Dissolve
Dissolve is an art collective and curatorial project founded in 2016 that publishes arts criticism online, produces books through Dissolve Publishing, maintains the Bureau of Longitudes archive, and offers bespoke editorial and curatorial services to creatives and arts institutions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSan Francisco Bay Area, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Dissolve does
Dissolve is an art collective and curatorial project founded in 2016 by Kathryn Barulich, Christopher Squier, and Jackie Valle, originally based in the San Francisco Bay Area and now operating as a distributed project with international contributors. The organization publishes Dissolve Magazine, an online arts criticism and discourse platform that fosters emerging writers, cultural theorists, and artists engaged with the unseen and unknown; produces printed works through its Dissolve Publishing imprint; and maintains the Bureau of Longitudes multilingual archive organized by degrees of longitude. The technical foundation is a Squarespace-hosted digital publication with no disclosed proprietary technology stack.
Dissolve generates revenue through three streams: one-time book sales via Amazon (titles include 'The Demise of Alice' and the co-published chapbook 'Boys Fight'), recurring Patreon memberships offering prompts, readings, and community access, and bespoke Dissolve Salon professional services for creatives and arts institutions — covering concept generation, critical looking, visual studies, archives management, writing and publishing, editorial work, and digital offerings, with fees scoped per project. The go-to-market is community-led and relationship-driven, relying on organic social channels (Instagram, Facebook), the website, an email newsletter, and word-of-mouth within arts communities. The organization has no disclosed external funding, operates with three core founders as the leadership team, and engages with strategic partners including Winter Editions, Alder & Frankia, and the Carl Heidenreich Foundation on co-publishing and editorial projects.
Dissolve firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Dissolve
- Legal name
- Dissolve
- Website
- https://dissolvesf.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Dissolve is an art collective and curatorial project founded in 2016 that publishes arts criticism online, produces books through Dissolve Publishing, maintains the Bureau of Longitudes archive, and offers bespoke editorial and curatorial services to creatives and arts institutions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Dissolve industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Arts Publishing and Creative Services
- NAICS
- Book Publishers (513130), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510)
- SIC
- Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Content Studio & Creative Resourcing (In-house/Embedded Teams) (BPAFAIAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Editorial & Production Services (Copyediting, Proofreading, Formatting, Typesetting) (MPAJAJAG), Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE)
Keywords
Where Dissolve is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco Bay Area
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Dissolve business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Publishing: Dissolve publishes books and small print-run publications, including novels like 'The Demise of Alice' and exhibition catalogs. Books are sold through Amazon and directly via contact form.
- Dissolve Salon Services: Full-service suite of offerings for creatives including concept and content generation, critical looking, visual studies sessions, archives management, writing and publishing, editorial services, and digital offerings. Fees are dependent upon project scope, key activities, and deliverables.
- Patreon Membership: Monthly membership program offering art-making prompts, recommended readings, art chats, and limited content engagement.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Customized service packages |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Dissolve product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Dissolve is an independent art collective and curatorial project that publishes an online arts criticism magazine and a multilingual archive of writing on place (The Bureau of Longitudes), produces printed books and small print-run publications through its publishing arm, and offers a full-service creative studio (the Dissolve Salon) providing concept development, critical analysis, archives management, writing, publishing, editorial, and digital services to artists and arts institutions.
Product overview
Dissolve is an art collective and curatorial project that operates as a multi-platform arts publication and creative services provider. The core offering is Dissolve Magazine, an online publication focusing on arts criticism and discourse, supplemented by TRACE (Musings) featuring essays, interviews, and reviews. The organization maintains The Bureau of Longitudes archive and publishes a Happenings news section. Dissolve Salon provides a full-service suite of creative offerings including concept development, critical analysis, archives management, writing, publishing, and editorial services. Dissolve Publishing produces printed books and small print-run publications. The organization has published six issues from 2016-2018 and continues to produce new content and announcements.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Dissolve Magazine (Online Publication) An online arts criticism publication fostering emerging writers, cultural theorists, and artists passionate about the unseen and the unknown; freely accessible to readers globally.
- Dissolve Salon Full-service suite of creative offerings for creatives, makers, and arts-aligned institutions, including concept and content generation, critical looking, visual studies sessions/seminars/studio visits, contemporary archives management, writing and publishing, editorial services, and digital offerings; personalized, project-based engagements.
- Dissolve Publishing Publishing arm producing printed books, exhibition catalogs, artist books, and custom small print-run publications for individual authors and arts institutions; titles include 'The Demise of Alice' and co-publications such as 'Boys Fight' with Winter Editions.
- The Bureau of Longitudes A multilingual archive of writing and accounts of place organized by each topic's degrees of longitude, presenting alternative approaches to cartography and place-making; available online as an open archive.
- Dissolve Patreon Membership Monthly subscription membership offering art-making prompts, recommended readings, art chats, and limited engagement with Dissolve's content for supporting members.
