Hasta La Ideas

Brusselssprout is a digital publication that “aims to become an open, independent and alternative platform offering content related to the artistic and cultural world.” They hope to champion underrepresented or otherwise noncommercial projects, exploring the new media landscape as a frontier for curatorial possibilities. Ignacio Gomez of the Brusselssprout editorial team was kind enough to share the history and future of their publication.

Core77: First off, what is Brusselssprout and how did it get started?

Ignacio Gomez: Initially developed in 2004 as a personal project by David Payton and myself, [Brusselssprout] re-launched in 2010 in its current format with the addition of Blanca Lopez, Mikko & Sasha Rosti, Hinrik Laxness, Cesar Bustos and Jordi Punzo.
The magazine was founded as a mechanism to react to the perplexity of the situation of contemporary artistic production. The sense of post-2001 dislocation and bewilderment increased after the 2008 financial crisis. Does anyone really understand anything about the artistic production that is taking place today?

Just like the movement that encourages the self-generation of food in the city or self-sufficient systems of resource production, Brusselssprout is an initiative that involves cultural and artistic self-production to fills gaps (personal or collective) in whichever contemporary scene it latches onto, without any hesitance or complexes. This makes it a luxury for those of us who do it, as we aren’t in any hurry, don’t have an audience, we don’t have a budget, we have no agenda or road map, no contacts, no sponsors and no need to explain everything we do…

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