Bookforum, Artforum’s literary sister journal, ceases publication

Bookforum, the New York-based sister journal of art-world shiny Artforum that launched in 1994 and served as a haven for literary criticism and commentary, will stop publication. Its present winter concern will probably be its final, per an announcement posted to the publication’s Twitter account at present (12 December).

The journal’s December, January and February concern, which will probably be its final, features a characteristic on a brand new guide by writer and curator Hilton Als concerning the musician Prince, an essay by the critic Sasha Frere-Jones concerning the artwork of Gordon Matta-Clark, a assessment of a brand new Frank Bowling catalogue and extra. Its inaugural concern, which appeared on newsstands in the summertime of 1994, included contributions by the critics and philosophers bell hooks and Arthur C. Danto, and by artists together with Louise Bourgeois and Douglas Coupland. Within the ensuing 28 years it has revealed the writing by nearly each influential artwork and literary critic, in addition to many main artists and authors, from Eileen Myles and Jonathan Lethem to Kim Gordon and Barbara Kruger.

The announcement of Bookforum’s closure comes simply days after Artforum was acquired by New York-based Penske Media Company, which additionally publishes the artwork magazines ARTnews and Artwork in America, along with various titles within the fields of tradition and luxurious, amongst them Selection, Rolling Stone and Robb Report. The Penske announcement relating to its acquisition of Artforum made no point out of Bookforum. Representatives of Bookforum and Penske Media Company didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

The closure of Bookforum comes on the tail finish of an particularly bleak yr in america media panorama, with greater than 3,000 folks laid off via October 2022—an enormous surge from 2021, although nowhere close to the document layoffs introduced on by Covid-19 in 2020. The layoffs and closures haven’t been restricted to the US, both: in October, British artwork journal Elephant introduced it will fold.