Triple Canopy is a New York-based "magazine" and

501(c)(3) nonprofit organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

. Issues of the "magazine" are published online over the course of several months. Each issue focuses on specific questions and areas of concern, and features works of art and literature, conversations, performances, exhibitions, and books. Triple Canopy is dedicated to “sustained inquiry, careful reading and viewing, resisting and expanding the present.” In “The Binder and the Server,” a memoir-manifesto published in 2010, the editors proclaimed their intention to “slow down the internet”; subsequently, reflecting on the erosion of the line between “online” and “offline,” they shifted to “slow down the world.” Triple Canopy is certified by Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.). Triple Canopy’s archive was acquired by the Fales Library and Special Collection at New York University.

Overview

Founded as an editorial collective in 2007, Triple Canopy currently consists of a staff of editors, writers, artists, researchers, designers, and web developers based in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Mexico City, and Berlin. Triple Canopy’s digital platform acts as the hub for publishing activities that occur online, in print, and as events and exhibitions. From the design of the platform to the editing of essays and artworks, Triple Canopy is meant to foster attentive reading, prolonged engagements—in opposition to the incessant distraction that characterizes the attention economy. Due to the presentation of substantive, carefully edited material that is designed to be read and viewed online, and makes use of the characteristics of the browser, Triple Canopy's work has been referred to as "the sort of stuff people say is not happening on the internet." Triple Canopy draws on the legacy of avant-garde print magazines and journals, but also incorporates the history of new media publications such as the magazine-in-a-box

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

, the audio cassette magazine Tellus, and the experimental publication Blast. The central form for Triple Canopy’s publishing activities is the magazine issue. Issues may include digital works of art and literature, public conversations, books, editions, performances, and exhibitions. New issues are devoted to the collaborative production of bodies of knowledge around specific questions and concerns. Issues are published over the course of several months, often concurrently, at a rate of approximately three per year. As of December 2018, Triple Canopy has published twenty-five issues of the magazine and twelve books, and has worked with more than nine hundred contributors. Triple Canopy has collectively authored works that have been presented by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art (New York) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, MCA Denver, and

Kunsthalle Wien Kunsthalle Wien is the city of Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city ...

, among other institutions. Triple Canopy creates open-source publishing systems that enable the magazine to elucidate relationships between activities that occur on the web, in print, and in person. Triple Canopy has organized numerous public programs and participated in residencies in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Chicago, Tucson, Paris, Berlin, Sarajevo, Turin, and elsewhere. The magazine regularly organizes the Publication Intensive, a free two-week program in the history and contemporary practice of publication. Triple Canopy’s office and venue is in Chinatown, Manhattan, shared with

Electronic Arts Intermix Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit arts organization that is a resource for video and media art. An advocate of media art and artists since 1971, EAI's core program is the distribution and preservation of a colle ...

. Until 2017, Triple Canopy shared a space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with film and electronic art venue

Light Industry Light industry are Industry (economics), industries that usually are less Capital intensity, capital-intensive than heavy industry, heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consum ...

and open-source educational program The Public School New York. Triple Canopy's venue regularly hosts performances, lectures, screenings, talks, and other public events. The magazine also maintains an active presence in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Critical response

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called Triple Canopy “a multitasking brain trust of a nonprofit that publishes an extremely smart Internet magazine”; in another article, in 2017, the paper declared that Triple Canopy “broke the mold of traditional Web design; instead of scrolling down, readers page left and right, which gives the work a framed look.… Their concept of ‘slowing down the Internet’ has come to seem prescient.” ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''s Sasha Frere-Jones commented that "Triple Canopy may be a journal of high intellectual resolution, but it is also very easy to read on a computer screen." In a ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' article naming the five best art magazines, ''

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

'' editorial director Jennifer Higgie wrote that Triple Canopy “lets you watch videos, is not limited by word or page length, and can be read simultaneously by people anywhere in the world. In other words, it’s the future." In a note about

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961 – September 2, 2020) was an American and British anthropologist, Left-wing politics, left-wing and anarchism, anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in Social anthropology, social ...

’s essay on the history of debt in issue 10, ''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022, it reported its relaunch under the direction of ''The Nation'' magazine six mo ...

