Issue 2

Our second English-language issue is out. Striking a balance between lightness and seriousness, this winter issue offers plenty of in-depth reflection as well as a glimpse of what lies around the corner.

Guest Editor: Oscar Murillo
For each issue, GLEAN invites a Guest Editor to curate a section of the magazine. We interview them and ask them to invite three writers or artists who have influenced their practice (or who otherwise deserve our attention) to take up space in our pages.

Oscar Murillo (1986, La Paila, Colombia) lives and works between London, La Paila and –most recently – Brussels. On the occasion of his first solo show at WIELS, titled ‘Masses’ (opening February 2024), we asked him to serve as Guest Editor for our Winter Issue. Kathleen Weyts, editor-in-chief of GLEAN, met up with him in Brussels for an interview. At Murillo’s invitation, curator and researcher Renan Laru-an and writer and producer Anna T. Pigott contributed texts, and artist and writer Rene Matić provided a visual contribution.

Nairy Baghramian 
In 2022, Hans Ulrich Obrist visited Nairy Baghramian in her Berlin studio, where the Iranian-born German artist was busy making preparations for an intimate exhibition at De 11 Lijnen in Oudenburg titled S’éloignant, which opened in October 2023. A conversation about invisible pedestals, ‘site-responsive’ art and public sculptures as spaces without doors.

Hana Miletić 
Having transitioned from a kind of street photography to weaving, Hana Miletić embraces the act of reproduction. Her work with textiles has evolved into an embodied and social practice. Miletić contributed the cover images for this Winter Issue, which are also being printed as a limited GLEAN artist’s edition. María Inés Rodríguez, director of the Walter Leblanc Foundation in Brussels, met up with the artist for an interview. Miletić’s work is on view in no fewer than four group shows across Europe and her first solo exhibition in the US will open next spring.

The Artist’s Library 
Each issue, Els Roelandt delves into the personal library of an artist for the Artist’s Library—a column celebrating books and their writers, editors, publishers, designers and readers. For this month’s contribution, she visited Olivia Plender in Stockholm. On a dark afternoon in November, the two browsed and discussed Plender’s impressive library, which contains many titles related to plants, feminism and books by and on women who carry on the struggle to dismantle patriarchal structures.

And more
Discover more great content in our winter issue, including interviews with Silvia Franceschini and Sorana Munsya and Véronique Clette-Gakuba, and reviews of exhibitions by Tschabalala Self, David Claerbout, Meredith Monk and Dana Schutz. In a personal essay, Michelle Mlati revisits the conceptual underpinnings of the group exhibition she curated, The Forest and Desert School Revisited, and zooms in on the individual practices of some of the participating artists. And the multidisciplinary collective Petticoat Government (Sophie Boiron, Valentin Bollaert, Simona Denicolai, Pauline Fockedey, Pierre Huyghebaert, Antoinette Jattiot and Ivo Provoost), who will represent Belgium at this year’s Venice Biennale, briefly introduce their project.

Podcasts
Beyond the printed page, we now regularly give the stage to artists, curators, collectors and art professionals on our podcast. Listen to conversations with Kapwani Kiwanga, Francis Alÿs, Richard Mosse, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Emmanuelle Quertain, Heide Hinrichs, Charles Stankievech and many more.