Motor 2
Delivered to Stack subscribers in
Dec 2023
A magazine about dance, Motor was conceived as a limited, three-issue series. The first issue was themed ‘Solo’, this second issue focuses on ‘Duet’, and the third issue will finish with ‘Group’. In the pages of this magazine, ‘Duet’ takes on many meanings, as the editors explain: “In the most traditional sense the duet implies a performance between two bodies, but one body can also be in duet with history, with landscape, with language. A duet is then a relation, a conversation, a dialogue.”
Name
Isabelle Bucklow and Hannah Woods
Job title
Founders and editors
What is Motor?
Motor is a London-based print publication dedicated to dance and writing about dance.
What makes it different to the rest?
What was striking to us is that there are plenty of magazines for film enthusiasts, or those with an interest in literature, design and art, but there is little dedicated entirely to dance. There are of course some exceptions to this, but, by and large, it felt to us that dance had been sidelined from printed matter. One response we hear a lot is that people are happy that dance is being given this attention and with an approach that makes it more accessible to a wider audience.
Who makes Motor?
We do! Alongside our brilliant graphic designer Audrey Solomon. We also collaborate with our amazing contributors, as well as the printers who physically produce it, our distributors Idea books, who extend its reach, and our stockists who share it with their readers.
Who reads it?
The aim of Motor is to bring dance to both dance and non-dance audiences. We encourage interdisciplinary engagements with dance so it features visual artists, writers, filmmakers, etc.
Why do you work in magazines?
As mentioned earlier, dance has been somewhat left out of ‘the history books’ due to it being seen as transient or ephemeral. The materialising of dance is therefore really important to us. We also see print as a democratic form — a way to bring together established writers and artists alongside early-career writers/artists, and create a community among them. And we love putting unexpected material together or finding doublings/dialogues…
Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in?
We both do other things outside the magazine, with interests across art, music, and ecology. Primarily Hannah is a curator and Isabelle is a writer.
What would you change about Motor if you could?
We’d love to get some funding behind us to allow us to push it further!
Where do you see Motor in five years?
In five years the magazine as it stands will be finished (the magazine is a three-part series) but we hope to have established programming and publishing arms under the umbrella of Motor. (Watch out for Motor’s first exhibition at San Mei Gallery this summer)
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