Artists Launch New Arts and Culture Magazine - Are They Nuts?

Proximity Magazine recently launched in Chicago. The 150 page plus, perfect bound, full color magazine was co-founded by Rachel and Ed Marszewski, who are serial creative entrepreneurs who've helped organize such projects as Lumpen Magazine, The Co-Prosperity Sphere, Version Festival, and the Select Media Festival.Only a bunch of artists would start a new art magazine in the throes of a recession. But someone has to do it. Because, sure -- the economy is receding and politics are rent, but cultural production in Chicago is surging yet again.

Shifts in management and curatorial duties at some of our major art centers and museums are bringing in more challenging and fresh work. The schools are filled to the brim, and expanding their enrollment. And even though many beloved art spaces have retired, there seems to be double the amount of new galleries and spaces replacing them. Perhaps most significantly, our spring art season, with its attendant fairs and festivals, will prove once again that Chicago is one happening place.

But who would know? Most of this mysterious art activity goes unrecorded. Maybe an art enthusiast has posted a few comments on a blog, or we read about a controversy in one of our weeklies.

That’s where we come in.

Our mission is to amplify discourse on local and global art ecologies. We hope to serve as a map of artists, collectives and alternative spaces to commercial galleries, museums and universities¬ as means of connecting and cultivating sustainable creative communities. Read the rest of the founding statement.