LA MÁS BELLA
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A Project for Reflection, Action and Experimentation
in Modern Art Publishing |
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La
Más Bella is a project for reflection, action
and experimentation in modern art publishing that
promotes and carries out artistic projects specifically
conceived to be published through alternative channels
to the conventional world of publishing.
The
publishers of La Más Bella are Pepe Murciego and Diego Ortiz, two people who
have been involved in the art world, cultural management
and the media in Madrid for over twenty years.
The
fundamental core of La Más Bella's
activities is the publishing of the Magazine
La Más Bella, a medium for experimenting
in publishing that has appeared on a regular basis
since 1993. La Más Bella is
a magazine of collaborations, in which each new issue
can count on the work of dozens of creators from every
kind of artistic discipline imaginable, whether from
the plastic arts, literature, audiovisual or conceptual
fields.
Founded
in 1993, La Más Bella has published over 30
issues containing the efforts of some 600 collaborators
from the world of Spanish art and culture. In addition
to its contents, La Más Bella has always had the idea of being an experimental product
from the point of view of its format and external
appearance, coming close to the idea of the assembling
magazine or the book as object that was cultivated
by many artists and collectives throughout the 20th
century.
At
the same time as they have been working on the magazine,
the publishers of La Más Bella have also promoted, organised and taken part in a
wide variety of events related with modern art and
publishing, seen as a field that lends itself to experimentation
and the dissemination of modern art: magazine exhibitions,
cycles of performance/live art, workshops, talks,
presentations, meetings and so on.
La
Más Bella is not conceived with profit
in mind. The economic survival of La Más
Bella is premised on selling copies, the
personal contribution of the editors and the profits
derived from the numerous activities developed by
the publishers. La Más Bella does not have any stable source of funding, be that
a public administration or private institutions, beyond
occasional collaborations and funding aids aimed at
specific projects.
 Diego Ortiz and Pepe Murciego, publishers of La Más
Bella.
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Every new edition of La Más Bella is a project completely different from the previous one, both in contents and in its external appearance:
Monographic contents:
La Más Bella is a monographic magazine. The publishers choose a subject, normally ambiguous and/or conceptual and/or funny, and we invite to participate to dozens of artists, asking them a contribution related to the subject we suggest. From the first edition of La Más Bella in 1993, more than 700 artists from all over Spain and some other countries have collaborated in the magazine.
Different formats:
Formally La Más Bella change totally its external appearance every new edition. The publishers really love to experiment with unusual containers, always surprising and funny.
The best way to understand what is the philosophy of La Más Bella is having a look to a couple of examples:
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La
Más Bella TU (The Most Beautiful YOU)
Published in 2003, its monographic subject was the concept
of “identity”. Formally the magazine was a
typical wallet full of its typical contents (bank notes,
ID cards, ID photographs, tickets…) recreated by
different artists (almost one hundred).
+info and images
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La
Más Bella Juegos Reunidos (The Most Beautiful United
Games)
Published in 2005, the subject of the edition was "the
game". The magazine was a game box (formally similar
to a very popular spanish toy called “Juegos Reunidos”)
in which every content (a collection of cards, game boards,
etc) was made by an artist (55 contributors).
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La
Más Bella Grandes Exitos (2006) (The Most Beatiful
Greatest Hits), which monographic subject was
"the success". Formally the magazine is a fabric
groupy-bag with three pins, a Picture-Disc Vinil Record,
some vinil disc covers, posters, DVD, etc.
+info and images
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La
Más Bella Manual de Instrucciones (The Most Beautifull
Instruccions of Use), an issue which monographic
theme is the concept of “utility”. Externally
the magazine is an apron made exclusively by Pepe Jeans
in denim fabric, whith all the contributions introduced
into the pockets of the apron. La Más Bella Manual
de Instrucciones is the most recent edition of La Más
Bella (published december 2006).
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La
Más Bella Tapa (La Más Bella Snack). Published in February 2009. The monographic subject
of La Mas Bella Snack is the worldwide famous Spanish
“"tapa"” (snack), which in Spanish
has a lot of different and funny meanings like “"cover"”,
“"top"”, etc, and it is used in
a wide variety of popular expressions.
La Más
Bella Snack is a box similar to those that
expend napkins in every bar in Spain, with napkins specially
designed by artist Sylvie de Pauw. The box has been
designed by designer Aitor Mendez, and contains almost
twenty different pieces produced by different artists La Más Bella Snack.
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There are more than fourty La Más Bella editions. Please contact us if you want to know more about our publishing project. La Más Bella organize also exhibitions and workshops about differents ways to publish contemporary art. Contact us if you want to know more, and don't forget to visit our BLOG.
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The
BELLAMÁTIC project consists
in an automatic vending machine, very similar
to the ones that expend candy, crisps or soft
drinks on the underground and in other public
spaces. It has been specially designed for automatically
expending magazines, fanzines, catalogues, CDs,
books, videos... any kind of editions or objects
produced by La Más Bella or by any other
collaborator, artist, collective, independent
publisher, independent art space, etc. There
is only one BELLAMÁTIC
machine, which is easy to ship thanks to its
design and dimensions.
BELLAMÁTIC
is an art project in its own right, an excuse
which allows a large number of artists to develop
performance pieces, interactions, installations,
exhibitions, editions... around the theme of
the vending machine, as a subject matter, a
protagonist, an output format, a source of inspiration,
etc. Since its birth in 2001, BELLAMÁTIC
has been installed in over fifty different locations,
thanks to the invitation of galleries, artists,
independent art spaces, festivals, or individuals
who have the desire to have the BELLAMÁTIC
temporally in their gallery, art space, studio,
fair, festival, or home.
Similarly
to La Más Bella magazine, BELLAMÁTIC
is not a commercial project (in fact, we have
only one machine). BELLAMÁTIC
is conceived as an art project that allows us
to promote La Más Bella and many other
independent editions and artists, in a very
funny and surprising way.
In
the last months of 2008 the BELLAMÁTIC
project has grown through the use of new machines
we called BolaBellamátic,
popular machines that sell small pieces of
art into a plastic ball, sold at a very popular
price (1 or 2 euro) in public spaces. Since then, the machines have been travelling to many places, events, art festivals, fairs... helping us to promote La Más Bella editions and the artwork of many artists. Please visit our BLOG and click the [Bolabellamatic tag] to see places and events where Bolabellamatic have been travelling since 2008.
In
January 2009, the Matadero Madrid
Contemporary Art Center commissioned La Más
Bella to run a project based on a large vending
machine permanently installed in the entrance
hall of Matadero Madrid: it is the New BELLAMATAMÁTIC.
La Más Bella change the contents of the BELLAMATAMÁTIC machine every 4-6 months, according to monographic programs. The machine sells books, magazines, catalogues, artist books... that are outside the conventional distribution routines in the publishing world. The BELLAMATAMÁTIC machine change also its look thanks to the participation of artists commisioned by La Más Bella to renew the outside look of the machine. Visit our BLOG and click the [Bellamatamatic tag] to see more images and information of BELLAMATAMÁTIC.
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