new Czechia and Slovakia edition of the magazine underlined the former USSR satellite as the new epicenter of ''Flash Art'' Eastern Europe activities.{{citation needed\|date=April 2017}}
	''Flash Art'' starts to publish its German edition ''Heute Kunst'' confirming a particular attention to the new tendencies in the country, from conceptualism to a painter like ], who at that time was still living in East Germany and known only to a very few specialists. ] designs the cover for ''Flash Art'': a work somewhere between a masthead and a post-Minimalist drawing.

			== Books ==
	;1974
			Besides its magazine activities, Flash Art publishes books, ]s and catalogues, including ''Art Diary International'', a directory that lists addresses and phone numbers of artists, critics, galleries, and museums. In 2016, ''Flash Art International'' published Chinese artist Wang Yuyang's monograph ''Tonight I shall meditate upon that which I am.''<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2008451/breaking-tradition-new-generation-chinese-artists\|title = New generation of experimental Chinese artists reflect a globalising world\|date = September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.hiddengarments.com/index.php/2015/08/wang-yuyang-tonight-i-shall-meditate-on-that-which-i-am/#more-52941 \|title = HiddenGarments.com}}</ref>
	''Flash Art'' acquires a magazine format. At this moment the magazine – published in three languages: ], ] and ] – is divided in two main parts: on the one hand its international side is continuously updated with several sections called ''Flash Art'' Italia, England, France, USA and Eastern Europe edited by selective correspondents; on the other hand the editorial staff tries to engage artists in the realization of the magazine. ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and many others are invited to compose pages for the magazine. Always provocative never predictable, ''Flash Art'' anticipates the myth of persona within the art community; entire pages are dedicated to snapshots – taken during several art opening all over the world – of emerging artists, critics and dealers such us ], ], ], ], René Block, ], ], Ileana Sonnabend and many others in a way somewhere between a net blog, a celebrity gallery and an artwork of ].

			== Collaborators ==
	;1978
			''Flash Art'' has been the first magazine that published the works or to dedicate its covers to artists such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ].
	In the ages of postmodernism and poststructuralism, the magazine adapts its nature with an increasing attention to the American intellectual scene: ''Could Leonardo da Vinci make it in New York today''?, by artists ] and Gregor Müller, alongside ]’s interview (part of ]’s ''Flash Art'' Performance editorial section), just to name a pair. In 1977 the Committee for the Visual Art and the Artists Space in New York host the exhibition “Picture”. On this occasion ''Flash Art'' publishes texts by ] (a that time managing editor of ''October'' and organizer of the show at the Artists Space) and artists ] and ], highlighting the birth of the Picture Generation<ref>Douglas Eklund (ed.), The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984, exhibition catalogue the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4/21/09 – 8/2/09, (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009). ISBN 9780300148923</ref>: ], ], ], ], ], Matt Mullican, and later ] and ], are recognized for their artworks created by the linguistic deconstruction of preexistent imagery.

			Throughout its history, the magazine had had as collaborators critics and curators internationally renowned amongst which ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] e ]. Today, the magazine has a network of more than two hundred collaborators among which writers, PHD and curators globally renowned by the art system, such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].
	;1979
	''Flash Art'' splits into two editions: ''Flash Art International'' and ''Flash Art Italia''. The result of this separation is an incisive intervention into both the international and the Italian scenes, which represents tow different realities that a single publication found difficult to fulfill. The first issue of ''Flash Art International'' features the seminal text "The Italian ]" by ], whose ‘Ideology of the Traitor’ introduces the art of ], ], ], ], Nicola De Maria, Marco Bagnoli and Remo Salvadori.

