Still Haven’t Read Our First Issue? — A Look Back at the Beginning of The Circle of Curators
Two months ago, we launched the very first issue of The Circle of Curators — a project created from a simple but increasingly rare idea: that contemporary art deserves time, attention, and thoughtful observation.
In a cultural landscape often dominated by speed, algorithms, and constant visual consumption, this first edition was conceived differently. Not as a catalogue of images to scroll through for a few seconds, but as a curated editorial space where artworks, artists, and ideas could unfold more slowly and meaningfully.
Issue #1 brought together a wide range of international artists whose practices move between abstraction, figurative painting, textile art, watercolour, digital experimentation, and contemporary visual research. Rather than forcing a single curatorial narrative, the publication explored a shared sensibility — one rooted in atmosphere, perception, emotional honesty, and the experience of looking itself.
Within its pages, readers encountered the luminous and emotionally intuitive paintings of Borja Álvarez, the quiet watercolour worlds of Martina Marcus, the fictional landscapes of Emily Veldman, the expressive figurative language of Lara Ješe, the embroidered perceptual explorations of Kah Yan Chai, and many other contemporary voices working across different cultural and artistic contexts.
Alongside the featured artists, the issue also included essays and reflections on contemporary art fairs such as Arte Fiera Bologna and Art Genève, examining how these spaces continue to evolve within today’s art ecosystem. Other texts explored themes such as digital art, perception, representation, and the relationship between artwork and viewer.
One of the central essays of the issue focused on Velázquez’s Las Meninas — not simply as a historical masterpiece, but as an image that continues to question how we see, observe, and participate in the act of looking. In many ways, that text reflected the wider editorial philosophy behind the magazine itself: art as something to experience rather than consume instantly.
Looking back now, only two months later, Issue #1 already feels like the beginning of an ongoing conversation — one centred not on noise or spectacle, but on thoughtful curation, artistic sincerity, and the enduring relevance of visual culture.
If you have not yet explored our first issue, it remains available to read online.
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