Art Now: Visual Art: Magazines

In the proud tradition of speaking-truth-to-power that once characterized American media, ARTHUR has called on some of the best thinkers, artists, cartoonists and poets of our time to speak their outrage and insights in print — including: Art Spiegelman Patti Smith David Byrne Chris Hedges Daniel Pinchbeck David Cross Alan Moore Charles Potts Robbie Conal. The result is an issue full of intelligence, vitriol, humor, beauty and full-on righteousness. 48 broadsheet-sized pages. High quality newsprint. With a cover price of free. The LOS ANGELES TIMES has called Arthur "a magazine with moxie…which aims to agitate and inspire in much the same way early Rolling Stone and other underground publications did in the 1960s and '70s." The PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY said, "ARTHUR is kind of in a category by itself…DIY in its sensibility but far-reaching in its goals."

Adbusters is a magazine rife with political satire, an anticonsumerist message and innovative ideas on effecting change. It has become a mainstay in America's dissent publications. Kalle Lasn the founder of the Magazine is bent on no less than a cultural revolution, altering the way we see corporate advertizements and messages from our government.Through their unique culmination of art and concept activism like Buy Nothing Day, and Unbrand America, Adbusters has become a prominent and effective voice in the Patriotism of Dissent. Unbrand America Campaign beings July 4th.

In 1982, a group of Vietnam combat veterans and veterans of the anti-Vietnam War movement came together to start a print quarterly entitled Intervention Magazine. Their goal was to write about and stop the United States' continued policy of immoral an ineffective military intervention. Although many changes have occurred In the last fifteen years, money and corporate profit are today the primary motivating factors in determining international policy, and often domestic policy just as they were years ago. Therefore Intervention Magazine urges citizens to intervene in their political system and to "continuously scrutinize the tools of democracy and institutions for public participation." Their "roots are in the past and in a failed war," their "focus is on today and creative answers."

The Internet Weekly Report is an online magazine that focuses on political satire, humor, art and culture. It's like the Talk Soup of political dissent, combining original pieces of satire with links to internet hotspots. The IWR keeps you informed on the latest art exhibitions, and compiles cultural events that may be of interest to the activist in you. 

The online satire magazine Infinite Jest describe themselves as "like The Onion, only bitter." Their magazine exhibits a broad range of pieces from the silly to the cannonized. Featuring Mark Twain's "The War Prayer" juxtaposed next to Gulf War Playing cards and an interview with George Bush's psychiatrist, Infinite Jest humorously punctuates the jaded American's have of their politics and big business.