BOMB (magazine)

BOMB is a quarterly magazine edited by artists and writers. It is composed, primarily, of interviews between creative people working in a variety of disciplines — visual art, literature, music, film, theater, and architecture.

In addition to interviews, BOMB issues feature new fiction & poems, several 500-word "Artist on Artist" essays, and a reviews section.

Each Winter issue (on newsstands mid-December through mid-March) is an "Americas" issue focusing on a specific region of North America (south of the U.S.), Central America, or South America. Spring, Summer, and Fall issues are not themed.

BOMB is published by New Art Publications, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization [ [http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=justgive&npoId=108490 New Art Publications, Inc.] ] .

History

BOMB magazine was launched in 1981 by a group of New York City-based artists, editor-in-chief Betsy Sussler among them, who sought to record and promote public conversations between artists without mediation by critics or journalists. One night, Sussler said, "Wouldn't it be great if we started a magazine where we talked about the artwork the way we talk about it among ourselves?" [cite web|url=http://www.nysun.com/article/57030|date=June 21 2007|last=Taylor|first=Kate|accessdate=2007-06-26|title="Artists Talking Art, for 25 Years"|work=New York Sun]

The name, BOMB, is a reference to both Wyndham Lewis's BLAST and the fact that the magazine's original editors expected the publication to "bomb" after one or two issues.

Shortly after its founding, BOMB became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

As of June 2007, BOMB has published 100 issues and over 800 conversations between artists. Over 150 of these conversations are posted on the magazine's [http://bombsite.com website] .

BOMB has undergone significant editorial and design changes since 1981, but peer-to-peer interviews have always been a major focus.

In 2005, the BOMB offices moved from SoHo, NYC to Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Interview Goals & Methodology

BOMB coordinates interviews between peers, often across genres or disciplines (i.e. a poet might interview a painter), in order to generate intimate, revealing, revelatory conversations that focus generally on the creative process and specifically on the subject’s oeuvre, but often focusing on the most recent and upcoming projects. Interviewers and interviewees are encouraged to participate in the editorial process, treating the raw transcript as a sort of blueprint but knowing that anything can be added or subtracted, expanded or rewritten, before publication.

elect Interviews, 1981–present

Art & Architecture

* Carroll Dunham by Betsy Sussler (issue 30, winter 1989/90)
* Kiki Smith by Chuck Close (issue 49, fall 1994)
* Lorna Simpson by Coco Fusco (issue 61, fall 1997)
* Elizabeth Murray by Jessica Hagedorn (issue 62, winter 1998)
* Valeska Soares by Vik Muniz (issue 74, winter 2001)
* Samuel Mockbee by Judy Hudson (issue 75, spring 2001)
* Glenn Seator by Anthony Vidler (issue 80, summer 2002)
* Pat Steir by Anne Waldman (issue 83, spring 2003)
* Kerry James Marshall and Luc Tuymans (issue 92, summer 2005)
* Harrell Fletcher by Allan McCollum (issue 95, spring 2006)

Literature

* Harry Matthews by Lynne Tillman (issue 26, winter 1988/89)
* James Merrill by Thomas Bolt (issue 36, summer 1991)
* Francine Prose by Deborah Eisenberg (issue 45, fall 1993)
* Michael Ondaatje by Willem Dafoe (issue 58, winter 1997)
* Guillermo Cabrera Infante by Oscar Hijuelos (issue 70, winter 2000)
* Madison Smartt Bell by Jack Stephens (issue 73, fall 2000)
* Alvaro Mutis by Francisco Goldman (issue 74, winter 2001)
* Laurie Sheck by Susan Wheeler (issue 79, spring 2002)
* Jeffrey Eugenides by Jonathan Safran Foer (issue 81, fall 2002)

Film & Theater

* Steve Buscemi by Quentin Tarantino (issue 42, winter 1993)
* Tony Kushner by Craig Lucas (issue 43, spring 1993)
* Richard Foreman by Eric Bogosian (issue 47, spring 1994)
* Wong Kar-wai by Han Ong (issue 62, winter 1998)
* Michael Frayn by Marcy Kahan (issue 73, fall 2000)
* Noah Baumbach by Jonathan Lethem (issue 93, fall 2005)

Archive at Columbia University

In 2004, Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired BOMB's archives, including 24 years' worth of audio recordings, raw & edited interview transcripts, manuscripts, galleys, and assorted ephemera.

Quotes about BOMB

"It will always be of inestimable historical value to have provided these intimate glimpses into the personal centers of the creative process. But the interviews will have that value just because they are not merely documents for future reference. The interviews refer to the culture in its fluid and formative state, and in this way contribute to its direction. In and through them the culture encounters itself... There are plenty of venues for interpretation, but the task that BOMB has preempted on behalf of the culture is to help it find its bearing through understanding those who are helping it change." —Arthur C. Danto

"Reading BOMB interviews was one of the ways that I began to conceive of myself as an artist." —Miranda July

"BOMB's brilliant juxtaposition of voices, mediums, and genres makes beautiful noise." —Jonathan Lethem

References

External links

* [http://www.bombsite.com/ BOMB Magazine]
* [http://www.bombsite.com/eugenides/eugenides.html Jonathan Safran Foer interviewing Jeffrey Eugenides]
* [http://www.bombsite.com/schutz/schutz.html Mei Chin interviewing Dana Schutz]