magCulture Live, New York, 2022

After a break of two years we’re excited to confirm magCulture Live is returning to New York for another celebration of the culture of magazines.

Previously known as ModMag, the annual event showcases the best creative editorial projects, with speakers from across the magazine spectrum sharing their work. Read on for more details.

This event has taken place already—ful report and video to follow
Tickets cost $70 via Eventbrite

magCulture Live features a series of talks by speakers from some of today’s most innovative magazines. All will provide their own unique insight into the role of the magazine in contemporary culture, this year focusing on the role of collaboration in the editorial process.

Livestream

We’re excited to be returning IRL, but if you can’t make it for the live event, you can join us online to watch a livestream of the complete session. Tickets via the link above.

The list of speakers below is now complete. They include people from long-standing established New York titles as well as from the brightest new indies.

magCulture Live, New York, 2022
Sunday 22 May, 1—5pm
Atrium | Ace Hotel Brooklyn
252 Schermerhorn St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Map

Schedule for the day:

Meet the speakers:

Gail Bichler & Jake Silverstein,
New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine has always set a high standard of editorial creativity, and current editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein and design director Gail Bichler have pushed those storytelling standards in print and digital ever higher. They’ll be sharing recent highlights from their eight-year collaboration.

Photograph by Damon Winter

Richard Turley & Mel Ottenberg, Interview
Originally launched by Andy Warhol in 1969, Interview has gone through many iterations, but its current one is surely one of the most exciting. Reflecting the colliding worlds of fashion, art, music and celebrity, it is presented as an oversized zine. Every page is spilling over with an ever-developing aesthetic mashing type and image together, and we’ll be welcoming the principals behind these two disciplines to hear how they collaborate.

Emily Stokes, The Paris Review
Another longstanding institution, The Paris Review (NY-based despite its name) has recently been relaunched under new editor Emily Stokes. She brought in designer Matt Willey to help redefine the magazine, and she’ll be sharing a little of the title’s history before discussing the redesign process. Emily has previously worked at Harper’s Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and The New Yorker, where she was a senior editor.

Vincente Munoz & Audrey Rose Smith, Balcony
This smart art magazine launched last year, and issue two has just been published. As we wrote at the time, ‘Its refreshing view of the art world ignores the usual work-fixated narratives of art publishing in favour of the intimate and everyday—Balcony is made up of conversations with artists about their lives.’ It’s also a fabulous-looking piece of print.
Read our interview with Audrey and Vicente

Kathleen Tso & Vicki Ho, Banana
This richly visual magazine celebrates Asian culture, combining the traditional and contemporary against a context of the mutual cultural influence of the West and the East. ‘We hope that Banana helps inspire Asians as well as brings awareness to allies,’ says Kathleen, co-founder of the magazine.
Read more from Kathleen

Nadja Spiegelman, Astra
Astra is an exciting new magazine of literature addressing an international community of readers resisting nationalism. Nadja will be introducing the magazine and explaining its mission. She is the author of the memoir I'm Supposed to Protect You From All This, as well as three children's books and her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, Newyorker.com and more.

Photograph by Bek Andersen

Verena von Pfetten, Gossamer
Gossamer is one of several US magazines launched alongside the liberalisation of cannabis legislation. Less about getting high than about providing content of interest to people while high, it’s always a well-produced, visual treat and packs a few surprises every time, most recently a highly tactile, felt-like front cover. Verena is the co-founder of the magazine.
Read our review of issue four

Vanessa Saba, Mother Tongue
‘We wanted to connect with mothers who felt frustrated by the fact that their intellectual, professional, social, sexual, analytical lives were sort of overlooked once they were a mom,’ Mother Tongue co-founder Natalia Rachlin told us recently. Vanessa is creative director of the new magazine, where she is reinventing the visual language associated with publishing for mums to match the editorial ambitions of the title. 
Read our recent interview with the Mother Tongue founders

Happy David, Casa Magazines
Casa Magazines in the West Village is a New York institution, a magazine store that still revels in stocking the best magazines. From Interview to Mother Tongue, they stock them all. Happy will discuss the successful campaign to save the store during the pandemic.

Christian Nolle, Direction of Travel
Direction of Travel is a newspaper-format mag devoted to the golden age of airline route maps, the pre-digital prointed diagrams that descibed the growth of the air industry. It’s designed and published in London by digital infographics designer Christian Nolle, who’ll be explaining the links between his magazine and his daily practice.

Plus more to come…

All speakers are confirmed but we reserve the right to change the line-up for reasons beyond our control. We’re unable to refund tickets once booked.

MagMagMag pop-up shop
Following its success in 2018 and 2019, the magCulture Shop will be returning to New York for MagMagMag, a pop-up magazine shop collaboration with our friends at Vitsoe in their w8th Street, Manhattan Shop. In the run up to magCulture Live, we’ll also be running a series of free lunchtime talks at Vitsoe.
Map

magCulture live is presented by magCulture and Ace Hotel Brooklyn

Visit New York for magCulture Live and stay at Ace Hotel Brooklyn.

Use code: LIVEATACE for 15% off until June 1, 2022

With thanks to all our partners:

And thanks to our media partners:

magCulture Live FAQs

What is magCulture Live?
magCulture Live, previously known as ModMag, has been held annually in London since 2013. We have now organised nine London editions, two New York editions (2018 and 2019) and three online editions over the Covid lockdown.

What is it about?
The event presents the most innovative and interesting creative work in magazine publishing, with editors and art directors uniting to share their thoughts and ideas. We won’t duck the big issues facing print today, but neither will we fall for the easy, negative narratives surrounding the industry.

magCulture Live is a celebration and reminder of the power of magazine creativity – if you know the magCulture Journal you’ll have a sense of the scope and focus of the live event.

Who is magCulture Live for?
The day is aimed at publishing professionals, design and journalism students and graduates, and anyone with a creative curiousity. The ability to develop an editorial voice is in everyone’s hands today via digital channels. Hear from leading editors and designers how they are handling this responsibility.

Why London and New York?
London and New York have been the two centres of English-language publishing for over a century, and the relationship between the two cities remains a vital one.

Who organises magCulture Live?
magCulture Live is presented by magCulture, curated by Jeremy Leslie and produced by Lauren Doughty. Read the magCulture Journal for a sense of what/who we are.

If you have any questions about magCulture Live or MagMagMag
Please email lauren@magculture.com