This week, independent Chicago publication Jupiter Magazine kicked off its debut benefit auction “As Ever, In Orbit,” exclusively on Artsy. The sale features 18 artists, aiming to raise funds to support writer honorariums and expand the organization’s slate of public programming. Online bidding will take place until September 25th at 12 p.m. EST.
Works in the auction span painting, sculpture, and photography, with 20 total lots included in the sale. The lineup includes established artists Torkwase Dyson, Caroline Kent, and Ato Ribeiro, alongside younger figures such as Turiya Adkins, Lindsay Adams, and ibiyanε. “As with our contributing writers, these individuals possess a deep understanding of and reverence for the responsibility they carry in their role not only as creators of exceptional art, but also as producers of knowledge and culture,” said Daria Harper, co-founder of Jupiter Magazine.
Founded in January 2024, Jupiter has released five issues of its magazine, which focuses on art writing with a political consciousness. Past issues have taken inspiration from speculative novelist Octavia Butler, hip-hop diss tracks, and the work of Black conceptual artist Charles Gaines. The publication has hosted events in Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles, including writing workshops and film series.
At a time when independent art magazines and writers are facing diminishing resources, the auction will help support Jupiter’s mission of advocating for cultural criticism through publishing and programming. Jupiter endeavours to “exceed current industry standards of compensation,” according to its website.
“Camille and I founded Jupiter because, as writers ourselves, we grew increasingly concerned about the lack of infrastructural support that we experienced alongside many of our peers,” said Harper. “It is ever urgent that writers and critics have access to resources that allow them to do their best work as cultural caretakers, and to continue to make meaning around the art that shapes our lives.
Jupiter co-founder and editor-in-chief Camille Bacon emphasized the importance of art criticism in the wider context of art. “It’s an archive of the entanglement between personal sentiment and collective memory,” said Bacon. “Without it, crucial context falls out of the bottom of the totality of our cultural ecosystem. It also serves as a publicly accessible tool for arts education which, like art criticism, is quite universally under-resourced.”
Bacon added that critique can be an essential tool against systems of harm. “I don’t want to overestimate the political function of our work but critique, at its best, can play a role in atrophying systems that perpetuate harm,” she said.
Correction: a previous version of this article stated that Jupiter is based in New York. It is based in Chicago.
