WHAT IS LA MAS BELLA?

La Más Bella is an Experimental Magazine of Art and Creation based in Madrid, Spain, and published by Diego Ortiz and Pepe Murciego.

La Más Bella (“The Most Beautiful”) is a collaboration-based publication, and each new issue harnesses the work of hundreds of creators from all the fields of artistic production, both visual and literary, audiovisual or conceptual. Collaborators are invited to submit work based on a specific theme and format proposed by La Más Bella. Collaborators contribute in a fully altruistic manner, while La Más Bella runs with the cost of production, funding and distribution of each issue.

Born in 1993, La Más Bella has published around 30 issues, with a total of nearly 500 collaborators from the field of Spanish art and culture. Aside from the content, La Más Bella has always insisted on keeping an experimental format and external appearance, approaching the idea of an assemblage-magazine, or an object-book, both formats coveted by artists and collectives throughout the 20th Century. In parallel to the publication of the magazine, the editors of La Más Bella have also promoted, organised, and taken part in a wide range of events related to contemporary art and publishing practise: magazine exhibitions, performance art sessions, workshops, talks, presentations, summits, etc., etc.

La Más Bella wasn’t 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 La Más Bella, such as workshops, talks, special editions, etc. La Más Bella doesn’t have any stable source of funding, be that a public administration or a private body, beyond occasional collaborations and funding aids aimed at specific projects.

Every new edition of La Más Bella is a project completely different from the previous one, both in contents and in its external appearance:

The best way to understand what is the philosophy of La Más Bella is having a look to a couple of examples:

	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).
	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).
	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.
	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).

Etc.

We make one -sometimes a couple- of new La Más Bella's per year, with an edition of 1.000 copies. The magazine is sold in specialized art bookstores, museum shops and art galleries along many spanish cities. It is also common to find La Más Bella in art fairs as ARCO (international art fair celebrating in Madrid), artistic meetings and events where the publishers use to go to promote the magazine and sell it directly to the people.