e-flux

e-flux
Name	e-flux
Formation	1999
Founders	Anton Vidokle; Julieta Aranda; Brian Kuan Wood
Headquarters	New York City
Fields	Contemporary art; Curatorial research; Publishing; Exhibition production

e-flux is an independent platform founded in 1999 focused on contemporary art, curatorial practice, publishing, and exhibition production. It operates as a nexus for artists, curators, institutions, and writers, producing a widely circulated newsletter, organizing exhibitions and projects, and publishing books and critical texts. The organization has collaborated with museums, biennials, galleries, and academic institutions across North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

History

e-flux was established in 1999 by Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda, and Brian Kuan Wood, emerging from the milieu of artist-run spaces and alternative projects in New York City, including ties to the legacy of the Tropicália-era network of artist initiatives and the curator-led movements surrounding the Whitney Biennial, Documenta, and Venice Biennale. Early activities intersected with initiatives around the New Museum, MoMA PS1, and the transnational circuits exemplified by the Bienal de São Paulo and the Istanbul Biennial. Its growth paralleled developments involving institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Serpentine Galleries, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum, and university programs at Columbia University, New York University, and the Royal College of Art. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, e-flux collaborated with curators and artists connected to projects like Rirkrit Tiravanija, Ragnar Kjartansson, Hito Steyerl, Theaster Gates, Tania Bruguera, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Okwui Enwezor, and Marina Abramović.

Activities and Publications

e-flux’s publishing output includes printed books, artist catalogues, and critical essays often produced in partnership with publishers and institutions such as Sternberg Press, MIT Press, Afterall, Phaidon Press, Hayward Gallery, and Walther König. It has published writings by contributors linked to programs at Goldsmiths, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, Yale School of Art, Pratt Institute, and Cooper Union, and has produced texts engaging with projects at the Guggenheim Museum, Hammer Museum, Kunsthalle Basel, Haus der Kunst, CCA (Centre for Contemporary Art, sites like Vancouver Art Gallery), and major biennials including the Liverpool Biennial and Biennale of Sydney. Collaborators have included scholars and practitioners associated with the Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Ludwig Museum, Fondation Cartier, MAXXI, and the Menil Collection.

Exhibitions and Projects

e-flux has organized and supported exhibitions and projects staged at locations ranging from the New Museum and MoMA to alternative venues such as artist-run spaces in Berlin, Mexico City, Los Angeles, London, Seoul, and Beijing. Notable collaborations have engaged curators and collectives connected to Kurator, Archive Project, and initiatives tied to the Reina Sofía, Palais de Tokyo, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Kunstverein Hannover, ICA London, Walker Art Center, Perez Art Museum Miami, Fondation Beyeler, and Khan Academy-adjacent educational programs. Projects have intersected with festivals and conferences including Performa, Frieze Art Fair, Art Basel, Documenta 13, and the São Paulo Architecture Biennial.

Online Platform and Newsletter

The e-flux newsletter operates alongside a web platform that aggregates calls for submissions, exhibition announcements, and critical writing, functioning similarly to other art communication infrastructures linked to Artforum, ArtReview, Frieze, ArtNet, and Hyperallergic. Its circulation targets audiences engaged with institutions such as Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and university galleries at Art Institute of Chicago and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The platform’s architecture has been referenced in discourses involving digital projects at Eyebeam, Rhizome, Creative Time, and labs at MIT Media Lab and ZKM.

Organizational Structure and Funding

e-flux’s organizational model combines editorial staff, curatorial producers, and project coordinators who liaise with partners including foundations and grant-makers such as the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Open Society Foundations, Graham Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, and corporate sponsors that have supported programming at institutions like the Brooklyn Museum, New York Public Library, Carnegie Museum of Art, Kunsthalle Zurich, Mori Art Museum, and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. It operates in collaboration with legal advisors, fiscal sponsors, and production teams with experience working with museums and biennials including Palais de Tokyo, Fondazione Prada, Hammer Museum, and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.

Criticism and Controversies

e-flux has been the subject of public debate and critique similar to controversies surrounding major cultural platforms and festivals such as Documenta, Venice Biennale, Whitney Museum, Frieze, and Art Basel. Criticisms have addressed editorial choices, partnerships with corporate sponsors and foundations associated with entities like Shell, BP, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and the role of media platforms in shaping visibility comparable to critiques leveled at New York Times Arts section, The Guardian Culture, The New Yorker, and Flash Art. Debates have involved contributors and institutions linked to Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Columbia University, Yale University, Stanford University, and international cultural policy discussions involving ministries and cultural agencies in Germany, France, China, Russia, and Brazil.

Category:Contemporary art organizations