'' praised the magazine for integrating the immersion of print with the immediacy of the internet. In 2012, Triple Canopy received the Art Journal Award for the best work to have appeared in Art Journal, published by the College Art Association, in the previous year (Triple Canopy’s contribution was “The Binder and the Server,” essay on the image and value of labor in contemporary publishing practices).

Print publications

* Triple Canopy, ed., ''Invalid Format: An Anthology of Triple Canopy, Volume 1'' (2012) *

Sarah Crowner Sarah Crowner (born 1974) is an American painter best known for her geometric abstractions that evoke the style of hard-edge painting of the 1950s and 60s. Biography Sarah Crowner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1974. She received a Bac ...

David Horvitz David Horvitz (born 1974) is an American artist who uses art books, photography, performance art, and mail art as media for his work. He is known for his work in the virtual sphere. Horvitz is a graduate from Bard College. Career Horvitz use ...

, and

Ariana Reines Ariana Reines is an American poet, playwright, performance artist, and translator. Her books of poetry include ''The Cow'' (2006), which won the Alberta Prize from Fence Books; ''Coeur de Lion'' (2007); ''Mercury'' (2011); and ''Thursday'' (2012). ...

, ''Miscellaneous Uncatalogued Material'' (2012) * Triple Canopy, ''The Binder and the Server'' (2012) * Triple Canopy, ed., ''Invalid Format: An Anthology of Triple Canopy, Volume 2'' (2012) * Triple Canopy, ed., ''Corrected Slogans: Reading and Writing Conceptualism'' (2013; second printing, 2015) * Triple Canopy, ed., ''Invalid Format: An Anthology of Triple Canopy, Volume 3'' (2014) * K.D., ''Headless'' (2015; ebook, 2016) * Triple Canopy, ed., ''Speculations (“The future is ______”) ''(2015) * Triple Canopy and

Ralph Lemon Ralph Lemon (born August 1, 1952 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American choreographer, company director, writer, visual artist and a conceptualist. Raised in a religious environment, he developed his artistic creativity as a child.Diana Stockon, � ...

, eds., ''On Value'' (2015) *

Anna Della Subin Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th ...

, ''Not Dead But Sleeping'' (2016; ebook, 2015) * Sowon Kwon, ''S as in Samsam'' (2017) *

Ulf Stolterfoht Ulf Stolterfoht (born 8 June 1963 in Stuttgart) is a German writer. Life and work Ulf Stolterfoht opted out of military service and performed civilian service instead, after which he studied German and Linguistics in Bochum und Tübingen. St ...

with Peter Dittmer, translated by Shane Anderson with Megan Ewing, ''The Amme Talks'' (2017) *

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yo ...

with Jennifer Krasinski, ''Andy Warhol: The Series'' (2017)

List of notable contributors

Fatima Al Qadiri Fatima Al Qadiri (; born July 1981) is a Senegalese-born Kuwaiti musician and conceptual artist. Biography Fatima Al Qadiri is the daughter of Mohammed Al Qadiri, a former Kuwaiti diplomat and writer, and Thuraya Al-Baqsami, an artist and writ ...

Cory Arcangel Cory Arcangel (born May 25, 1978) is an American post-conceptual artist who makes work in many different media, including drawing, music, video, performance art, and video game modifications, for which he is best known. Arcangel often uses th ...

* Kevin Beasley *

Mel Bochner Melvin Simon Bochner (August 23, 1940 – February 12, 2025) was an American conceptual artist. He is considered to be one of the founders of Conceptual Art,Haus der Kunst (March 7, 2013 - June 23, 2013) Mel Bochner: If the Color Changes./ref ...

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (; pinyin: ''Jiāng Fēngnán''; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula Award, Nebula awards, four Hugo Award, Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus Award, ...

Joshua Cohen (writer) Joshua Aaron Cohen (born September 6, 1980) is an American novelist and story writer, best known for his works ''Witz'' (2010), ''Book of Numbers'' (2015), and ''Moving Kings'' (2017). Cohen won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel '' ...

