October–November 2013
John Menick illustrates his “Museum of Malware,” proposing a vast ecosystem of digital viruses that are all replicating and mutating, neither alive nor dead, but “on the edge of life.”
When Edward Snowden blew the whistle on NSA domestic surveillance, Laura Poitras was behind the camera, directing the interview along with journalist Glenn Greenwald. Her films play an essential role in informing and alerting the public on several issues, as argued by Lauren Cornell.
The imagery of the serpent, the theme of an exhibition of the Sammlung Hoffmann, offers an opportunity for the reflections of Jennifer Allen on symbolism in contemporary art.
After Massimiliano Gioni’s Biennale, Outsider Art has been pushed into the public spotlight. Chris Wiley says this efflorescence can be read in terms of unspoken desires that haunt the contemporary art world.
Dieter Roelstraete analyzes the implications of The Encyclopedic Palace and the hope of expanding the territory of art beyond its present confines, into a world of production that is profoundly individual and detached from the system.
Taking his cue from the book of the same title by John Savage, Matt Wolf‘s Teenage explores the evolution of youth culture from the beginning of the 20th century. The young filmmaker talks with Stuart Comer.
The self-storage industry in the United States has undergone exponential growth over the last 35 years. Jennifer Bornstein empties out her own storeroom into a text packed with books and affection.
In a conversation with Jens Hoffmann, Terry Smith analyzes the way various art specialists have dictated the rules of curating over the decades.
NICE TO MEET YOU: Rachel Rose wonders about states of being on the borderline of life and death, and talks to Laura McLean-Ferris about the results of this research; Adriano Costa doesn’t follow a project, but a beat. He talks about his particular musical geometries with Gigiotto Del Vecchio; Cecilia Alemani and Gavin Kenyon discuss the latter’s original techniques that lead to organic and unexpected forms.
João Ribas investigates the impact of digital technology on contemporary art, and beyond. The economic, biological, and geopolitical “after effects” of the digital revolution take the form of evolving connections between bits and atoms.
At the core of Lucien Smith‘s practice lies an experimental approach that merges the high aesthetics of modernism with a particularly contemporary take on his subject matter. The young artist talks to Chelsea Haines about his influences and upcoming projects.
PARIS: Filipa Ramos guides us through the tactile filmic universe of Mati Diop, where the viewer’s gaze can roam through mountains and dusty roads, and the hand is tempted to touch an animal’s fur, or a human face.
LOS ANGELES: Scoli Acosta follows the itinerary Paul Bowles took through Morocco more than sixty years earlier, gathering that country’s melodies. Andrew Berardini narrates this artistic research and its results.
LONDON: Multidisciplinary artist Richard Sides tells Pavel S. Pyś about some recent projects designed to create an immersive experience for viewers, including an expanded walk-through collage.
NEW YORK: Josh Kline‘s art investigates the ephemeral nature of the lifestyle economy and its relationship to labor and the self. The artist talks to Christopher Y. Lew about his visual vocabulary.
Can art be read as well as seen? According to Stuart Shave, Ariana Reines‘s art resides in her extraordinary ability to using words. Her work takes on subjects as disparate as the occult, sexuality, astrology, bodily experience and—ultimately—existence.
Quinn Latimer talked to poet, editor and criminal defense attorney Vanessa Place about her newest book, Boycott (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2013), which aptly weds Lee Lozano’s infamous work of refusal to feminist theory and contemporary conceptual poetics.
The question of whether there is some essential character to the art of the working class is a fraught one, ideological to the core. Julian Myers-Szupinska analyzes the art of the revolutionary class, from the proletariat to the precariat.
Can radical political affiliation become legible through art? Doug Ashford articulates a complex answer to his former student Alex Fitzgerald’s question about whether abstract art can express radicalism and social engagement.
