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Stirato

Stirato

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We don't have any kind of advertising or publicity on STIRATO. Sometimes we produce special edition poster for exhibition, artist selfpromotion or companies.

Poster Magazine

Art magazine

Rome, Italy

Via Marcello II, 29, 00164

Email: info@stirato.net

Category: Art, Illustration, Poster magazine
Periodicity: Quarterly
Language: Italian
Format: 150 x 210 mm
Circulation: 7,000
Price: Free
Web: http://www.stirato.net

Founded in 2003

We monthly selfproduce STIRATO from november 2003. In december 2005 Stirato chaged his size (from a A3 poster to A1!) and periodicity, for a total of 4 issues every year.
Stirato is a free art magazine based in Rome. Stirato is a big piece of paper folded. In the front a big poster from an international artist, in the back interviews and news about illustration, photogaphy, comics, design and visual art. In every issue we create a single theme for all the artist and news inside.

Exclusive Interview

"An artistic magazine about art"

What is your magazine about?
Sebastiano Barcaroli and Siriana Flavia Valenti: Stirato Poster Magazine was born in November 2003, a labour of love created by Sebastiano Barcaroli and Siriana Flavia Valenti. Stirato is a free poster magazine dedicated to the visual arts; it is presented in an agile postcard format, and once unfolded, it explodes into a poster designed by an international artist. Each issue, a single theme unites articles, interviews and news pertaining to the world of illustrations and photography, of comics and web design, while also incorporating architecture, interaction design, fashion and new forms of visual communication. Stirato is the result of the experiences and the desires of two Roman graphic designers to put on paper all that the contemporary art world has to offer. It is a monthly occasion to spark curiosity in readers, to nudge them onto new paths, often ignored by publications in the very same sector. It’s a way to present different realities through bits and pieces of visions and articles. Stirato offers a stimulating and never dull graphic design, themes and suggestions out of the ordinary while never taking the easy way out, and presents highly succesful events. By being free to the public and free of intrusive publicity and politics, it has become the new reality in the panorama of free Italian magazines. It offers foldable indipendent visions; a pocket-size and never innocuous culture, printing emotions on folded paper. Stirato is indipendently published and freely distributed in Rome and may be downloaded from www.stirato.net in PDF format (English version also available). For special collaborations, monographic editions have been created for events.

Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
Sebastiano Barcaroli and Siriana Flavia Valenti is the couple behind Stirato. They cure the coordination and the graphic of Stirato. Every issue they organize the theme, the artist’s interview and the articles on the mag. But in the history of Stirato a lot of people passed and write articles, did illustrations or photographies, work for translations and distribution. Really important for us is the web part of the project. Every single issue of Stiratois on the site in PDF format for being download! The swiss artist ASHI designed and cure our web-site: www.stirato.net

How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
The first step is to decide a theme. After this we know that every artist, interview, news or articles on the issue must be near that theme! We had themes like Violence, Girls, Animals, Fear, Dreams, Human Body, Fairy Tales… one time, we decide to ask to 7 international artist to choose a recipe and do an illustration about it, it was for the Food issue! The second step is contact (mostly by internet) the artists we hope to guest in the issue. The most lovely (for us) one will be guest in the giant poster and in the longer interview of the issue… all the others will have special spaces in the magazine! After having done all the interview and after having received all the images we start to create the design for the issue… we always try to have a similar impact but different structure, we create new graphic more near to the theme of the issue! We change fonts and particulars. We write articles flipped at 90° or 180°, and we often write in really tiny size letters, because we don’t want to create in the readers the sensation of calm, we love to ask them attention and concentration. Every articles or interview on Stirato don’t need more than 8/10 minutes to be read and we want the full attention of the reader during the reading! Stirato must be consider like a map in the navigation of the big sea of Internet. Every interview or suggestion on Stirato can be consider a first step for a personal trip that can carry the reader somewhere and sometime very far from the first step! For two years we produced Stirato every month. The size was little (like a postcard close and A3 the poster). From December 2005 we change our size (15x21 cm close, A1 the poster) and so we enlarge the articles and the interview. Also the name of the mag change and became Stirato 101, because in every issue we collect 101 cool things! Now we produce 4 issues per year! The team behind Stirato change issue after issue. Sebastiano Barcaroli & Siriana Flavia Valenti are always at the rudder of the mag. Zaelia Bishop, Matteo Mendiola, Chiara Moriconi, Andrea Sanguigni, Marco Enrico Giacomelli are some of the people who mostly write things for Stirato, and, logically, in every issue we have a massive collection of visual artists who create original illustration or photography for the issue!

