Dominika Hadelova: Yes, exactly. I think it’s the perfect reflection of us. In fact, when we were printing, it was quite nice to see that each page wasn’t purely Aldo or purely Dominika, but rather this incredible chemical mix of two things coming together. I think really we made something that mixes everything up but still possesses a thematic fluidity. At the beginning of this process, when we were approaching people on the street for interviews, people would always ask us, ‘So what is this magazine about? How would you describe this magazine?’ At that point, we had already come to the conclusion that we didn’t want to over-define MATTO. We felt very strongly that once you define something too much, you put a border around it. When something is concretely defined, a kind of mental and emotional movement is hindered. Staying fluid is something we really wanted for the magazine, so that it doesn’t feel forced in any way.
Aldo Buscalferri: Yes, the problem is that with this market, especially if you are a normal magazine working with advertisers, they typically need a clear statement, a clear-cut explanation of what the magazine is all about. Of course, we have some of these ingredients, but we really didn’t want to have one predominant ingredient. For example, if you work for a generic art magazine, you just talk about contemporary art, you don’t touch anything else most of the time. Fashion magazines, you just discuss fashion, and so on.
Dominika Hadelova: In this issue, we have an interview with this Scottish installation artist named Claire Barclay, and I think that because we are not art critics or journalists, our interview is much more accessible to the reader. Also, because we speak directly to the artists, they never write something up really fast or prepare something to say—what they say on the spot comes from a profoundly genuine place. In that way alone, MATTO isn’t your ordinary art magazine—it’s all open conversation.
Aldo Buscalferri: The experience is super important to us, and that’s why we always ask to meet every individual we choose to include in person. With real encounters, you can discover so many things about the subject that would have been lost in translation if you communicated via email, telephone or Skype.
Dominika Hadelova: For example, we went to interview this artist in Brooklyn for our next issue, and when she opened the door, we noticed that her studio was just full of things—like no joke, things everywhere! Then she went into this long-winded monologue that lasted for about twenty minutes, and Aldo and I were looking at each other like, ‘What is this woman talking about? I don’t understand anything she is saying.’ It was an experience similar to when someone wakes up and has a really vivid dream, and tries to retell that dream to another person, and that person has no idea what that other one is talking about. It was only after she showed us some of her work and played us a 45-minute video piece that we started to grasp her artistic identity and the underlying concepts of her pieces. After that initial ‘Eureka!’ moment, you immediately want more. Something just shifted in our understanding, and that experience you can never have with an email interview, you can never have that over the phone, you simply can’t. Or even in a conversation that we had with an artist in this issue—as you speak, the conversation suddenly becomes about materials, not just about her work, but her experiences working with different materials. Real life conversations have this fluidity that can’t be recreated.
Aldo Buscalferri: Yes, especially when we touch on contemporary art precisely because it’s not our background—we don’t have the technical, critical approach that we find most of the time in other art magazines, which is sometimes very big if you’re not inside that world, you understand nothing. I mean, this is also very important.
If there is one thing you want your readers to take away from MATTO, what would it be? Who are your readers?
Dominika Hadelova: I think our reader would be someone who is curious, someone who is open-minded, someone who would like to experiment and someone who is not afraid of things being mixed, and being open.
Aldo Buscalferri: I think also a secret ingredient to our magazine is erotics, or sex, which is a subject that could be a bit touchy, cheesy or cheap, or whatever. Luckily, we had a good concept of themes throughout the series.
Dominika Hadelova: Again, I think these qualities are a reflection of us. We chose everything, we chose the graphic design, the layout, the content—everything.