Each issue of the magazine takes its focus from a live discussion held in the amphitheatre at the School of Visual Arts. These symposia are open to the public and free of charge. In addition invited artists, writers, art historians, and scholars in all fields continue to add their work to the subject on an ongoing basis.

It is the intention of the journal to act as an "open text" as defined by Umberto Eco where: "every work of art upsets the {aesthetic} code but at the same time strengthens it too; by violating it, the work completes and transforms the code." By keeping the borders of this journal open to many disciplines and extending its time frame from the finished copy to ideas generated over time ArtLab23 can be conceived of as a diary and mini archive to be used as a teaching tool and conceptual reference. It is hoped that the topics of the initial symposia, from which this journal will spring are rich enough to support on-going discussions whose shelf-life has a very extended expiration date.