Spike #37 – The Berlin Issue – out now
& a poster by Clegg & Guttmann
Dear friends,
We are pleased to present Spike #37, The Berlin Issue, with a stream of consciousness by Timo Feldhaus on the Berlin scene where theory and lifestyle merge, writer Ingo Niermann defines an “expanded concept of prostitution” with regards to the challenges of artists surviving in the capital, established gallerists like Daniel Buchholz talk with younger colleagues like David Lieske from Mathew, a conversation between Adam Linder and Wojciech Kosma, two protagonists in local performance/dance scene, US critic Karen Archey on the New York view of Berlin artists as “grungy emo teenagers going far out of their way to cultivate an I don’t give a fuck appearance,” artist Ariane Müller reflects critically on Anselm Franke‘s information exhibitions at Haus der Kulturen der Welt and art collective Shanaynay defining three possible scenarios for anti-professionalism: a) a society without private property, b) art’s inclusion into everyday praxis, c) an artist without food. The special Berlin feature is guest-edited by John Beeson.
Our 21st Century Theory series continues with a polemic attack on the entire aesthetic paradigm of contemporary art by cultural theorist Suhail Malik, John C. Welchman looks at the inaccessible peep-show/commodity coffin-like boxes known as the “Susie” series of Bali-based artist Ashley Bickerton, John Beeson gets subsumed in the sensory and formal leaps of Laure Prouvost‘s videos, a portrait of Austrian freecore noise musician Philipp Quehenberger by Thomas Edlinger, and From Dishwasher to Curator—a talk between Jay Sanders and Daniel Baumann, co-curator of the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, who discover a shared secret passion for the museum.
Artist’s Favourites by Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst 2013 winner Mariana Castillo Deball; KW Berlin head curator Ellen Blumenstein‘s talks about Mark Leckey’s Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore; Oliver Basciano visits São Paulo to see the rapidly expanding Mendes Wood gallery, who have opened their third space within just three years of activity; and Alexander Scrimgeour locates Banner Repeater, a London project space focussed on publishing and distribution methods in the digital age, from their base on a train station platform. The Encyclopedic Palace at this year’s Venice biennial reviewed by curator and director of the Paris art academy Nicolas Bourriaud, Paul McCarthy at the Armory by Joanna Fiduccia, Living with Pop at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf by Pablo Larios, Salon der Angst at Kunsthalle Wien by Thomas Edlinger, Jonathan Monk at Kunstraum Dornbirn by Raimar Stange, Kenneth Goldsmith at Labor Gallery, Mexico City by Dorothée Dupuis and much more. And a poster by Clegg & Guttmann with every copy of the magazine, also available in a signed edition of 25.
Get the latest issue, subscribe, or order a signed artist’s edition here.