			== Other activities ==
	;1980
			In 1993, Politi published the catalogue of ], a section of the ] organized by his wife Helena Kontova.<ref>Malcolm Miles and Tim Hall, ''Interventions'' (Intellect, Bristol, 2005): p. 42. {{ISBN\|1-84150-118-2}}</ref> Also in 1993, ] opened the Trevi Flash Art Museum in his hometown, ], which hosted exhibitions of important international festivals amongst which “Prima Linea” (1993). In the 2001 Giancarlo Politi started, together with ], the Tirana Biennale in ]. In 2003 they started together the Prague Biennale in the ] and they have been the directors of the first six editions (2003-2005-2007-2009-2011-2013).
	Jeffrey Deitch – at that time Vice President of ] where he spent nine years developing and managing the bank’s art advisory and art finance businesses<ref>http://www.deitch.com/gallery/staff.html</ref> – becomes a regular columnist of the magazine and the first U.S. editor of ''Flash Art International''. In his articles Deitch analyzes the figure of the artist neither as a solitary creator nor as a single-role-identity but as one of the several players of the ‘art system’ among dealers, gallerists, museum directors, art critics and collectors. It is due to these reasons that the editorial board gives increasing attention to the ] art scene: ] reviews on ] at ] Gallery / Nosei-Weber / The Kitchen as well as the famous "Three Cs" (Chia, Clemente and Cucchi) at Sperone Westwater Fisher – that decisively puts the central figures of the Transavanguardia on the New York map<ref>David Rimanelli "Time capsules: 1980-1985 - Calendar," Artforum (March, 2003).</ref> – are just a few examples. "Gallery Talk," a new regular column with conversations and presentations of major art dealers (published as a supplement and accompanied by a picture) is soon to follow. Yet ''Flash Art International'' investigates the most challenging philosophical instances through a series of texts, essays and interviews dedicated to thinkers like ], ], ], ], ] and ].

	;1981
	Greater attention is being turned to German artists like ], ], ], ], ], ] as much as to the graffiti artists and the shift of Painting to other media such as performance and conceptualism.

	;1983
	Flash Art International covers – mostly accompanied by long interviews – record an emerging group of superstar artists: ], ], ], ] and ] (who makes dresses-as-artworks for ] and ]) are the protagonists of changes in the art field; their success has been realized with such a great speed and on so vast a scale in the annals of contemporary art. At the same time the art world grows to unheard-of dimensions: news no longer comes exclusively from New York and a few European centers, but also from many places like ] and ] in the States as well as from ] and the ]. ''Flash Art Edition Française'' and ''Flash Art Edición Española'' are soon to follow.

	;1986
	''Flash Art International'' asks artist and socio-cultural theorist ] to write an essay on ] called "Frank Stella and the Simulacrum." In this essay Halley melts his knowledge with a very straight style of writing figuring out the master of modernism as an oxymoron, balancing materialism and bureaucracy under the name of hyperrealization and simulation. After that Halley becomes known also as the author of essays – regarding the relationship between his work and the thoughts of intellectuals like ], ] and ] – and for ] (founded in 1996 with Bob Nickas), which investigates the tenuous power of photographic representation. Neo-Geo means everything and nothing. It seems to be an attitude towards the flow production instead of a way to make art. ''Flash Art International'' decides to invite these artists (], ], ], ], ] and ]) for a panel moderated by Peter Nagy, artist and co-owner of small but significant ] ]. Accompanied with a text by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, ''Flash Art International'' comes out with ] on the cover, simultaneously with '']''. In fact this coincidence between the two non-speaking leading magazines has to be considered as an act of ubiquity, one of the most utopian of the artist efforts.<ref>Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in Laura Cherubini and Andrea Bellini (ed.) Gino De Dominicis, exhibition catalogue Villa Arson, Nice / Merz Foundation, Turin / PS1, New York (Giancarlo Politi Editore, Milan, 2007): 121.</ref>

	;1987
	Among the neo geo artists, ] is the most radical to embody such new ideas. ''Flash Art International'' invites him for a conversation with the staff of the magazine. Paul Taylor interviews ] for the last time before his unpredictable death while brand new critic Jérôme Sans talks to Jean-Hubert Martin about his exhibition “]”. Although the aim of the show is to spotlight art from all over the world, in fact it marks a totally Western-centric behavior towards cultural differences nevertheless, provoking many skeptical responses, which are considered as the first examples of the contemporary African art criticism. In Post-], ] describes women artists as more subversive than their colleagues. Consequently ''Flash Art International'' features three female icons on the cover: ], the champion-user of female-based practice as tools for the realization of a hidden self-emancipation, ], whose algid attitude towards art-making recognizing her as an undeniable protagonist of the contemporary art scene, and ]; her unforgettable mottos ''I shop therefore I am'' (sampled from ]'s "Cogito ergo sum") displayed through billboards and posters goes ‘outside’ via an unforgettable sardonic language enriched by an ironic flavor, emblematic of the current decade. Meanwhile thousand of people sanctioned the end of the cold war – by destroying the Berlin wall – ''Flash Art International'' captured the state of the art in ] with a special supplement entirely dedicated on it.

