New art-critic magazine defies the odds

In an age when online reading has become a fad and printed magazines have gradually lost their appeal, a new modern art-critic magazine was launched in Beijing on July 9.

The nonprofit quarterly, named Alicorn Contemporary Art and Culture, aims to offer independent critics from new approaches on the market, which "has been kidnapped and distorted by power, money and fame", said Liu Feng, adviser for the new magazine.

The expert panel of Alicorn includes many big names in art circles, including Sun Hongpei, deputy Party chief of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; renowned critic Yang Weimin; and curator Liang Kegang.

About 60 percent of its content will cover overseas art market with the rest focused on China.

From 2005 to 2008, more than 20 kinds of art-critic magazines mushroomed all over China, but 80 percent of them perished by 2009. Liang believes changes in media over the past decade have thrown a great challenge for new entries to the market.

Still, Wang Can, editor-in-chief of Alicorn, has confidence to stick to a nonprofit structure.

"When we are able to be independent financially, we are able to criticize independently," she explained. "And, we will usher modern art to its relatively limited circle and combine it with a wider range of urban culture."

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