hey!

Artychoke is an online zine devoted to showcasing the arts as a means OF & FOR resistance. Wow! What a statement, right? Well, let us give you some insight to the cause and then you can judge again.

 

If you are reading this, you are probably someone artistic or at least someone that somehow enjoys arts and culture as part of life. Maybe not…maybe you’ve just bumped into this publication accidentally and you are reading these lines with a face of half disbelief and half contempt. It doesn’t matter really…whoever you might be, why don’t you take a minute to retrace your steps and check how many times today, some sort of art or culture has come your way.

 

'Hernando’s hideaway' playing on the radio over breakfast. An outfit choice that speaks of who you are, and links to some current or old fashioned standard of ‘cool’. Any body art? An extravagant nail varnish matching your trainers or a simple moustache trim will do. What about the series that keeps you awake and buzzing until late at night? Maybe a book or a new online zine (cheeky wink) whose pages are filling your brain. Freestyle dancing when nobody is watching; blasting classics in the shower or just humming a corny song in your head. Watching a bunch of leaves waltz with a plastic bag in the wind or a comedian on the telly who makes you wet yourself just a little bit.

 

Now, think about the value these daily doses of art bring to your life. Could you live without it? If the answer is yes, just close this page and go back to your (arguably) sad life. But if the answer is no, well… welcome to the resistance, comrade!

 

Artychoke is an act of resistance to protect our freedom of speech, to connect with ourselves and others, to be stimulated, challenged, encouraged and entertained. It’s our right to say to those in power ‘this is enough’ or ‘give me more’. Artychoke reclaims, protects and celebrates the role(s) arts and culture accomplish in society; and therefore, Artychoke revindicates the task(s) of those at the front line, making art happen.  So, here we go, to all of you, the artists of the world.

 

 

Anna Cabré-Verdiell & Charlotte Arnold / Artychoke's creators and editors