	;1988
	Flash Art News is the new creature of the magazine. Published in a newspaper format and paper, this supplement is made as a compendium; speed news, short interviews with artists and dealers – as well as art facts from the art centers – are put together as a source for the readers ever more needy for information from the increased art system. The Spotlight is another regular column in the magazine. Shorter than a feature, longer than a review the Spotlight is one page for one shows.
	On the occasion of a spotlight – dedicated to ] and ] – Koons starts to develop his mission for the artist’s control of the media field, substituting the critic text with a full-page Wool pattern (''Untitled'', 1987) accompanied by the sentence “this painting remember me of a wall in a summer cottage,” signed by himself. This strategy will find a fulfilled realization in the famous "Ads Series." "During the 1988-89 art season, Koons and his galleries put their money where their mouth was. A series of full-page advertisements was purchased in the major trade magazine of the time: ''Artforum'', ''Flash Art'', ''Arts'', and ''Art in America''. In the center of each highly theatrical tableau, Koons presided over the scene smiling smugly at the camera, impeccably groomed, obviously airbrushed."<ref>Alison M. Gingeras, “The Birth of Crass: The Artist’s persona in the Age of Advance Capitalism,” in Jeffrey Deitch (ed.) Monument to Now exhibition catalogue (Deste Foundation, Athens, 2004): p.141.</ref>

	;1990
	''Flash Art International'' is more than ever engaged by giving space to the artists. His new section Flash Art Project is one of the first examples of an editorial artist project. Later on this relationship is more than ever evident by asking them to give their own interpretation of the cover magazine. Several artists, such as Gerhard Merz, ], ], ] and Gian Marco Montesano, are selected to contribute.

	;1991
	Talented, alternative and updated: these are the common qualities of the ever-changing ''Flash Art International'' contributing editors: from then Cologne-based artist and musician ] to writer and musician ], from future ] directors ] and Jérôme Sans to globe-trotters interviewers Paul Taylor and ], from ] 2012 artistic director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev to ] founding director of ] and the Berlin Biennale and currently chief curator at large at the Museum of Modern Art and director of ].

	;1992
	In 1986 the magazine publishes an interview with underground director ] conducted by Italian New York-based painter Francesco Bonami. In 1992 Bonami has been appointed head of the U.S. Editorial Desk inaugurating a series of features focused on the most brilliant and challenging artist of the Nineties: from ] to ], from ] to ]. Meanwhile, anticipating the passage from the figure of the coordinator to the birth of the curator’s practice, ''Flash Art International'' registers “Post Human” (or ]) – curated by former U.S. Editor Jeffrey Deitch – as a "Brave New Art" exhibition. The show – defined a "manifesto trumpeting a new art for a new breed of human"<ref>Robert Rosenblum, "Post Human," in Artforum (October, 2004).</ref> – is one of the first examples where the artworks displayed, mostly selected from Greek collector ] purchases, are chosen and selected to illustrate – together with additional magazines and science images – a curatorial project which aim is to “begin looking at how these new technologies and new social attitudes will intersect with art.”<ref>Jeffrey Deitch in Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova, "Post Human," Flash Art International (November–December, 1992).</ref>

	;1993
	In 2004 London-based publishing house ] presents “Vitamin P: New Perspective in Painting” with an introducing-essay by poet and former ''Flash Art International'' former editor Barry Schwabsky. This book, the first in a series devoted to all the art medias, is directly inspired by the eponymous essay written by Francesco Bonami for the magazine. This is not the first time: in 1987 ''Flash Art International'' published an omni-comprehending essay entitled ] 1976-1987 by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, featuring well compiled profiles of ], Gilberto Zorio, ], ], ], ], Emilio Prini, ], ] and Giulio Polini. Christov-Bakargiev will be consequently haired by ] for the Arte Povera book, part of the series “Themes & Movements.” ''Flash Art International'' cover is an indicator of success: ], ], ], ] and ], just to name the most recognizable artists who ‘have to pay’ their dues to the magazine. All the artists just named take part to ], the ] section focused on the new generation of artists. For that edition, coordinator ] invites a curatorial team composed by Francesco Bonami, Jeffrey Deitch, ], Benjamin Weil, Bob Nickas and Frieze Matthew Slotover among others. The result is memorable. Back to the covers, it happens that ''Flash Art International'' has to fight against cultural censorship, like in the case of ]’s cover, refused by the current U.S. distributor and consequently substituted.

