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THE ICONOMIST is an artist, a publication, an agency focused on producing commentaries through collections & appropriation using contemporary imagery. TI reveals their work throught photographic series, collages, films and publications. TI is a open body of work that accepts collaborations from other artists, writers, curators in its collection and appropriation processes.
What is an iconomist? The element “icon” comes from the Greek Εικόνα and means “image”. In its origin, therefore, iconomy is the art of managing images. Today it is the science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of images. The iconomist treats images as mass, raw material, and can either give value to rotten images or destroy images categorized as high value, altering their meanings and functions. It is the administration of the productive system of a country or region, in other words, of the context in which we live.
The concept of “iconomy” originated as a neologism coined in 2006 by economist Gilson Schwartz. Schwartz judged that “in this iconomy, the nomos is defined by the icon, by something that is tangible, which is a visual, immaterial, real, and symbolic code at the same time…this iconomy that messes with our way of thinking, measuring, and feeling, looks like a game.

“ICON” + “AFFECTION” + “PROGRAM
Nº2 — To wear. THE ICONOMIST’s new thematic dossier is out. At first glance, a fashion magazine, or something other than a style magazine, with models and their looks made of improbable mixtures, speculations around accumulation and consumption. How to wear images? How to wear what’s left of an exhausted world? Artificial armor, mountains of plastic and synthetic fabric. It is impossible to dive, it is impossible to find anything. Use what you have, that’s it. After collecting, it’s time to wear. To assemble a body of materials. To turn the material into an extension of the body and to rely on a possibility of protection. Change everything at any moment. It may look like a fashion magazine, but it is a survival manual. The issue also includes selected excerpts by authors such as Judith Butler, Emanuelle Coccia, and Georges Bataille as well as collages of text made from reviews of fashion shows and news. A process of rethinking the verb to wear in a world in the process of depletion, in terms of image and environment.

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Nº1 — To collect. We are happy to present the first thematic dossier of THE ICONOMIST. We explore the world of collecting and the people who do it. We look at the phenomenon of collecting from a variety of perspectives. All images in the issue were generated through artificial intelligence, as well as some texts, interviews, and short stories. The issue also includes selected texts by Susan Sontag, Emmanuel Levinas and Sergei Eisenstein. What are the limits of a collection? From garbage collectors to art collectors, from compulsive hoarders to collectors of weapons of mass destruction, the accumulators of power. The informal collectors, the professional collectors.

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