Founded in 1976, Art monthly is Britain’s oldest contemporary art magazine. It is impossible, and perhaps even unwise, to try to account for the magazine’s longevity, but a contributing factor may be the high degree of continuity between the past and present that is reflected in the loyalty of Art monthly’s readership and of its writers and regular contributors. This does not mean that the magazine has not changed at all; on the contrary. That Art monthly has adapted and responded to shifts in the art world over the years is reflected, for instance, in the large number of student subscribers to the magazine. However, change has been introduced gradually and in a manner in keeping with the founding ethos of the magazine. This is what is meant by ‘the gentle art of staying the same while changing utterly’ – the subheading for this article, and of the talk on which it is based.