Gabriella Coleman Enid Gabriella Coleman (usually known as Gabriella Coleman or Biella; born 1973) is an anthropologist, academic and author whose work focuses on politics, cultures of hacking and online activism, and has covered distinct hacker communities, s ...

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...

* Renee Gladman *

Rivka Galchen Rivka Galchen (born April 19, 1976) is a Canadian American writer. Her first novel, ''Atmospheric Disturbances'', was published in 2008 and was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. She is the author of five books and a staf ...

* Lucy Ives * Steffani Jemison * Jon Kessler *

Katie Kitamura Katie Kitamura (born 1979) is an American novelist, journalist, and art critic. As of April 2025, she was teaching creative writing at New York University. Early life and education Katie Kitamura was born in Sacramento, California in 1979 to a fa ...

* Josh Kline *

Wayne Koestenbaum Wayne Koestenbaum (born 1958) is an American artist, poet, and cultural critic. He received an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature in 2020. He has published over 20 books to date. Koestenbaum works as a Distinguished Profess ...

Hari Kunzru Hari Mohan Nath Kunzru (born 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. He is the author of the novels '' The Impressionist'', '' Transmission'', ''My Revolutions'', '' Gods Without Men'', ''White Tears'',David Robinson"Interview: Hari Kunzru, ...

* David Levine *

Glenn Ligon Glenn Ligon (born 1960, pronounced Lie-gōne) is an American conceptual artist whose work explores race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity.Meyer, Richard. "Glenn Ligon", in George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman (eds), ''Gay Histories a ...

* Jill Magid * Tom McCarthy *

Fred Moten Fred Moten (born 1962) is an American Culture theory, cultural theorist, poet, and scholar whose work explores critical theory, black studies, and performance studies. Moten is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University and Distingui ...

* Trevor Paglen * William Pope.L * Kameelah Janan Rasheed *

* Namwali Serpell * Bob Stein (computer pioneer) *

Martine Syms Martine Syms (born 1988) is an American artist residing in Los Angeles, specializing in various mediums including publishing, video, installation, and performance. Her artistic endeavors revolve around themes of identity, particularly the repre ...

Astra Taylor Astra Taylor (born September 30, 1979) is a Canadian-American documentary filmmaker, writer, activist, and musician. She is a fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation for her work on challenging predatory practices around debt. Life Born in Winnip ...

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

* Mónica de la Torre * Constance DeJong

References

External links

''Triple Canopy''

The State of Inauthenticity
- an analysis of the

International Necronautical Society Tom McCarthy (born 1969) is an English writer and artist. In the wake of Brexit, he gained Swedish citizenship. His debut novel, ''Remainder'', was published in 2005. McCarthy has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and was awarded ...

from Issue 1
Star Wars: A New Heap
- John Powers' acclaimed essay from Issue 4
The Used Future
- Kevin Kelly's review of Star Wars: A New Heap
To Have Is to Owe
-

's essay on the history of debt from Issue 10
Notes in Time
- a digital reanimation of Nancy Spero's landmark work from Issue 10
Digitizing Art Online with Triple Canopy
- an analysis of the digitized "Notes in Time"
We Are All Anonymous
- a conversation which brought together

(author of essay
"Our Weirdness Is Free,"
from Issue 15), David Auerbach (author of the essay
"Anonymity as Culture: Treatise,"
from Issue 15) and lawyer James Grimmelmann
International Art English
- Alix Rule and David Levine's essay on the rise of the art-world press release from Issue 16
I'd Rather Talk About the Post-part
- an essay about the value of artworks and of the labor and bodies that make them by Ralph Lemon
High Treason
- a video game against official nationalism by Juan Caloca for Issue 22
Triptych: Texas Pool Party
- Namwali Serpell's three-part fiction on the 2015 McKinney, Texas, pool party incident for Issue 23
"Triple Canopy: 'Slowing Down the Internet'"
Sasha Frere-Jones,''

'', 17 January 2012
"New York literary magazines – start spreading the news"
Hermione Hoby, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', 5 January 2013
"Critics and Online Outlets Leading the Vanguard in Arts Writing"
Mary Louise Schumacher, ''

Nieman Reports The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is the primary journalism institution at Harvard University. History It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ' ...