What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
Logically the first issue was our first important step. A lot of ideas and work finally printed in a new magazine. In the last three years we had really cool moments, especially when we had the occasion to organize special exhibition. Our public presentation was in March 2004, in the design bookstore 47th Floor (www.centrifuga.net/47thfloor) with the paints of Arnold Mario Dall’O. In November 2004 we was interviewed for the Cult Network TV format N.E.R.D. (www.cut-tv.com/nerd); we also create a special Stirato for the Nerd Exhibition Party, a party with international artist from the program. In April 2005 we have organized a special exhibition with the swiss artist ASHI; he stood in Rome for a week and he painted two big panels dedicated to Rome, we also make a special documentary about his coming called “Sleeping Rome”. In February 2006 we organized the “Immaculate Party”, a party inside an ancient church in the very center of Rome, more than 1.500 enjoyed the party! All this steps was so important for us, for let the people know Stirato and for having contacts with cool people and new friends.

Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
I think we have a mix of good ingredients. For first the unusual format and size of the magazine: can read an entire magazine and at the end have a cool poster to hang at the wall give to Stirato the way to be loved by people, u know, like when we were young and have the poster of our favorite actors and singer in the room! Now we can have great poster from international artist! But, logically, also the way we write the articles and the artist we choose for the different issues have a great importance. We always try to find really unique artist, try to talk face-to–face with them, and give to the readers a lot of different imput for start a personal research for all the cool things we have in the world! The most important word is: curiousity! Without curiousity all it’s so boring!

What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?
All the difficulties we have in Stirato life are always passed when a new issue comes out, when an artist say: “Sure I want to collaborate with u”, when we understand that our work “arrive” to the people, and they like it! The “thing” that can help the magazine could be the attention from major and big brand to the quality and not only to the promotion. A lot of corporations spend money in magazines, but really few produce cool magazine (I think for example at the one produced by Mini, really cool, every issue a different city focus! Cool!)

Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
We hope that in 5 years Stirato will be a magazine with more distribution in the important cities of Europe.

Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Mostly young people. But, u know, we have also not so young readers! But Stirato found his nature (both for the graphic and the themes) into young culture. We have a lot of contacts on the website and from all over the world. The readers of Stirato are persons who want to know how the art in the world is going on, and don’t want to take it so seriously… people who want to follow the trend without being slave of it… and, of course, people who have an empty space on their wall for put a cool poster on!

Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Stirato is totally indipendent, we don’t have any kind of publicity or politic inside. This is important for Stirato, because in this way we’re so free to do what our mind think it’s right… but Stirato don’t want to rapresent an underground fanzine full of hate and pilitics. We had produce special issue for exhibitions, artist and brand.

What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
We think that find a commercial way for Stirato will be the only way to let it live! For the particular size of Stirato every single promotional space in the normal quarterly issue could stole space to art, but we are absolutly convinct that in future the only way to continue the life of Stirato will be produce promotional special issues.

Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?
Absolutly not in Italy! We have a lot of idiots talking in TV… so many reality show… it’s better read Stirato!

Which is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?
The important role of our typography is about the quality of the paper and the capacity to fold well our magazine. Stirato have this particular folded format (is it not a classical page-after-page magazine. We have the luck to work with always the same typography in the last 8 years and they do really a great work everytime.

Which magazines did influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
Raygun, Dazed and Confused, Adrenalin, Dave Cooper’s Weasel.

What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
I think: how poor! So much space and so less things! U know, going on creating the graphic of Stirato we start to put issue after issue more thing, tiny news, little suggestion, create a crazy patchwork of photos and illustration. In every issue we have more conscience about the space and the way to use it! But I really like the first issue, for the great poster of the English artist Kid Acne and for the remembering of my happiness for having it in my hand, and run in the streets of Rome with my motorcycle for carry a copy to Siriana! It was great!

What question did you never ask in your magazine but would have liked to?
For real? Sometimes I want to ask: hey, can u send me for free that incredible paint? Please… I really have to hang it on my wall!!

How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
I think no more than 3 or 4 mag per months. We download a lot of magazines in PDF on the net. And we buy a lot of books… both about graphic and classic literature, maybe something that can open the minds more than other.

www.stirato.net
info@stirato.net

E-mail interview from “20.5.2008”. © Colophon2007.com – Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)