A book work in support of L’escalier.
L’escalier: a forthcoming magazine about art
Over the long-term, the project of producing a publication needs to depart from speculation and planning to become something material. During our first “editorial” discussions, we collected statements of purpose from the “issue one” of past and present magazines about art & culture. Most often than not, these texts were written like manifestos. In the language used by the editors, something latent and urgent becomes manifest; a lack is momentarily filled. For our purpose, writing such a statement feels like a premature act. At this point, we are only able to supply a mixture of intentionality and provisionality.
The conditional tense is perhaps better suited to describe what we want to do: L’escalier could generate a context in Montréal where all too often ignored art practices (and discussions) would regain visibility. The situatedness of knowledge and culture is a common preoccupation amongst us. We could foreground the ways in which discourses (and artworks as discourses) circulate through specific channels, most often than not, from the centres to the peripheries. Engaging in a close reading of our own milieu is also one avenue that we could pursue with greater urgency. However, we should stop here and keep part of this wish list to ourselves.
The editors
Signed and Numbered Edition of 20
PRD