	;1995
	The success of ] as one of the most important contemporary art overview and the uninterrupted discovery of artist from ] and ] are on the base of Aperto, Cityscape and Global Art, the new regular columns of Flash Art International. The first is a sort of exhibition on paper – published in the form of an article – that captures what is going on geographically or thematically; the second consists in a series of interviews with the chosen city-based artists, curators and museum directors while the third is a one-page feature where writers and curators from all over the world, like ] and ], are invited to discuss the practice of and later only one work by a contemporary artist.

	;1996
	In February, the Center for Contemporary Art in Stockholm hosted the show “Interpol”, curated by Jan Äman and Russian curator Viktor Misiano. During the opening artist ] destroyed Wenga Du’s project, a 20-meter long tunnel of human hair. The performance is legitimized by Misiano as a “completely new experience.” Further on, ''Flash Art'' editorial staff receives a reclaim letter – signed by artists, critics, curators and Äman himself – which will be published accompanied by Misiano’s response and ]’s opinion. Again, a few months later, Politi will return to defend Bremer – arrested after his action consisted of spraypainting the symbol of the American Dollar on ] ''White Cross on Gray'', on view at the ], – asking the magazine’s readers to write letters for Brener’s freedom. With "Ambivalent Witnesses," ] drives the reader in the unexplored and soon-to-exploding state of the contemporary art in ].

	;1997
	''Flash Art International'' is the most updated keeper of the new voices in curating with several pages dedicated to various but still unforgettable blockbuster shows like Chinese situation “Cities on the Move” (curated by ] and ]), ]’ triumph “]” (curated by ] and ]), the 1997’s ‘merry-go-round’ (], ] and ]) as well as for the new biennials’ ‘roller coaster’ with reports from ], ], ], ] and many other cities. In 1999, the ''New York Magazine'' publishes an article titled The "Mob Squad." Author Phoebe Hoban writes that: “The new painting achieved a sort of critical mass last May, when ], a 29-year-old British artist who moved to New York in 1994, sounded a clarion call in an article she published entitled "Painting Epiphany: Happy Days Are Where, Again?" in ''Flash Art''.”<ref>Phoebe Hoban, "The Mod Squad," New York Magazine (January 11, 1999): http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/1051/</ref> This ‘squad’ (], ], ] and others) mostly coached by (again) fellow dealer Jeffrey Deitch is captured in an ironic iperrealistic ''Flash Art International''’s cover project made by Loeb.

	;1998
	Gathering the attention of art world, the 1st Berlin Biennial (directed by ] and curated by ] and Nancy Spector) is a sort of celebration of the German capital as a new art center, swarming of alternative spaces and headquarters of a generation of artists. ''Flash Art International'' investigates ], publishing a 16-pages supplement dedicated to the city and its protagonists: Monica Bonvicini, ], Frank Ackermann, ] just to name a few. Another ritornello, which distinguishes ''Flash Art International'' is its love for challenging parallelisms. While Jan Avgikos underlines common elements between the practice of the porno-star ] (a.k.a. Cicciolina) and her beau ],<ref>Jan Avgikos, “All That Heaven Allows,” Flash Art International (Summer, 1993).</ref> Paul Groot compares ]’ empire with ] modus operandi.<ref>Paul Groot, “Andy Warhol and Bill Gates. Visions of a Seminal Artist Updated in the form of the Richest Man in America,” Flash Art International (January–February 1997).</ref> Finally, future U.K. Editor Gea Politi dedicates one of her first regular columns “Gea's World” to the several reminders of ] in ]’s show at the ] Foundation.

	;1999
	On the rise of the new millennium, ''Flash Art International'' distinguishes itself from the other publications for an ever increasing interest in interdisciplinary. Because of this, the magazine maintains a high cultural profile without deny his own cuttin’ hedge philosophy trough interviews with several ‘archistars’, such as ], ] (ironically portrayed by ] alongside ]’s ]), ] and ‘liquid architect’ Marcos Novak, fashion designers like ] (interviewed by fashion 'system distorter' ] with a cover by ]) and ] – alternated by fashion’s interventions coordinated by ''Flash Art'' fashion editor and artist Iké Udé –, reviews of art-field movies like ]’s '']'' or ], and ] videoclip’s presentations.

