When my Dad was reading OMNI magazine back in the 1980′s I was just a little kid. I didn’t know that it was published by Bob Guccione or that OMNI was a visionary science magazine that hit a sweet spot between inspired scientific speculation, imaginative short science fiction, and the cutting edge of technology and research to create a publication that always felt like it had been published the day after tomorrow. OMNI has had a strange and somewhat troubled life online, but fans of the magazine now have some reason to celebrate. Here’s The Verge with the skinny…

Omni Magazine was an enormously influential publication that ran from 1978 to 1995. Created by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and wife Kathy Keeton, it featured interviews with scientists such as Freeman Dyson, art from the likes of H.R. Giger and Chris Foss, and original fiction from established science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov and newcomers like William Gibson. The original magazine went digital in 1995, but shuttered in 1998. In 2013, Jerrick Media resurrected the magazine in an online format called Omni Reboot.

Until recently, back issues of Omni Magazine were stored on the Internet Archive, for readers to page through at no cost. The collection of issues was taken down a couple of years ago, but it’s now back online on Amazon.com.

Click through The Verge link to access the magazine on Amazon. In the meantime here’s a mind blowing playlist featuring “Inside the OMNI Vault” — a series of portraits highlighting the mind expanding visual artists who brought OMNI‘s features, interviews and essays to life…

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RE/Search Publishing was founded in 1980 by V. Vale and Andrea Juno. According to the Wiki, the San Fransisco-based company was originally funded by $100 they were given by Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs. This is an interesting fact as RE/Search becomes known as a magazine – eventually in book form – that celebrated Western countercultural ancestors while simultaneously seeking out cutting-edge expressions, mixing together content on/by The Slits, Situationism, Burroughs, Ballard, Throbbing Gristle and Brion Gysin.

The Gysin connection is a particularly interesting one as it seems Vale has an archive of original paintings and audio interviews with the artist that he has never shared. In this video, he talks about his relationship with Gysin and the art monograph that never was – but could still be.

Here is Vale discussing his most famous issue: RE/Search #4/5

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