Companies that use Dissolve
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Dissolve technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Dissolve partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Carl Heidenreich FoundationcoreChristopher Squier edited 'Carl/Karl: Three Takes on Heidenreich,' a scholarly publication by the Carl Heidenreich Foundation. Jackie Valle contributed an essay excerpted from this publication. The work focuses on exile and migration, anti-fascism, and avisual senses.
- Winter EditionscoreCo-published Marina Tëmkina's poem 'Boys Fight' with Winter Editions and Alder & Frankia. The chapbook is hand-printed with Risograph illustrations and custom letterpress cover. First published online by Dissolve in October 2022.
- Alder & FrankiaminorCo-published 'Boys Fight' alongside Winter Editions. The chapbook features Marina Tëmkina's poem with illustrations by Michel Gérard.
- ELSE FoundationminorDissolve participated in ELSE Foundation symposium at Casa Maauad in Mexico City (January 2018) on contemporary approaches to cartography and global entanglement, as part of the Transart Institute for Creative Research.
- Adobe Books & Arts CooperativeminorDonated space and on-site assistance for Dissolve's launch party at Adobe Books on August 13, 2016. Funds raised covered site hosting for a year and launch event costs.
- R/SF ProjectsminorCollaborated on launch party and subsequent events. R/SF is a Bay Area arts organization that partnered with Dissolve for community events.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Dissolve competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Hyperallergic: Hyperallergic is a digital arts publication covering visual art, performance, literature, and culture with an experimental and emerging-voices editorial lens. Directly comparable to Dissolve in its online-first criticism format and focus on overlooked and underrepresented artistic practices.
- Ugly Duckling Presse: Ugly Duckling Presse is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit small-press publisher producing poetry, translation, artist books, and limited-edition publications. Comparable to Dissolve Publishing in producing small print-run experimental literary and artist publications, often in multilingual formats.
- Texte zur Kunst: Texte zur Kunst is a Berlin-based bilingual (German/English) contemporary art magazine publishing criticism, theory, and artist features. Comparable to Dissolve in its scholarly-art-criticism positioning and bilingual international publishing orientation.
- Catapult: Catapult combines a literary magazine, book publishing, and writing courses/services for writers. Comparable to Dissolve in its multi-revenue-model approach to arts/literary publishing, blending editorial work, classes, and small-run book production.
- Brooklyn Rail: Brooklyn Rail is a journal of arts criticism and culture featuring essays, reviews, and interviews across visual art, music, film, and literature. Closely mirrors Dissolve's editorial focus on arts criticism and emerging voices, with a similar non-profit collective operating model.
- Mousse Magazine: Mousse is an independent contemporary art magazine publishing criticism, artist interviews, and essays with an international contributor base. Comparable to Dissolve in scope of contemporary art criticism and multilingual international orientation.
- e-flux: e-flux is a publishing platform and art projects producer covering contemporary art, criticism, and theory with an international contributor base. Directly comparable to Dissolve in mission (advancing experimental arts discourse), multilingual scope, and global reach, though operating at significantly larger scale.
Broad incumbents
- Frieze: Frieze is a global arts media brand spanning magazines, fairs, and digital publications covering contemporary art and culture. Comparable to Dissolve in arts-criticism publishing but operates as a much broader incumbent with fairs and events revenue.
- Artforum: Artforum is the dominant international contemporary art magazine with broad criticism coverage. Comparable to Dissolve at the high end of the arts-criticism spectrum, though operating at dramatically larger scale with a more establishment-oriented editorial stance.
- Aperture Magazine: Aperture is an established photography and visual arts publisher producing a quarterly magazine, books, and limited-edition prints. Comparable to Dissolve in combining a thematic critical publication with small-run book publishing, though at significantly larger scale.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Dissolve social profiles
Digital presenceDissolve financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Dissolve leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Dissolve funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Dissolve M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Dissolve
What does Dissolve do?
Dissolve is an independent art collective and curatorial project that publishes an online arts criticism magazine and a multilingual archive of writing on place (The Bureau of Longitudes), produces printed books and small print-run publications through its publishing arm, and offers a full-service creative studio (the Dissolve Salon) providing concept development, critical analysis, archives management, writing, publishing, editorial, and digital services to artists and arts institutions.
Is Dissolve a public or private company?
Dissolve is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Dissolve founded?
Dissolve was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Dissolve based?
Dissolve is headquartered in San Francisco Bay Area, United States, in the North America region.
How does Dissolve make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Publishing is the primary driver. The others are dissolve Salon Services and patreon Membership.
Who are Dissolve's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Hyperallergic, Ugly Duckling Presse, Texte zur Kunst, Catapult, Brooklyn Rail, Mousse Magazine and e-flux. Broad incumbents are Frieze, Artforum and Aperture Magazine.
Does Dissolve have an API?
No public API is recorded for Dissolve.
What industry is Dissolve in?
Dissolve's product category is Arts Publishing and Creative Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAFAIAJ, Content Studio & Creative Resourcing (In-house/Embedded Teams), with a secondary code of MPAJAJAG, Editorial & Production Services (Copyediting, Proofreading, Formatting, Typesetting). Its NAICS code is 513130 and its SIC code is 2731.