	;2000–2001
	Forty curators, more than 2 hundred artists: the 1st ] Biennale is the dream-come-true of ''Flash Art'' ] and ]. Supported by visionary artist and ] mayor ], the ] Biennale is the first example of an art event organized with unfounded budgets. A new adventure, that confirms the role of the magazine’s editors as cultural entrepreneurs; besides the ever more importance of curating as a fundamental element within the contemporary art landscape is underlined by asking contemporary artists like ] and ] to curate a section for the biennial. September 11’s tragedy completely sticks the whirl within the big apple. ''Flash Art'' reaction to the aftermath is a collection of testimonies coordinated by 26-year old former ''Flash Art Italia'' Massimiliano Gioni just appointed brand new U.S. editor.

	During his tenure as ''Flash Art'' U.S. Editor Gioni started to collaborate more and more with ]. Indeed Gioni was the artist's ghost writer and the 'press officer' of the 6th Caribbean Biennial, a project conceived by Cattelan together with curator and ''Flash Art'' contributor ]. The project – supported by Fundación/Colección ] and accompanied by a catalogue edited by Bettina Funcke – consisted of a 'artist's vacation' featuring biennial habituées ], ] (who couldn't make it), ], ], ], ], Tobias Rehberger, ] and ]. "The biennial was over and even if there wasn't any art, there would be reruns of the experience – in the form of a six-page spread in Italian ] and a catalogue that Maurizio and Jens would create as a souvenir of the trip. As for the artists, it seemed to me that they did what they probably would have done at any other biennial – compare ideas, share resources, strengthen relationships and inspire one another.".<ref>Ann Magnuson, "Caribbean Castaway," (artnet.com magazine, 2000): http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/magnuson/magnuson2-24-00.asp</ref> A series of full-page advertisements was purchased in ''Artforum'', ''Flash Art'' and ''Frieze'', which reviewer Jenny Liu called the Caribbean Biennial a "splendid failure: slightly wonderful but doubtlessly cynical; kudos for the conceptual playfulness but let’s just ignore the flawed execution."<ref>Jenny Liu, "Trouble in Paradise," Frieze (March–April, 2000).</ref>

	;2003
	Art-star and amphitryon ] continues his special relationship with ''Flash Art International'' in a series of sardonic interviews with young and promising artists like ], Verne Dawson, Piotr Uklanski and then ], Seth Price, Matthew Mohanan, Guy Ben-Ner, ], Paul Chan, ] and chef ]. “It happens in Prague,” is the new motto of the magazine: leaving Tirana, the new ‘mission impossible’ is to run a contemporary art organization in the ] capital, former residence of the editor ]. Under the slogan “Peripheries Become the Center” – taken from the book '']'' written by globalization analysts ] and ] – Prague Biennale 1, co-produced in collaboration with Prague National Gallery director ] is described by ] as a "low-cost show."<ref>Lena Ehinger, "The Three Of Us," The Vilnius Review.</ref>

	;2005
	As usual ''Flash Art International'' is apart from any other publication; premièring anyone, the magazine starts to publish panels and discussions around painting. Masters such as School of ]'s ] and ] and ] leaders Victor Man and Adrian Ghenie as well as ], ], ], ] and ] are fully featured. Meanwhile U.K. Editor Gea Politi makes her new exploit: "Fresh Start" is a column that serves as a compass to navigate territories in art, collecting interviews with make up artists, musicians, actors and a series of new creatures generated by the culture system such as musicians ], makeup artist Feride Uslu and fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm. Prague Biennale continues, and its second edition is accompanied by two main themes: painting and political art. If on the occasion of Prague Biennale 1, the return of painting is announced as a resurrection with the “]” section, this year is the turn of the massive art critic ], whose text “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”<ref>Rosalind Krauss, "Sculpture in the Expanded Field," October (Spring, 1979), pp. 30-44.</ref> is reprinted and borrowed for the section curated by ] and ] titled “Expanded Painting.” On the other side there’s “Acción Directa,” an overview on the ‘guerrilla invasion’ of the Latin American artists, captured by Marco Scotini. Confirming Prague Biennale as an essential event is the coming out of the second volume of the indispensable contemporary art vademecum ''Art Now'', published by ]. In the preface, editor Uta Grosenick writes: “the art scene has changed dramatically in recent years – notably with a return to figurative painting and an increase in political topics.”<ref>Uta Grosenick, Preface, in Uta Grosenick (ed.) Art Now Vol 2 (Tashen, Cologne, 2008).</ref>

