Aesthetica Issue 90: Living for Today
There has never been a time in human history when things have been so interconnected. The climate crisis is connected to the economy, which is in turn connected to trade and tariffs, and so on and so forth. We are living in an age of alternative facts, fake news and misinformation. We are more divided than ever before, and politicians use populism to disintegrate battles won for justice and equality. Inside this issue, we ask questions about what it means to live in our world today.
Published August / September 2019. To pick up a copy, click here.
News:
This issue covers a Serpentine Pavilion by Second Home, Hito Steyerl's latest show at Park Avenue Armory, as well as Her Ground: Women Photographing Landscape at Flowers Gallery, London.
Features:
- Taking Responsibility: We bring you the latest from Parley for the Oceans. This is a fantastic non-profit organisation that is serious about eradicating single-use plastic and saving the seas. It has teamed up with artists, fashion brands and designers worldwide to make positive change. There is no need to buy water all the time; carry an empty bottle. The same goes for coffee cups. We could cut down on landfill waste considerably through these simple measures.
- Changing Definitions: A new title from Thames & Hudson considers the role that sculpture plays with 100 new practitioners to watch throughout 2019 and beyond. We explore the use of innovative materials, digital and analogue worlds being created in sculpture today.
- Spatial Experiments: Unseen Amsterdam returns, providing a space for photographers that are testing uneven ground througb bold, abstracted compositions. We interview the new Artistic Director, Marina Paulenka.
- Illusory Narratives: Max Pinckers' Margins of Excess focuses on the stories of six characters based in North America. All of them received widespread attention because of their attempts ro realise a dream. They were presented as frauds by mass media. Pinckers disucsses the nature of accepted truths and subjective realities.
- Social Documentary: It has been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler have a retrospective coming up at Fotomuseum Den Haag, which looks at their work in the former GDR alongside more recent pieces. The show is compelling because surveillance was part of everyday life for these photographers. It’s interesting to note the similarities between then and now, given the level of voyeurism and observation in today’s world. We must ask important questions about privacy and boundaries.
we bring you the latest from Parley for the Oceans. This is a fantastic non-profit organisation that is serious about eradicating single-use plastic and saving the seas. It has teamed up with artists, fashion brands and designers worldwide to make positive change. There is no need to buy water all the time; carry an empty bottle. The same goes for coffee cups.
Photography: We offer readers the opportunity to see the breadth and scope of new work being produced today with our annual feature, Next Generation, completed in partnership with London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. The following artists are also featured:
- Kyle Thompson
- Kyle Jeffers
- Sebastian Weiss
- Rebecca Reeve
- Studio Brasch
- Alessio Albi
Companies
Thames & Hudson Ltd.
- Publishing
Flowers Gallery
- Arts and Culture
Parley for the Oceans
- Social Enterprise