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#60 Summer 2019

This issue of Spike is a response to the widely held idea that art needs to be more moral. The world’s fucked up, and the art world is guilty too, so in some ways that makes sense. It’s brought art closer to politics and activism, given it a social and political function. We want a better world too. But art is also a place for (self-)...

#60 Summer 2019

#59 Spring 2019

What can be changed through the twists and tweaks of design, architecture, technology, infra-structure, economics, or daily routines? How can the way we eat, learn, dress, live, and talk be a way to renew ourselves, and so too our society, from the ground up? Given that a different present is almost impossible to imagine and utopia is...

#59 Spring 2019

#58 Winter 2019

We would like to cast a spell on you that will only work if you read this whole issue from cover to cover. Along the way, you will battle monsters, fall in and out of love, perform rituals, believe or disbelieve the evangelists of new religions, and enter magic circles that protect you against evil and create a safe space for your own...

#58 Winter 2019

#57 Autumn 2018

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#57 Autumn 2018

#56 Summer 2018

The culture wars are raging. Neoliberalism and right-wing populism have co-opted the critique of the 1960s and turned it against art, science and the democratic public sphere, while the left is consumed by infighting. This issue is about the return to battle, strategies of (dis-)engagement, and the question of what art is capable of in...

#56 Summer 2018

#55 Spring 2018

Brands such as Y/Project, Telfar and Vetements have found new ways to pick up where the designers of the 90s left off. Aided by strategies borrowed from art, they are transforming the fashion system from within and widening its boundaries beyond recognition. Fashion is succeeding precisely where art is not, wresting autonomy out of...

#55 Spring 2018

#54 Winter 2018

We are in an interregnum, an in-between state where the old world is dying and the new struggles to be born. Colonies of bacteria are decomposing the white cube, automation will replace work, and a hope persists that digital space will produce a truly different art. The avant-garde is still alive, but as a stateless multitude that...

#54 Winter 2018

#53 Autumn 2017

The Real doesn’t exist in a vacuum but is shaped by desire and ideology, fiction and art. Its borders are indistinct, its appeal dubious, its essence elusive. Maybe we live in a simulation. When’s the last time you experienced a glitch? Sometimes another reality intrudes into the one we thought we knew and changes us forever. This issue...

#53 Autumn 2017

#52 Summer 2017

The borders of fiction and reality are slipping ever further. A lot of what is behind the images on our screens remains hidden: their political utility; the algorithms through which they appear; the source of their magic. How does that change the nature of the exhibition? Is it moving from the white cube into virtual realms, into the...

#52 Summer 2017

#51 Spring 2017

Faith, hope and love. The world needs them and so does art, in good times and in bad, but especially when huge shifts in society and politics mean we don’t know where the road is taking us. Old ways of thinking no longer work. We need to find a new language with which to explore new ideas. There is an urgency for artists to politicise...

#51 Spring 2017

#50 Winter 2017

Spike #50 is all about the family: as structure, model, metaphor, as place of origin and point of no return. Do we need to save the family, or to destroy it? Do lines of descent still make sense for artists, or have networks taken their place? From the queer family to the nuclear family, from the commune to neopatriarchy, it lives on in...

#50 Winter 2017

#49 AUTUMN 2016

Mapping the shift from the hacker ethos of the 90s to the social-media art of today to the blockchain utopias of the coming nerd reich, this issue revisits the dreams of a different (art) world and charts the entanglements of art and technology since the Internet went public nearly thirty years ago.

#49 AUTUMN 2016

#48 Summer 2016

The viral Internet is a rabbithole where the truth goes to die. Some of us want to be seen and others don’t. In this issue we feature a selection of contemporary archetypes, among them the refugee, the one-percenter, and the thief.

#48 Summer 2016

#47 Spring 2016

What it means to be human is changing. Increasingly, human beings see themselves as part of bigger ecological, economic and technological systems. If consciousness can just as easily reside in plants and machines, the body becomes interesting again: as one material among others that can be sculpted and transformed. Digitalisation of the...

#47 Spring 2016

#46 Winter 2015/2016

The pressure is rising. Between acceleration and exit, artists and theorists are searching for new forms of resistance. They create their own worlds, enter into collaborations, establish companies, or work to dissolve familiar formats. What does it mean to be political today? What possibilities for action remain, and which ones are...

#46 Winter 2015/2016

#45 Autumn 2015

9/11. The Greek referendum. Tonight‘s opening. The many events that have nothing to do with spectacle or even remain invisible. The event holds the promise of the collective encounter; it is ubiquitous and rare. When does it begin: on Facebook, when you step through the door or when the live-stream is running? Or only when something...