	;2007
	In the era of participation, Flash Art International doesn’t miss the chance to involve the readers in a series of collective interviews with art system protagonists ], ], ] and ]. After ''Flash Art Russia'', the brand new Czech and Slovak Republic edition of the magazine underline the former URSS satellite as the new epicenter of ''Flash Art'' Eastern Europe activities. A survey concerning the relationship between artists and artistic centers and a diary of a road trip around ], ], ] and other spots – compiled by News Editor Aaron Moulton – serve as a foreword for the third edition of Prague Biennale, a 22-sections exhibition fruit of debates around keywords like glocalism, nomad and outsider. On this occasion ''Flash Art International'' publishes a triple interview with the ‘Modern Nomads’ ], ] and ] organized by ] and conducted by Abramović on skype between ], ] and ].

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Latest revision as of 18:33, 20 June 2023

Italian art magazine

*Flash Art*
Flash Art International October 2015
Editors	Gea Politi, Cristiano Seganfreddo
Former editors	Giancarlo Politi, Helena Kontova
Categories	Contemporary art
Frequency	Four times a year
Circulation	Global
Publisher	Politi Editore
Founded	1967
Country	Italy
Based in	Milan
Language	English, Italian
Website	www.flash---art.com
ISSN	0394-1493

Flash Art is a contemporary art magazine, and an Italian and international publishing house. Originally published bilingually, both in Italian and in English, since 1978 is published in two separate editions, Flash Art Italia (Italian) and Flash Art International (English). Since September 2020, the magazine is seasonal, and said editions are published four times a year.

Flash Art extensively covered the Arte Povera artists in the 1960s, before they became known in the English-speaking world. It is especially known for featuring Andy Warhol's final interview before his death in 1987.

It also publishes Flash Art Czech & Slovak Edition and Flash Art Hungary.

History

The first issue of Flash Art International featured the seminal text "The Italian Transavantgarde" by Achille Bonito Oliva, whose ‘Ideology of the Traitor’ introduces the art of Enzo Cucchi, Francesco Clemente, Sandro Chia, Mimmo Paladino, among others.

In the November 1967 issue, "prime mover of the Arte Povera movement" Germano Celant published a manifesto entitled "Notes for a Guerrilla War," engaging political issues with the art of Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini, Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Luciano Fabro, and Jannis Kounellis among others.Arte Povera? How An Ambitious Art Historian Simulated A Revolution In 1977 the committee for the Artists Space hosted the exhibition “Pictures”. On its occasion, Flash Art published texts by Douglas Crimp and artists Thomas Lawson and David Salle, highlighting the birth of the Pictures Generation.

In 1972, Flash Art dedicated an entire issue, on the occasion of Documenta V, with a cover by Hans Haacke.

In 1973 was established the Giancarlo Politi Editore, which started publishing Art Diary, a landmark for the art system with the addresses and the contacts of institutions, museum, galleries, art critics and artists.

In 1980 the editorial board started to give increasing attention to the New York City art scene; Thomas Lawson reviewed on David Salle at Larry Gagosian Gallery / Nosei-Weber / The Kitchen as well as the famous "Three Cs" (Chia, Clemente and Cucchi) at Sperone Westwater Fisher, helping to bring the central figures of the Transavanguardia to public attention.

Jeff Koons independently published his iconic, color lithograph advertisements in 1988 in Flash Art along with Artforum and Art in America, advertisements that later became famous for being "deliberately provocative, questioning the merits of 'high art', whilst also endorsing popular culture." "With slogans such as "Exploit the Masses / Banality as Saviour", the ads reflected Koons desire to 'remove bourgeois guilt and shame in responding to banality'".

During his tenure as Flash Art U.S. Editor Massimiliano Gioni started to collaborate more and more with Maurizio Cattelan. The latter continued his special relationship with Flash Art International in a series of sardonic interviews with young and promising artists. Years later, Flash Art International was featured in the form of a social-art experiment in the documentary "Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back" released in May 2017.

In a 2017 ARTnews feature, MoMA PS1 founder Alanna Heiss revealed that "he people hired by Flash Art were always interesting because they really liked art. I was interested in their peculiar hiring policy."

Since 2015, Gea Politi is editor and head of Flash Art. Since 2019, she and Cristiano Seganfreddo are editors of the magazine, distributed in 87 countries, and of the publishing house that produces catalogues, essays, artists’ books and editions, with more than 300 titles. Flash Art, since 2019, works on ad-hoc communication projects for contemporary culture, collaborating with art institutions, galleries and fashion brands along with its partner Agenzia del Contemporaneo.

