An art magazine’s passage from a print to a digital edition can be likened to moving from road transport to supersonic flights. Through the innate digital process of de-territorialization and de-temporization, the elements of time and distance are overcome and anyone can have access to the magazine, anywhere in the world, within a matter of seconds and without postal expenses. As a result, demands become manifold, communication in never-ending and the need for speed multiplies. Nonetheless, this is also one of the marvels of our era. Yes, the paper fetish and layout creativity are sacrificed, but there’s a lot to gain from a digital platform: multiway communication, opened sources, access to information and the opportunity for engaged discussion.

Of course, every magazine such as MATAROA has the inherent drawback of being defined by local confines. Nonetheless, every great critic of art assures us that this is not a defect, but, on the contrary, can be a privilege and an obligation; art, when art is authentically significant and trailblazing, when art conveys the local, the national, the familiar, the intimate, then art can and does submerge into the human condition so deeply, it rises to the point of ecumenical prominence.

You can’t reach everywhere by spreading outwards on a surface, but you can be heightened and pervade by delving into the human fate. The ancient Greek tragicists wrote about small communities (at least in comparison with present-day cities) such as Athens, Thebes, Argos, Troy, yet their works reflected the eternal human condition magnificently, remaining as contemporary as ever and will always be. What was the Peloponnesian War? When estimating the magnitude, the distances and the casualties, it almost amounted to a skirmish, especially when compared to Desert Storm or Vietnam, let alone the nations and forces involved. Thucydides is one and eternal, just as Homer is with his small and everlasting Troy.

Therefore, promoting localization -or a lack thereof- is not as much at stake here as is the artistic medium through which such localization is expressed and affects everyone, everywhere and forever  -if it may- through its internal and intrinsic worth. Hieronymus  Bosch (1450-1516) lived and painted in a small city in the Netherlands, Hertongenbosch. He never travelled outside his birthplace, but his works have transcended throughout time and all over the world. Why?

Out of these thoughts it becomes even more evident that we need the diversity, localization, individuality, style and uniqueness of each artist who can at last showcase his/her work all over the world. One such vessel for projection and discussion is MATAROA, both in its print edition and now, even more so, its digital form.