#45 Autumn 2015

#44 Summer 2015

How does the digital, with its rapidly circulating images and high-resolution screens, influence the act of seeing? How is it changing the painted picture? Painting’s code is made and remade over long spans of time, in feedback loops, in dialogue with history. And again and again it stands in the way of progress. You have to dig deep to...

#44 Summer 2015

#43 Spring 2015

Everyone has to be an artist. What does this mean for the artist? When the myth of creativity and self-determination permeates all spheres, what is the artist to do? Can the individual work still produce difference, when formerly stable ideas of the public and of history are no longer in place? When the work dissolves, does artistic work...

#43 Spring 2015

#42 Winter 2014

Almost two hundred pages, centered on one topic: "Forgetting". Where does the sense of the ahistorical come from in many recent works, in particular those associated with post-Internet art? Why do younger artists openly admit that they don't think (art) history is all that important to their work? Artist Hito Steyerl, the New York-...

#42 Winter 2014

#41 Autumn 2014

Spike 10th Anniversary Issue. And it's about Time. Polish artist Piotr Uklanski talks to Vienna Actionist Hermann Nitsch about painting, death, and sex. Choreographers Meg Stuart and Adam Linder meet for an interview about the future of dance. There are profiles of Laura Owens, rediscovered punk writer Kathy Acker, and the filmmaker...

#41 Autumn 2014

#40 Summer 2014

Themed ART UNDER CAPITALISM, the summer issue includes an acerbic and revealing conversation about the bleak future of art with dealer Gavin Brown, Italian left-wing theorist Tiziana Terranova on living in an age of debt, the German critic Kolja Reichert on the ascendance of art as a symptom of the devaluation of money. Jon Leon...

#40 Summer 2014

#39 Spring 2014

All about networks... Alexander R. Galloway introduces Spike’s issue with an essay about the asymmetric nature of networks and the hyper-regulated space of the Internet. Curator and activist Ben Vickers discusses the difference between networks and institutions, new community-based social models, and the London post-Internet scene; and...

#39 Spring 2014

#38 Winter 2013

Low-budget, participatory and informal strategies are pitted against the institutional and commodity market system. Karen Archey profiles artist duo KwieKulik, one of the most important contributors to the Polish avantgarde of the 70s; Vincent Honoré interviews Bruce McLean about his playful proposals for what sculpture could be; and...

#38 Winter 2013

#37 Autumn 2013

The Berlin Issue – a collective portrait of the city with essays by Ingo Niermann and Timo Feldhaus, talks among gallerists like Daniel Buchholz and David Lieske, and between performers Adam Linder & Wojciech Kosma, Berlin artists in New York by Karen Archey, Anselm Franke at Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Shanaynay at abc.

#37 Autumn 2013

#36 Summer 2013

Armen Avanessian, Suhail Malik, and others discuss the origins of Speculative Realism and its impact on contemporary art. Portraits of California-based artist Lutz Bacher, the French collective Claire Fontaine, and painter Maria Lassnig. Tobias Madison presents his Artist's Favourites. Nav Haq discusses Jeremy Deller’s “Acid Brass” and...

#36 Summer 2013

#35 Spring 2013

We begin the Spring of 2013 with our new series "Theories for the 21st Century" by guest editor Armen Avanessian and a proposal for a new philosophical materialism by the speculative realist Quentin Meillassoux. Jennifer Krasinski discovers the places of death beneath the perfect surfaces of Ed Atkins HD videos, and Hans-Jürgen Hafner...

#35 Spring 2013

#34 Winter 2012

Pablo Léon de la Barra sends us a long letter from Tripoli and Jon Leon writes about the fashionable rise of the visor. Pablo Larios portrays the Berlin-based artist Simon Denny. Bruce Hainley talks to painter Brian Calvin about his collaboration with Raf Simons. We visit the project gallery “curated by”, Ed Ruscha in Vienna, and the...

#34 Winter 2012

#33 Autumn 2012

Friends and companions remember the recently deceased Franz West, one of the most important artists of our time. Nicolas Bourriaud and American critic Fionn Meade have very different takes on documenta. Carson Chan in conversation with performance artist Christian Falsnaes about powerful emotions and karaoke. Karen Archey visits the...