Reception

It was described by Tony Stankus as "the confident, international journal of European and North American contemporary art" and by Publishers Weekly as a "distinguished by a cacophony of voices and congenial chaos".

Format

Flash Art acquired a magazine format in 1974. The magazine was published in three languages: Italian, English and French and was divided in two main parts. In 1979 it split into two editions: Flash Art International and Flash Art Italia. After Flash Art Russia, the brand new Czechia and Slovakia edition of the magazine underlined the former USSR satellite as the new epicenter of Flash Art Eastern Europe activities.

Books

Besides its magazine activities, Flash Art publishes books, monographs and catalogues, including Art Diary International, a directory that lists addresses and phone numbers of artists, critics, galleries, and museums. In 2016, Flash Art International published Chinese artist Wang Yuyang's monograph Tonight I shall meditate upon that which I am.

Collaborators

Flash Art has been the first magazine that published the works or to dedicate its covers to artists such as Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, Matthew Barney, Vanessa Beecroft, Cecily Brown, Maurizio Cattelan, Francesco Clemente, Martin Creed, John Currin, Rineke Dijkstra, Peter Halley, Eberhard Havekost, Damien Hirst, Pierre Huyghe, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, Sol LeWitt, Robert Longo, Paul McCarthy, Mariko Mori, Maurizio Nannucci, Shirin Neshat, Gabriel Orozco, Charles Ray, Pipilotti Rist, Matthew Ritchie, Anri Sala, David Salle, Thomas Scheibitz, Julian Schnabel, Rudolf Stingel, Francesco Vezzoli.

Throughout its history, the magazine had had as collaborators critics and curators internationally renowned amongst which Germano Celant, Achille Bonito Oliva, Rosalind Krauss, Francesca Alinovi, Francesco Bonami, Harald Szeemann, Nicolas Bourriaud, Dan Cameron, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Benjamin Weil e Massimiliano Gioni. Today, the magazine has a network of more than two hundred collaborators among which writers, PHD and curators globally renowned by the art system, such as Andrea Bellini, Kenneth Goldsmith, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Quinn Latimer, Pierre Bal-Blanc, Marina Fokidis, Chus Martinez and Vanessa Murrell.

Other activities

In 1993, Politi published the catalogue of Aperto '93, a section of the Venice Biennale organized by his wife Helena Kontova. Also in 1993, Giancarlo Politi opened the Trevi Flash Art Museum in his hometown, Trevi, which hosted exhibitions of important international festivals amongst which “Prima Linea” (1993). In the 2001 Giancarlo Politi started, together with Helena Kontova, the Tirana Biennale in Albania. In 2003 they started together the Prague Biennale in the Czech Republic and they have been the directors of the first six editions (2003-2005-2007-2009-2011-2013).

References

Suzaan Boettger, Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties (University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002): p. 261. ISBN 0-520-24116-9
"Andy Warhol's Final Interview". www.warholstars.org. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
Douglas Eklund (ed.), The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984, exhibition catalogue the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4/21/09 – 8/2/09, (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009). ISBN 978-0-300-14892-3
David Rimanelli "Time capsules: 1980-1985 - Calendar," Artforum (March 2003).
"Art Magazine Ads (Arts) (1988 - 1989)". www.nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
"Art Magazine Ads (Flashart, Art in America, Artforum, Arts), Jeff Koons | Artspace.com". Artspace. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
""Maurizio Cattelan: Be right back" il film sul genio del nostro tempo, in sala solo 30 e 31 maggio | Radio Deejay". Radio Deejay (in Italian). 22 May 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
"The ARTnews Accord: Alanna Heiss and Massimiliano Gioni in Conversation | ARTnews". www.artnews.com. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
Tony Stankus, Journals of the Century, (Haworth Press, Philadelphia, 2002): p. 125. ISBN 0-7890-1134-4
"Nonfiction Book Review: Flash Art: Two Decades of History - XXI Years by Giancarlo Politi". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
"New generation of experimental Chinese artists reflect a globalising world". September 2016.
"HiddenGarments.com".
Malcolm Miles and Tim Hall, Interventions (Intellect, Bristol, 2005): p. 42. ISBN 1-84150-118-2

External links

Official website

Categories: