Aesthetica, the art & culture magazine

Independent magazines are to me like the grapes are to the fox: I aspire to read them, yet they feel inescapably elusive. They seem to belong to that aspirational hipster lifestyle, consisting of on-fleek latte shots and tinted of a soft, black-and-white Instagram filter. In other words, not me.

On occasion, however, my hand will reach for one of those polished-looking and gloriously matte magazines, sitting untouched and undisturbed on a shelf (that is, as long as the shelf is within my frustratingly short reach). On this particular occasion I was lazily browsing through the aisles of the WHSmith at East Midlands airport when my eye was caught by a lonely, possibly displaced copy of this:

For only £4.75, Aesthetica magazine has definitely hold up to their reputation as "one of the leading publications for art, design and photography." It served as a good companion for the 2-hour flight from Nottingham back to Italy and worked surprisingly well as a distraction from the very loud, very chatty Spanish girl sitting in front of me.

Aesthetica is a bi-monthly publication which covers a broad cultural angle focusing on art, design, architecture, fashion, film, music and performance. It includes a recommended list of notable new exhibitions around the world and features some stunning photography. It combines reviews, anecdotes and biographies to offer a full, but beautifully concise and informative overview of the current and up-and-coming artists and innovations.

Overall I am quite pleased with my purchase, and I wouldn't be surprised if I went and got myself another copy soon. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in discovering niche, avant-garde or just exciting new artists, photographers, exhibitions, events. While the Internet makes it possible for anyone to access and discover all of these things, it does feel good to have someone else seek them out, gather them together and lay them out nicely for you.

Here is a sneak preview of the April/May issue, which is out now:


Aesthetica Issue 70 from Aesthetica on Vimeo.