Flash Art's 50-Year History: From Rome to Global Influence

Giancarlo Politi, founder of Flash Art, will receive an honorary degree from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Macerata on February 9, 2018. The ceremony will be held at the Aula delle Lauree Josef Svoboda, with a laudatio by art historian Laura Cherubini. Flash Art, founded in 1967 in Rome, was Italy's first contemporary art magazine. Politi, a former teacher, launched the tabloid to provide fast, accessible art information. The magazine moved to Milan, which Politi considered a gateway to Europe. In 1977, Politi and his wife Helena Kontova split the magazine into Italian and International editions. Flash Art International covered a broader geographic scope, from Japan to the US and China. The magazine featured artists like Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan, with Cattelan appearing on twelve covers. Flash Art also launched the Prague Biennale in 2003, with the first edition titled "Peripheries become center" at the National Gallery in Prague. The magazine faced financial struggles initially but grew from the late 1970s onward. In the 2000s, economic crisis and digitalization forced a shift to digital format, led by Politi's daughter Gea, who now runs the publication. Flash Art also publishes a Czech & Slovak edition supported by the Ministries of Culture of Prague and Bratislava.