This issue comes with a set of three collectable covers dedicated to our MAIN THEME survey, Dancing After All, exploring the riveting relationship between dance and contemporary art. This themed survey offers a fresh and in-depth perspective on the revolutionary possibilities of the body in movement, analyzing its aesthetic power, political charge and social impact—from the stage to the club, from the street to the gallery. The section is comprised of three interviews with cover artists
Anne Imhof (by Susanne Pfeffer), Ligia Lewis (by Martha Kirszenbaum) and Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (by Kathy Noble); an essay by Francesca Gavin on dance in pop culture; case studies on British creative force FKA Twigs and American dance pioneer Merce Cunningham; a round table with performers/choreographers
Maria Hassabi, Will Rawls and
Cally Spooner moderated by Charles Aubin; and a visual insert by artist
Cécile B. Evans.
To follow, this issue's MONO section is dedicated to New York painter
Peter Halley. One of the most theory-aware artists of his generation, here Halley talks at length with Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen about how his practice transforms the language of geometric abstraction into a commentary on our post-industrial, technologically-governed society; while writer Wendy Vogel brings up back to the INDEX years (1996–2006), when Halley was the publisher of the cult magazine of indie culture. The feature is accompanied by an exclusive photo shoot by iconic New York fashion and celebrity photographer Roxanne Lowit.
The site for radical, specially-commissioned contributions by artists and creators, the VISIONS section includes: an insight into Loretta Fahrenholz's new film,
Two A.M., a fantasy tale on surveillance and social control; a conversation with curator Neville Wakefield (by Alessio Ascari) about the legacy of legendary 1970s magazine
Avalanche; an intimate look to Talia Chetrit's pictures by fellow artist Sahra Motalebi; Spyros Staveris' photographic testament to the '90s queer and underground scene in Athens; an exclusive meet-up between Japanese photographer
Nobuyoshi Araki and Mexican artist
Abraham Cruzvillegas; a sneak peek of Bjarne Melgaard's new clothing line, violently embracing the obsessive and self-destructive aspects of fashion; an interview with American artist George Condo by his Italian colleague
Maurizio Cattelan; and finally, an introduction to Lou Dallas, the rag-tag collective of NY artists, designers and self-styled debutantes, with photography by Oto Gillen and a text by Alexander Shulan.
In the opening section of HIGHLIGHTS, twelve profiles account for the best of the season: Augustus Thompson (by Samantha Gregg), Juan Antonio Olivares (by Allison Fonder), Caroline Mesquita (by Elisa Linn & Lennart Wolff), Ghetto Gastro (by Anicée Gaddis), Cibelle Cavalli Bastos (by Germano Dushá), Nico Young (by Myriam Ben Salah), Miao Ying (by Xin Wang), Derya Akay (by Jesse McKee), Enterprise Projects (by Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos), Flash Flash Flash (by Christopher Schreck), Jill Mulleady (by Franklin Melendez), and Diamond Stingily (by Hanna Girma).
Finally in our closing section of REGULARS, Venus Lau joins the ranks of our columnists with “New Order,” a story-telling from a different time zone; Fiona Duncan looks at the photographic work of John Edmonds as part of her “Pro/Creative” series; Piper Marshall meets American artist Rachel Rose for some “Cheap Talk” on sound in film; in “Futura 89+,”
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Castets (with Katherine Dionysius) interview Ghanaian theater artist Elisabeth Sutherland; Alessio Ascari continues to probe the blurred lines of the visual reign in his series “Visualize,” interrogating the relationship between fashion and populism; and lastly, in “What's Next,” we look forward to the season with Mohammed Al-Thani, the Founding Director of the New York-based Institute of Arab and Islamic Art.
This issue is accompanied by
Biblical Brutalist Bauhaus Bakersfield, a special zine conceived and designed for KALEIDOSCOPE by visionary designer Rick Owens on the occasion of his exhibition “Furniture,” on view at MOCA Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles through 2 April.
