Discourse

 Caravaggio, Narcissus ,1597–99, oil on canvas, 110 x 92 cm. Courtesy: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome

Caravaggio, Narcissus,1597–99, oil on canvas, 110 x 92 cm. Courtesy: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome

As the blender of post-modernity makes an ever-smoother paste of our selves and our projections, Daniel Moldoveanu asks if we are becoming front-row voyeurs of a death we could prevent.

Michella Bredahl, Siblings Martha, Alma, Asta and Olga in their home, 2022

Stephanie LaCava hovers over streams of online girlhood, scanning for the highly charged tropes and the transient beauty of the jeune fille 2.0.

 “The Happy Nut.” Courtesy: Kindred Black

“The Happy Nut.” Courtesy: Kindred Black

For her first column of 2023, Cara Schacter looks under the soft, draped gown of fashion’s obsession with everything angelic.

 Fourtnight Battlepass perform at Rash NYE, 2023. Photo: Nolan Kelly Mitchell

Fourtnight Battlepass perform at Rash NYE, 2023. Photo: Nolan Kelly

Minutes to midnight, Nolan Kelly wonders if hyperpop is a nostalgic rehash of too-recent hits, or a consolation for a culture exhausted by novelty-seeking?

 Stills from Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling , 2022. All images courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures

Stills from Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling, 2022. All images courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures

Where Don’t Worry Darling styles itself as a critique of retro-patriarchy, Steven Phillips-Horst sees a vision of womanhood stuck in a cul-de-sac of moral escapism.

 Vegas-Lady delivering announcements over the microphone, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, October 2022

Vegas-Lady delivering announcements over the microphone, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, October 2022

Invited to expertise at a speed-date swap meet for discourse in twenty-seven languages, Daniel Moldoveanu looks askance at the doomed pageantry of trying to get one’s point across.