''Contemporary'' was a monthly

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

magazine based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Founded and edited as ''The Green Book'' by Keith Spencer as a quarterly publication, it re-emerged under the title ''Contemporary Art'' in 1993. On the death of Spencer, the title was acquired by

Gordon and Breach Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 Research and Dovepress. It is a division of I ...

Publishing (G+B), and produced four issues under the editorship of Lynne Green, Spencer's deputy. The magazine finally found its feet as a committed contemporary art publication in 1996 under the editorial control of Keith Patrick and with the change of title to ''Contemporary Visual Arts'', later abbreviated to ''CVA''. During this period the magazine achieved sales of nearly 20,000, including 5,000 subscribers, with distribution mainly in the UK, Europe, the States and Australia. Its base at this time was the former

Peek Freans Peek Freans is the name of a biscuit-making company based in Bermondsey, London, England which is now a global brand of biscuits and related confectionery owned by various food businesses. History James Peek (1800–1879) was one of three ...

biscuit factory in

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

, the site of several key early exhibitions of the

YBA YBA or yba can refer to a number of things: * Young British Artists, a movement of British artists in the 1980s and 1990s * Yala language, a language spoken in Ogoja, Nigeria, by ISO 639 code * Young Buddhist Association, an association of Bud ...

generation. With the collapse of the G+B parent company in 2001, the title was acquired by Art:21 and reappeared as ''Contemporary'' in January 2002 although no longer with an exclusive commitment to the visual arts. In 2003 a sister publication, ''Contemporary 21'', was launched. Initially media-focused, with special issues dedicated to painting, sculpture, video art and performance, it would later embrace a wider range of topics, from art collecting to the relationship between visual art and architecture. In 2006 ''Contemporary'' published its first Annual, featuring 50 emerging artists nominated by its network of world correspondents. In 2008 the magazine relocated to

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

, where it ceased publication after failing in an attempt to start a Spanish-language edition. In May 2009, it was reported that the publisher, Brian Muller, had not paid the magazine's contributing writers for a year.
"''Contemporary'' Mag vs. its Writers"
''Artnet News'', 19 May 2009

Notable contributors

* Ian Carr-Harris * Dennis Cooper *

Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964) is a British artist. In the 1990s he was one of the informal Young British Artists group; like many of them, he took a degree in fine art from Goldsmiths' College, in London. He was among the artists included in the ...

*Mark Gisbourne *Tony Godfrey * RoseLee Goldberg *Katerina Gregos *Martin Herbert *

Jens Hoffmann Jens Hoffmann Mesén (born 1974 in San José, Costa Rica) is a writer, editor, educator, and exhibition maker. His work has attempted to expand the definition and context of exhibition making. From 2003 to 2007 Hoffmann was director of exhibit ...

Katie Kitamura Katie Kitamura (born 1979) is an American novelist, journalist, and art critic. As of April 2025, she was teaching creative writing at New York University. Early life and education Katie Kitamura was born in Sacramento, California in 1979 to a fa ...

* Thomas McEvilley * Lucy McKenzie * Hans Ulrich Obrist *Christine Redfern * Sally O'Reilly *

Barry Schwabsky Barry Schwabsky (b. Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957) is an American art critic, art historian and poet. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, New York University, Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Ar ...

*Katy Siegel * Won-il Rhee * Raúl Zamudio

Editors-in-chief

*Brian Müller (2008) *Emiliano Valdés (2007–08) *Michele Robecchi (2005–07) * Roger Tatley (2004–05) *Mark Rappolt (2003–04) *Keith Patrick (1996–03) *Lynne Green (1995–96) *Keith Spencer (1993–94)

References

External links

''Contemporary'' homepage
1993 establishments in the United Kingdom 2008 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Arts in the United Kingdom Visual arts magazines published in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Contemporary art magazines Defunct visual arts magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1993 Magazines disestablished in 2008 {{art-mag-stub