Three ghosts of art and design media - past, present, and future

Media news

The Face magazine is back again for a 3rd time despite its closure being announced in March of this year. The 2nd attempt to get rid of the fashion magazine was announced earlier this year when its owner, Wasted Talent (what a name huh), told stakeholders that it would be ceasing operations due to financial losses. It has now been swooped up by C86 holdings and will be added to its budding portfolio of media brands alongside NME. The Face's website is currently a sign up form for those who want to be the first to know when they start publishing again.

The Cutting Room Floor inked a multi-year deal with Patreon (see Instagram). This deal will help founder Recho Omondi build out the marketing and production team. The Cutting Room Floor will also be adding events to its slate in the near future. One thing about the podcast is it's focused on the individuals that make fashion what it is. From designers, to stylists, to fashion writers, to internet curators, and more. It feels collaborative because Recho pulls out these interesting tidbits from her guests through constant probing that sometimes has a bit of an edge. However, it always comes from a place of genuine curiosity and a distinct POV.

Vibe magazine has also announced that they've resumed their print issues. Unfortunately, they are off to a weak start with A$AP Rocky being their first cover star.

I wish media in general felt more like a collaboration with readers. For example, I would love for Vibe magazine to be more of an art collective than a traditional magazine. Let the hip hop heads tell it, there's so much going on in the underground scene, but you wouldn't know that looking at Vibe's website or social media. Yet it's supposed to be the premiere hip hop magazine. What do you see instead? Legacy artists from bygone eras 🫤. Things I'd love to see:

■ Tiered coverage: (A) Your main stars - 5 to 10 underground artists that are ascent and built strong followings get regular coverage, (B) Your background characters - other artists that may or may not have solid followings yet but are still doing interesting things in their respective spaces; they get sporadic coverage (C) Your legacy acts - not as hot anymore but paved the way and get occasional coverage

■ Video section on their home page for live performances: if TikTok has shown us nothing else it has at least shown us that video is more important than ever to keep people engaged. But more than that it's a way to show what an artist is working with. How good are they at crowd control? How much energy do they bring to a stage? Etc. Have a section where users can watch 30sec of a performance. Repost on social media.

■ Playlists that readers can add to their collection via their preferred music service. Readers can suggest songs to be added to the playlists.

■ Weekly newsletter specifically for independent artists and managers

■ Allow fans to submit questions for cover stars

There are so many ways they could engage newer artists, their fans, and readers especially the ones still carrying the genre on their back. And it's not just Vibe but it's all long established media companies outside of a handful of exceptions. So much of media feels like it's missing zhuzh and the weird thing about it is that it doesn't cost much more than they're already spending to create a more energetic presence.

People are starting these fun, provocative interactive art festivals

Ruckus, which I talked about in my last report, and now https://www.veryworkinprogress.com/ . I don't think the concept itself is exactly new (Under the Radar festival?) but it is interesting nonetheless because the interactive element is what most festivals are missing. Most people don't just want to be audience members, they want to be co-creators. Everyone is trying to claw back their creativity (aka soul) from big tech. I'm a firm believer that if there is a thing as a soul then it finds redemption and cleansing, so to speak, through both the mental processes (imagination, discovery, emotional stimulation and resonance, etc) and the physical act of creating. But that's another topic for another day.

"Basel Social Club (BSC) shreds the playbook for a large-scale commercial art event. For its fifth edition, the week-long art platform and experiential project has taken over a huge former UBS training centre with works by more than 200 artists. Highly successful in generating buzz, it proves the effectiveness of “focusing on an experience economy, while keeping art at front and centre,” says its co-founder, Yael Salomonowitz." https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/06/19/artists-forge-new-paths-at-basel-social-club

Adult Swim has a new slate of original programming in the works

Emmy, Annie and BAFTA-winning production studio Blink Industries has partnered with Adult Swim SMALLS to develop more original, home-grown animated content https://www.skwigly.co.uk/andrew-ganvickton/

Chinese customers are losing interest in European luxury

Younger shoppers in China are slowly replacing the western brands that used to fill their shopping carts for more Chinese brands. Part of it could be tied to cultural pride, but mainly its pricing and increased price sensitivity for some shoppers as well as western brands employing misaligned marketing strategies. Young Chinese consumers are connecting and staying informed via digital communities in which western companies have little to no presence in.

Textile news

69 fashion and textile companies and organizations signed a statement last week urging changes to government policy that would boost the competitiveness of resale and repair activities in the apparel industry. The group includes apparel makers Decathlon, H&M Group, Lacoste, Primark and Reformation, as well as resale platforms ThredUp and Vinted.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis developed a protein-based textile that can be reused.

"We engineered recyclable protein fibers that dissolve in a formic acid solution within seconds, yet remain stable in water and strong after drying."

-- Professor Fuzhong Zhang, Washington University in Saint Louis

A fake awards show had the design community buzzing

More entertaining than any real awards show we've seen over the last decade, the Las Culturistas Culture Awards was a hit. But the real raves came from artists and designers. The comedy show hosted by Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang featured

Over a 100 artists are threatening legal action for being included in the Visitors' Lions awards at Venice Biennale

This comes after controversy from the inclusion of Israel and Russia's sponsored pavilions in the event. I'm telling you, many people have had enough. A lot of these organizations are either going to find morals or will die off as less and less people and other organizations that do have morals will want to be linked by association. The worst part is after all this they're still trying benefit off the artists' names. The artists bring the prestige. I understand. But if you don't have any values or if your morals are different, stand in it. Be ready to lose whatever you lose for it.