Samine Joudat was bedridden when he started aesthetic/theories. The specifics of the illness are his own, but the timing matters: he was stuck in bed, unable to work, and the idea that had been circling his mind for years — an investigation into humanity on a broad scale, linking together fields that people treat in silos — suddenly had room to land. Photography, art, philosophy, architecture, design, technology, sport: Joudat believed these were not separate disciplines but different frames of reference expressing similar ideas. He also, by his own admission, wanted to build something that functioned as a pointed rebuke to the advertising industry he had worked in. His words were more colourful than that.
The team came together organically — friends, his girlfriend, his father and uncle (immigrants from Iran who had been immensely supportive), and a widening circle of collaborators who responded to the vision and wanted to help. aesthetic/theories launched as a biannual print publication out of Los Angeles, focused on featuring artists, designers, intellectuals, and institutions that reflect and shape cultural and creative patterns. Volume two narrowed the editorial lens to explore the tensions between art, creativity, and profit — a theme that sits at the heart of independent publishing and that Joudat, with his advertising background, was uniquely positioned to examine.
The magazine draws inspiration from Theodor Adorno, Rem Koolhaas, and David Lynch — a trio that tells you everything about its intellectual ambitions and its refusal to stay in a single lane. Based in LA but touring Tokyo, London, Berlin, and Melbourne for its stories, aesthetic/theories uses big ideas as starting points for exploring creativity across the world's cultural capitals. STACK Magazines featured it in their Sampler series, praising its ability to showcase distinctive, easily consumed highlights from a genuinely international roster of contributors.
Joudat has spoken openly about the challenges of running a creative start-up — logistical, financial, and above all strategic. The biggest question, he says, is what aesthetic/theories becomes if it resonates. He has not figured that out yet. What he has figured out is that a magazine born from enforced stillness, built by friends around a kitchen table, and driven by the conviction that the world's creative disciplines are secretly having the same conversation, can find an audience that feels the same way. That it exists on paper, permanently and deliberately, is both a statement of principle and — for a man who once sold things for a living — the most satisfying kind of revenge.
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