Our Mission

Nierika. Revista de Estudios de Arte is a new, peer reviewed, multilingual, ^[1] bi-annual online journal. It is intended to provide a forum for the dissemination of high academic research in the History of Art, Visual Culture, and Museum Studies in order to stimulate new debates in these fields.

Its name, “Nierika,” was inspired by the beautiful and colorful votive offerings of yarn produced by the Huichol Indians and is intended to acknowledge the rich and varied artistic tradition of Mexico. At the same time, since “nierika” also means “to see”, “to be conscious”, and “to be alive,” the concept is appropriate for a publication devoted to art studies as it is intended to help readers “to see” and to become conscious of the ever decisive, changing, and vital role of art in society. The journal, like the “nierikate” that inspired its name, aims to provide a forum in which to share the most current theories and interpretations in the History of Art, Visual Culture, and Museum Studies.

The publication is conceived as an open and flexible academic forum that reflects and stimulates the debate, diversity, and richness of art studies at both the national and the international levels. The journal will publish papers in the history of art dealing with all eras and regions, and particularly favored will be papers dedicated to the subject of Mexican and Latin-American Modern and Contemporary Art; the fields of Visual Culture, such as design, photography, television, and film; and Museum Studies, including historical topics, curatorship, and conservation and diffusion of artistic patrimonies. The journal also welcomes theoretical and methodological studies on iconology, sociology, psychoanalysis, semiotics, and gender issues, as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

Nierika’s contributors and editorial and advisory boards will include distinguished scholars, as well as recognized personalities of the academic and artistic fields from around the world. It, however, will also open its doors to students and young researchers and artists who can provide original works of the highest quality.

Each issue will comprise two main sections: the first will be a thematic section that will offer in between three and six peer-reviewed papers on a particular topic, and in some of the issues, an article that reflects a critical perspective in regard to visual studies, its theories or sources of study; the second will be a non-peer-reviewed section that will provide book reviews, interviews, documents, and translations which may or may not relate to the main theme of the journal’s first section. In order to ensure a plurality of voices, the editorial board will consider proposals from recognized scholars who may wish to participate as invited coordinators of a thematic issue, so long as the theme chosen conforms to the journal’s open policy and high academic standards.

1] Articles will be published in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.

Dina Comisarenco Mirkin