#33 Autumn 2012

#32 Summer 2012

Architect and urbanist Markus Miessen makes a plea for the incompetent master. Curator Tenzing Barshee on the young Swiss art scene, mixing lo-fi with clean surfaces. Fionn Meade and American photographer Roe Ethridge discuss everything from still lifes to fashion photography. Sarah Rifky asks what role an Egyptian art institution can...

#32 Summer 2012

#31 Spring 2012

Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija discusses his art’s origins in Far Eastern thought. Franz West on the importance of reading in his life and work. Artur Żmijewski on the 7th Berlin Biennale. Portraits of Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Paul Sietsema, and Galeria Stereo in Poznań. A profile of the exhibition space Extra City in Antwerp. Aaron Moulton...

#31 Spring 2012

#30 Winter 2011

David Cronenberg in conversation with Markus Schinwald about cinematic sublimation and blank beginnings. An interview with Tom Burr about camp, appropriation, and the political. We ask players in the art world about Occupy Wall Street. Fabrice Stroun on his key work, Jim Shaw’s “O-ismus”. Annika von Hauswolff on Maurice Blanchot’s “The...

#30 Winter 2011

#29 Autumn 2011

Interviews with Daniel Buren, a pioneer of in situ painting, and British artist Tacita Dean. Portraits of L.A.-based Richard Hawkins and Vienna-based sculptor Lone Haugaard Madsen. Isabelle Graw writes about the art industry’s new order and Sean Landers presents artists who have influenced him. We visit the Venice Biennale, “Time/Food”...

#29 Autumn 2011

#28 Summer 2011

In his essay, John Kelsey asks how recent practices evade the art world’s usual divisions of labour. Remoteness and enthusiasm: on the art scene of the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. An Email exchange between Darren Bader and Bruce Hainley about food in the arts and bad curators. Portraits of the artist duo De Gruyter...

#28 Summer 2011

#27 Spring 2011

Provocateur Rob Pruitt in conversation with curator Gianni Jetzer. An interview with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, artistic director of the next documenta. The Pfaff Brothers on the poodle in the work of Jef Cornelis. Jay Sanders identifies George Manupelli’s film trilogy “Dr. Chicago” as his key work. Nick Currie sees problematical beauty...

#27 Spring 2011

#26 Winter 2010

Curator Adam Carr investigates the influence of domestic space on the artistic mindset. Andreas Schlaegel asks how much advertising art can tolerate. Raimar Stange believes Paul Gernes is one of the most underappreciated trailblazers of contemporary art. Joanna Fiduccia writes about the meaning of the machine in the work of German artist...

#26 Winter 2010

#25 Autumn 2010

A conversation between musician Jarvis Cocker and artist Gavin Turk about pop, participation, and Altermodernity. We visit the exhibitions “Greater New York” and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, and ask why Brussels is currently so alluring for artists and curators. Curator Adam Szymczyk discusses things that are holes in other...

#25 Autumn 2010

#24 Summer 2010

Bruce Hainley in conversation with American author Wayne Koestenbaum about the muteness of Harpo Marx. Michele d'Aurizio on the Villa Necchi Campiglio, one of the most unusual private houses in Milan. Philippe Pirotte on the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos. We visit Tbilisi in Georgia, a city that is currently creating new...

#24 Summer 2010

#23 Spring 2010

Gender bending, bodies, souls, ids, and kids: the work of young video artist Ryan Trecartin. Tobias Berger on the rapid development of the Asian art scene. David Woodard in conversation with Swiss author Christian Kracht. Fritz Ostermayer on the game of (mis)chance as practice for crises. Portraits of Philippe Thomas / readymades belong...

#23 Spring 2010

#22 Winter 2009

Why are art fairs so annoying? Is the time ripe for a 90s revival? Why is Wilhelm Schürmann one of Germany’s most influential collectors? These and other questions are raised in this issue. Also featuring portraits of the Rio de Janeiro based art project Capacete Entretenimentos, the “Museum of Everything” in London, Austrian artist...

#22 Winter 2009

#21 Autumn 2009

Philosopher Jacques Rancière on the emancipation of the spectator, leisure, and the good art critic. Berlin’s art scene: the wild years are over, now it’s all about professionalisation. Portraits of performance artist Ei Arakawa, conceptual photographer Christopher Williams, and the young Lithuanian gallery Tulips...

#21 Autumn 2009

#20 Summer 2009

In his essay, critic Bruce Hainley searches for an antidote to the current economic crisis. John Baldessari and Matt Mullican talk about their joint project “Pong”. Chris Kraus presents “Telephone”, a play by young American poet Ariane Reines. Jérôme Sans discusses Wang Du’s sculpture “No Comment” as one of his key works. With portraits...

