THE ICONOMIST is an ongoing research project, an artist’s magazine, an observatory, an institution, and a post-digital collective founded in 2021
THE-ICONOMIST publications are included in collections such as the contemporary art library at the Beaux-Arts in Paris (France), the Schaulager/Laurenz Foundation (Switzerland), the contemporary collection at the m-AG — Museum of the Avant-Garde (Switzerland), and the photography library at the Moreira Salles Institute (Brazil), among others. In 2023, the magazine was featured in the exhibition The Intelligent Library at PhotoVogue, at Base Milano. In 2025, THE-ICONOMIST participated in Offprint Paris as an exhibitor.
Whywar➝ Memoryscape➝ Mirror:Mirages➝ STAYNONSTOP➝
WhyWar? Memoryscape A Dress Grew Itself and Other Fragments➝ In the waiting room
Memoryscape.mp4 XXXSpace.mp4➝ theWorldAsAStage.mp4➝
“THE-ICONOMIST’s latest issue is hectic and “suffocating” in its use of online image banks. The magazine has never really operated within the requirements of a conventional magazine. This isn’t just because the issues don’t have any advertisements or an ISBN number, or even that it doesn’t have a website that can be indexed by Google. The magazine defies a traditional editorial approach at every turn.After its first four issues’ focus on AI-generated visuals, the magazine has returned with its fifth edition — a printed exploration of surveillance in the digital age.” — ELLIS TREE, It’s Nice That “Leafing through the eighth issue of The Iconomist feels like plunging into a dense sea of images drawn from widely different origins and visual regimes. Appropriated, manipulated, distorted, corrupted, cropped, filtered and recombined, these images accumulate into a surface that is intentionally overwhelming, producing a visual field that feels both vertiginous and delirious.” — ELAINE RAMOS
theiconomist
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 … …
Unlock Life (Leaving a mark that destroys), 2023Digital collage.
Nº 3 — To catalogue. Introducing THE ICONOMIST’s latest thematic dossier. This edition takes inspiration from art magazines and catalogues to curate a collection of images that provoke and question our relationship with artwork documentation in the age of artificial intelligence. All the clichés of the art world are represented, the artist’s studio, the the … the_iconomist_issue3
44 pages, 21x28cm, saddle-stitch binding, with shipping worldwide. Buy in print Download PDF
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 … the_iconomist_issue_2_to_wear
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, … the_iconomist_issue_1
STAYNONSTOP is a photobook consisting of a selection of 130 images generated by artificial intelligence. The images are accompanied by fragments of artists’ texts from different sources. The name of the book comes from a reflection on how addictive these image production processes through artificial intelligence can be, like everything these days. By placing these … staynonstop_txt