Literature

A Third Path For the Novel
by Dean Kissick

The 2010s was a decade of autofiction and writers drawn in by, or disgusted with, art. A brief history of recent literature, from Karl Ove Knausgaard and Maggie Nelson to Ben Lerner and Ottessa Moshfegh.

– This text appears in Spike #62. You can buy it in our online shop –

Dean Kissick

Discourse
Courtroom sketch of Elizabeth Holmes being cross-examined by prosecutor Robert Leach, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Vicki Behringer

Courtroom sketch of Elizabeth Holmes being cross-examined by prosecutor Robert Leach, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Vicki Behringer

User Error: Fraud

This month, Adina Glickstein considers three girls’ grifts – and the startup-ification of subjectivity that might be the real crime after all.  

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Courtesy: the author, who writes: “I took this selfie in 2016 during an internet sex session, and also used it later with several other partners.”

Courtesy: the author, who writes: “I took this selfie in 2016 during an internet sex session, and also used it later with several other partners.”

Q/A JOANNA WALSH

Low-res, badly angled, pixilated, over-exposed: Joanna Walsh advocates images that reveal effort and failure.

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Self-portrait of author wearing Ambien-induced Depop purchase, 2022

Self-portrait of author wearing Ambien-induced Depop purchase, 2022

WORN OUT: Shrugging Towards Bethlehem

For her November column, Cara Schacter went to Joan Didion’s estate sale and felt nothing.

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Sergei Parajanov, The Color of Pomegranates, 1969

Sergei Parajanov, The Color of Pomegranates, 1969

A Weekend in Tbilisi

Flamboyance, mysticism, grungy bohemia, offbeat artistic projects: Tbilisi’s art and nightlife scene, with a listing of spots to watch.

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Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy,16–18 November 1964, Judson Dance Theater, Judson Memorial Church, New York; Photo © 2022 Estate of Robert R. McElroy / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS)  

Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, November 16–18, 1964, Judson Dance Theater, Judson Memorial Church, New York. Photo © 2022 Estate of Robert R. McElroy / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS)

I AM BEING MY BODY

Carolee Schneemann wrested pleasure from taboos, showing how more the body is than a sex-negative society can admit. Read our review of her latest retrospective at Barbican in London.

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Vunkwan Tam,  78i78 , 2022, blanket, water, synthetic doe urine, 145 x 140 x 18 cm. Courtesy: the artist and Empty Gallery, Hong Kong. Photo: Michael Yu

Vunkwan Tam, 78i78, 2022, blanket, water, synthetic doe urine, 145 x 140 x 18 cm. Courtesy: the artist and Empty Gallery, Hong Kong. Photo: Michael Yu

Vunkwan Tam: The Last Laugh

In his debut show at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong, Vunkwan Tam turns doe urine into a metaphor for dramatized emotional wallowing.

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View of “Ian Cheng: Life After BOB,” LAS (Light Art Space), Berlin. © 2022 Ian Cheng. Presented by LAS (Light Art Space). Photo: Andrea Rossetti

View of “Ian Cheng: Life After BOB,” LAS (Light Art Space), Berlin. © 2022 Ian Cheng. Presented by LAS (Light Art Space). Photo: Andrea Rossetti

Empathy Is an Open Circuit: An Interview with Ian Cheng

Ian Cheng speaks about his latest film shown at LAS in Berlin and about what is left for human selves to do.

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Beth Heinly,  3:00 , 2022. Full comic: https://twitter.com/bethheinly/status/1494716436627005445/photo/1

Beth Heinly, 3:00, 2022. Full comic: https://twitter.com/bethheinly/status/1494716436627005445/photo/1

The Dimes Square Spiral

For his November column, Dean Kissick makes clear what Dimes Square, really, is.

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Paris Internationale 2022 

Paris Internationale 2022 

Autumn in Paris: Welcome to the meta-fair

The 2022 Paris art fairs are all about glocal simulations and works full of text. Read Ingrid Luquet-Gad’s round-up.

Discourse
Steven Warwick, Scarecrow , 2021. Photo: Angele Balducci

Steven Warwick, Scarecrow, 2021. Photo: Angele Balducci

User Error: Don’t Be Evil

Being bad feels good. This month, Adina Glickstein chats with the artist Steven Warwick about scapegoats, salvation, and Stanley Kubrick.

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View of “Water Being Washed Away”curated by Alessandro Rabottini, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, 2022

View of “Water Being Washed Away”curated by Alessandro Rabottini, Galerie Hubert Winter, 2022

“Do what is necessary, not because it is written”

The Viennese gallery festival curated by looks east for its 2022 edition. Read our round-up.

"Our identity could become an idol that we sculpt anew each morning from the digital clay"

The Downward Spiral: The Figure Cannot Hold