#20 Summer 2009

#19 Spring 2009

Critic Raimar Stange and curator Christian Kobald on the American art critic Clement Greenberg and the financial crisis. Curator Gianni Jetzer presents the performance “Manon presents Man” as one of his key works. Hans-Jürgen Hafner discusses American conceptual artist Stephen Prina. We visit Markus Schinwald’s big solo show at Kunsthaus...

#19 Spring 2009

#18 Winter 2008

Contemporary art in Warsaw: transition and flux. Off-spaces in Vienna: the great unknown. An interview with Scottish performance artist Sue Tompkins and a portrait of photographer Torbjørn Rødland. Joachim Lessing on ten conceptual perfumes by perfumier Kilian Hennessy. Magali Arriola on the gallery Santiago Monclova in Mexico City. An...

#18 Winter 2008

#17 Autumn 2008

A conversation with Turkish filmmaker Kutlug Ataman about fictional truths. Portraits of Indian artist Nalini Malani, Andrea Zittel, and Florian Hecker. We present Galerie Feinkost and Roger Bundschuh’s and Cosima von Bonin’s building for art collectors in Berlin. Artist's Favourites by Nedko Solakov and an in-depth report on India’s...

#17 Autumn 2008

#16 Summer 2008

AA Bronson on his “School for Young Shamans” and Joachim Bessing on fashion magazines, collector’s items, and multiples. We show John Bock’s art collection, ask if Berlin needs a kunsthalle, and present Tirdad Zolghadr’s new novel “Softcore”. Franz West talks about the artistic process of creation. Musician Ursula Rucker and the duo “...

#16 Summer 2008

#15 Spring 2008

Nick Currie reports on the run-up to the 5th Berlin Biennale. We present Berlin’s Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie. Curator Vincent Honoré talks about a work by Louise Bourgeois. Jeremy Deller introduces a number of artists who are important to him. Francesco Stocchi discusses a performance by Micol Assael at Johann König. With portraits of...

#15 Spring 2008

#14 Winter 2007

Momus embarks on a search for the hottest art district in Berlin. Raimar Stange reads Günther Anders’ “The Outdatedness of Human Beings”, and we visit the Latvian capital, Riga. With portraits of Walter Pichler, Tris Vonna-Michell, Gardar Eide Einarsson, and the American filmmaker Stephanie Rothman. Critic Bruce Hainley writes a letter...

#14 Winter 2007

#13 Autumn 2007

On the films of the young French artist Cyprien Gaillard. The misunderstandings in Sturtevant’s work. The 11.3 Million Dollar Man, Peter Doig. Logos and spam in the work of Johannes Wohnseifer. Austrian artist Marcus Geiger’s institutional critique. documenta 12, Biennale di Venezia and skulptur projekte münster: the grand tour. A...

#13 Autumn 2007

#12 Summer 2007

Art Scene Helsinki: on the hip cultural capital of north-eastern Europe after the crisis of the 90s. A conversation between artists Tobias Rehberger and Francesco Vezzoli about their most recent films “On Otto” and “Democrazy”. Portraits of Nancy Spero, Mario García Torres, Herbert Brandl, Kennedy Geers, and the German Band Fehlfarben....

#12 Summer 2007

#11 Spring 2007

French curator and theorist Nicolas Bourriaud talks about his new concept of Altermodernity. Artist Piotr Uklanski discusses his debut film, “Summer Love”. Erwin Wurm and Ken Lum get together in Vienna to talk about the relationship between art and the general public. Francis Alys presents artists he finds particularly relevant at the...

#11 Spring 2007

#10 Winter 2006

With portraits of Cady Noland, who withdrew from the art world in the late 90s and continues to fascinate a new generation of artists; young artist Cory Arcangel; Plamen Dejanoff; painter René Daniels; and collector of conceptual art Axel Haubrok. We meet Gerwald Rockenschaub for an interview in Berlin and report on Belgrade’s crisis of...

#10 Winter 2006

#09 Autumn 2006

Situationist expert Roberto Ohro chats with Michel Würthle, owner of Paris Bar, in his Berlin apartment. Portraits of the Austrian experimental music scene, the artist Jasper Johns, Betty Tompkins, Tue Greenfort, and Sophie Calle. Chris Kraus on “World Light” by Hallodri Laxness. Ruth Weismann on Rei Kawakubo & Comme des Garçons.

