March 4, 2021
Over the past year, we have begun to notice a change in how our feelings manifest—from genuine physical sensations to cognitive gestures informed by geopolitics. It’s hard to define these new feelings, but they are embodied in this issue of Flash Art titled “The Age of Love,” named after an essay by Chus Martínez. Her self-reflective text points out the need for an imagination of immanence, of epistemological togetherness, of freedom and love.
Even during a global crisis, individuals with real messages are able to take small, radical steps forward. Babak Radboy, in conversation with Andrea Bellini, discusses Telfar’s definition of freedom and the complexities behind sending a message through a brand. It’s a daring methodology that seems to be increasingly relevant—a no-fear approach with an almost anti-consumerist sensibility—among a number of the radical artists featured in this issue, including Helen Marten, the subject of our cover story, Anne Imhof, Hito Steyerl, and others. What seems to be key is finding a balance between aesthetics and ethics, and following through on urgent commitments within communities.
Also in this issue: Taja Cheek in conversation with Detroit based electronic music producer and DJ Carl Craig on his latest project commissioned by Dia Beacon; JaBrea Patterson-West on Black abstraction, futurity, and opacity in the work of Julie Mehretu; Charlie Robin Jones on Grace Wales Bonner and the history of emotions; William J. Simmons and Lauren Mayberry on Promising Young Women; the final installment of Pierre Bal-Blanc’s column “The Curatorial Gaze”; Mohamed Almusibli, Jill Gasparina, and Stéphanie Moisdon in conversation with Eleonora Milani on the upcoming project “Lemaniana,” a survey of current artistic production in the Léman region; Kaspar Muller’s correspondance from Zurich for this episode of “Letter from the City”; two selected readings from the nineties from Flash Art archive, by Benjamin Weil and Éric Troncy.
Reviews: Alejandro Cardenas, ALEXANDRIA, Almine Rech, New York / Hamishi Farah, Antagoni, Château Shatto, Los Angeles / Emma McIntyre, Pour Plenty On the Worlds, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles / Xinyi Cheng, The Horse with Eye Blinders, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin / Lydia Ourahmane, Barzakh, Kunsthalle Basel / Richard Artschwager Gagosian, Rome / Pedro Cabrita Reis and Cerith Wyn-Evans, The Mudam Collection and The Pinault Collection in Dialogue, Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean / Senzeni Mthwakazi Marasela, Waiting for Gebane, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
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