Mission Statement
Art in Translation (AIT) is the first journal that takes as its mission the publication of quality English language translation of the most interesting articles on visual culture presently available only in their source language. These texts have already been published in languages from around the world and are drawn from all areas of the visual arts: painting and drawing, sculpture, architecture, design, installation works and digital media. It will introduce the English-speaking readership to new areas of scholarship that share as their main qualities their excellence and originality.
Published four times a year as an online journal, AIT combines scholarly acumen with readability that appeals to a broad audience. It is intended not just for specialists working in a single field of enquiry, but for anyone who is looking for insight on visual art scholarship and practice across the world.
Over the years, AIT will build up a library of texts and images on art across the world that will offer an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching across a wide range of disciplines. In addition to texts on contemporary visual culture, the journal will also include a selection of key texts from earlier decades that have never before been available in English.
AIT is published only in electronic format. This reflects radical changes in library purchasing policy and reading practice, as both increasingly favour digital formats over hard copy. Digital technology will not only make AIT accessible to the broadest possible global audience, but it will also enable full-colour illustrations and the option to provide links to related websites, video and commentary.
Meeting a need
AIT is founded on the premise that the increasing domination of art history by the English language has had an isolating impact on research and writing produced in other languages. While English-language publications are read in many parts of the world, many foreign-language publications are largely inaccessible to speakers of English or indeed other languages. It can take years, and even decades, for important books and articles to appear in translation, if at all.
While not attempting encyclopedic coverage, AIT acts as a window onto the practice of art history and visual culture in the non-English speaking world. The journal itself and the collaborative effort involved in producing it will act as a significant catalyst in connecting scholars worldwide, in bringing important scholarship to wider attention and in moving art history in challenging new directions.
Publisher
Berg Publishers, Oxford (website)