#09 Autumn 2006

#08 Summer 2006

Hans Ulrich Obrist speaks with Douglas Gordon...

#08 Summer 2006

#07 Spring 2006

Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon talks about the art she likes and the art she makes. Slovakian conceptual art pioneer Stano Filko leads Hans-Ulrich Obrist through his Gesamtkunstwerk “Haus”. Portraits of Turner Prize winner Simon Starling and Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. In Focus Printed Matter, Daniel Baumann presents legendary artist...

#07 Spring 2006

#06 Winter 2005

After Proust, it’s all gone downhill – an essay by Jörg Heiser about beauty and being silent, with Bowie and Adorno. Portraits of Martha Rosler, Rachel Harrison, and Zoran Naskovski. An interview with Wolfgang Tillmans about such great topics as truth and the spirit of a time. Kathrin Luz speaks with Anton Vidokle about the beginnings of...

#06 Winter 2005

#05 Autumn 2005

We pose six questions for American artist Banks Violette and conduct an interview with painter Jutta Koether. Composer Olga Neuwirth meets up with Peter Weibel to talk about time and the squandering thereof. Daniel Baumann writes about the uncompromising work of Artur Zmijewski, and Hans-Jürgen Hafner portrays Sean Landers: “Happiness...

#05 Autumn 2005

#04 Summer 2005

With portraits of performance artist Joan Jonas, Francis Alys, Emily Jacir, and Austria’s Venice Biennale representative, Hans Schabus. An Email conversation between Rita Vitorelli and American painter Sue Williams. Director René Pollesch and Olaf Nicolai discuss the relationship between entertainment and critique. Artist’s Favourites by...

#04 Summer 2005

#03 Spring 2005

Mike Kelley makes a case for the artist as critic. Thomas Locher present the work of five artists he likes. Johannes Gachnang writes about Barnett Newman’s "The Stations of the Cross". With portraits of Trisha Donnelly, Sejla Kameric, Jonathan Meese, and Franz Gertsch. Raimar Stange reports on the controversial RAF exhibition at Berlin’s...

#03 Spring 2005

#02 Winter 2004

With portraits of artists Lee Lozano, Rebecca Warren, and Karen Kilimnik. A conversation between Raimar Stange and Manfred Pernice during a game of chess. Finnish critic Mika Hannula asks who has stolen our time. Eva Maria Stadler discusses a work she finds important by Jonathan Monk. Verena Juni writes about the uncanny, and we report...

#02 Winter 2004

#01 Autumn 2004

In our first issue we cast an optimistic glance into the future, and see a new political art. Artist Irina Korina takes us on a guided tour of Moscow’s art scene. Noel Akchote visits the Sonar music festival in Barcelona. Rita Vitorelli talks with Heimo Zobernig. Portraits of painter Mary Heilman, sculptor Monica Bonvicini, and young...

#01 Autumn 2004

Editions

ARTIST EDITION BY NINA BEIER "CRYBABY", 2019

ARTIST EDITION BY SIMON DENNY "Extinction Hedge Avatar (King Island Brown Thornbill)", 2019

Artist Edition by Lu Yang "Delusional Crime and Punishment Wheel", 2019

Torbjørn Rødland "Striped Girl on a Pool Ladder", 2018

Heimo Zobernig "Infolounge, Biennale of Sydney 2004 [detail]", 2018

Karen Kilimnik "The floral kingdom of the Renaissance", 2017

Left: Samara Golden, “Mass Murder, blue room #1”, 2014

Right: Jonathan Monk, “The Windows of The Museum”, 2014

Spike Annual Edition Portfolio, 2014

Bjarne Melgaard "Housewife", 2014

Laura Owens "Untitled", 2014

Ed Atkins "Untitled", 2013

Brian Calvin "Stepsister", 2012

Gelatin "2 Epiphanies", 2012

Roe Ethridge "LV Shoes for Double", 2012

Rirkrit Tiravanija "untitled 2012 (fear eats the soul) (poster)", 2012

Tom Burr "John’s Body", 2011

Alexis Zavialoff "Ziggy and Yue-shin", 2009

Michael Riedel "CMYK SPIKE 17", 2008

Gelitin "Not Yet Titled", 2008

Mircea Cantor "Untitled", 2008

Liam Gillick "Struck!", 2007

Kendell Geers "IN FUCK WE TRUST", 2007

Cory Arcangel "Another One Bites the Dust", 2007

Gerwald Rockenschaub "Poster", 2007