''RealTime'', also known as ''RealTime Arts'', was a free Australian arts magazine, published by Open City in print from 1994 until 2015 and online from 1996 to December 2017.

History

The free national arts magazine ''RealTime'', also known as ''RealTime Arts'', was launched in 1994 by

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based writer/performers Virginia Baxter and Keith Gallasch. They had established a performance company called Open City in 1987, which became the publisher. The magazine, which focused on experimental and hybrid arts practices, was seed-funded by the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

, and secured ongoing funding after its popularity became evident. By the 2000s, it was a 56-page magazine produced bi-monthly, with 27,000 copies delivered to 1,000 locations across the country. With its initial focus on contemporary innovative performance, theatre and dance as well as contemporary classical and experimental music, other media such as sound art, film, video and

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

art were also covered. It aimed to cover forms that were not being covered in mainstream arts magazines, and also focused on Indigenous Australian art and the work of artists with disability. ''RealTime'' stuck to longform reviews, and "experiential" reviewing was encouraged, following

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

's, Deborah Jowitt's,

Sally Banes Sally Rachel Banes (October 9, 1950 – June 14, 2020) was a notable dance historian, writer, and critic. Life, education, and performance career Born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., Banes studied dance, and ...

' styles, based on perceptual phenomenology. In 1996 the ''RealTime'' website was created, initially publishing reviews of the

Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

under the direction of Barrie Kosky. Thereafter the bi-monthly print edition was also published online, which expanded the readership considerably. More frequent emailed editions started to be produced from 2009. The last printed edition was published in December 2015, with ''RealTime'' published weekly online. However with little opportunity to sell advertising, the magazine was no longer financially viable after 2017, so the decision was made to cease publication with the last issue of that year. With support from the Australia Council, effort was concentrated into publishing a full archive of every issue, and the

UNSW The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

Library started work on creating fully searchable digital copies of the 130 editions of the print magazine from 1994 to 2015, for publication on the National Library of Australia's Trove website.

Today

Today, the ''RealTime'' website includes digitised print editions from 1994 to 2000, plus all online editions from 2001 to 2018, as well as many other features. It has a portal for dance, featuting dance on screen and ''RealTime'' onsite at dance events.

Other publications

''RealTime'' received commissions from arts festivals all over the world, and in addition was called upon to publish other works: *The ''In Repertoire'' series (1999-2004) promoting Australian art, commissioned by the Australia Council *''Dreaming in Motion, A Celebration of Australian Indigenous Filmmaking'' (2007), commissioned by the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...

(still unique in its subject matter, as of 2021) *''Bodies of Thought: 12 Australian Choreographers'' (2014), sponsored by the Australia Council

References

External links

*
Archived print editions at Trove
{{authority control 1994 establishments in Australia Contemporary art magazines Bi-monthly magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1994 Weekly magazines published in Australia Arts magazines published in Australia