News | Art & Australia given to VCA, will be relaunched in 2016

A&A covers_0The University of Melbourne has announced that owner, editor and publisher of Art & Australia, Eleonora Triguboff, has given the journal to the VCA. It will be relaunched in 2016 with Professor Su Baker to take the role of editor- in-chief and Dr Edward Colless as editor. From 2016 the journal will focus critically on contemporary art, especially in its theoretical, socio-cultural and geo-political contexts. Ms Triguboff will become an honorary Chair of Art & Australia.

From the University of Melbourne:

Professor Baker said she was excited to take the journal into the next phase of its life.

“I would like to thank Eleonora Triguboff for this remarkable gift and to pay tribute to her passion and dedication to ensuring Art & Australia remained the premier art journal of record. Under Eleonora’s stewardship, Art & Australia has fostered a truly global outlook and strengthened its links to artists and the arts community. We look forward to continuing this trajectory and plotting an intellectual cultural agenda for the future,” Professor Baker said.

Ms Triguboff’s gift of Art & Australia to the VCA supports her objective of ensuring the publication continues to inspire and educate.

“It has been a real privilege to steer Art & Australia and I am proud of both the journal and the many relationships we have fostered with Gertrude Contemporary, the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), ANZ and Credit Suisse Private Bank. We have digitised the entire 53+ year archive and developed a dynamic website.

Gifting Art & Australia to the VCA under the exemplary directorship of Su Baker and the exceptional talent of Edward Colless will ensure the magazine continues to honour its past while making great strides into the future,” said Ms Triguboff, who will continue to develop publishing and community projects through ARTAND, a not-for-profit foundation.

In print since 1963 – and prior to that, from 1916 as Art in Australia – Art & Australia is the country’s longest running art journal. The publication has played a significant role in the documentation of Australian art history, and Professor Baker joins a list of distinguished editors and advisors such as James Gleeson, John Olsen, John Brack, Ursula Hoff, Daniel Thomas, Sasha Grishin and Deborah Hart.

At the VCA, Art & Australia will comprise a research and publishing body made up of visual artists and academics. The focus will be on contemporary art and its relationship to broader theoretical, social and geo-political contexts. The journal will be published in Autumn and Spring, with each issue bringing together a collection of work by leading writers and practitioners to explore what constitutes art and Australia in the 21st century.