June 2019 / issue no. 114
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The sea has provided artists, writers, and thinkers with inspiration for centuries; but what has changed about the way we understand this underwater expanse since those canonical seafaring narratives and paintings of the 19th century which just so happened to coincide with the birth of a certain understanding of modernity? In this latest issue of Texte zur Kunst devoted to the mysteries and violence of the deep, we examine the sea from contemporary perspectives, where for media theorists, the sea is a medium—a noisy swell—wherein all attempts to signal, or make signals, are given life, but also potentially vanish into the void. For others, the sea is still primarily a means of transport, enabling the flow of global commerce. This transit system continues to offer a haven for wayfarers and migrants, but not without peril. Here, the mediterranean in particular is examined as a kind of mass grave: the final resting place for so many who have embarked under immediate threat, or in the hopes of safe passage into Europe. For the first time, “The Sea” also features four photo essays placed between the customary text-based contributions in the main section of each issue. These photo essays highlight the many potential points of departure that this issue collects—shipping containers, scrapyards, and research on bioluminescence. We know that the sea is certainly not what it used to be—the innocence, awe, and fear associated with it now complicated by an awareness of the political and ecological disasters that the sea harbors today.
Main section (in English and German):
Bernhard Siegert
The Sinking of a Steamboat: Robert Carrick’s, William Suhr’s, David Bull’s, and
J. M. W. Turner’s “Rockets and Blue Lights” (1840–2003)
Nadja Abt
Seawomen
Ashna Ali
Mediterranean Borderland
Susanne M. Winterling
Code and Poetry of the Sea
In the Thickness of the Crossing
Challenging the Liquid Violence of Borders in the Mediterranean – An interview with Charles Heller
Mandla Reuter
Mountain Water
D. Graham Burnett
Jetsam
Hira Nabi
How To Dismantle A Ship In Nine Steps
Franziska Brons
The Sea: Medium and Milieu
Liebe Arbeit Kino
Michaela Ott on the FESPACO film festival in Ouagadougou (German)
Rotation
Vojin Saša Vukadinović on Last Days at Hot Slit. The Radical Feminism of Andrea Dworkin by Johanna Fateman und Amy Scholder (German)
Reviews
Jeffrey West Kirkwood on The New Alphabet at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (English)
Sven Beckstette on Dierk Schmidt at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (German)
Nina Prader on Flying High: Women Artists of Art Brut at the Kunstforum Vienna (English)
Frauke Zabel on Rubem Valentim at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (German)
Sven Lütticken on Pierre Huyghe at the Serpentine Gallery, London (English)
Rike Frank on Rossella Biscotti at daadgalerie, Berlin (German)
Benjamin Thorel on Lucie Stahl at Freedman Fitzpatrick, Paris (English)
Hannes Loichinger on Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda at Kölnischer Kunstverein (German)
Colin Lang on Stefanie Heinze at Capitain Petzel, Berlin (English)
Michael Franz on KP Brehmer at the Neues Museum, Nürnberg (German)
Estelle Nabeyrat on Lourdes Castro at Musée régional d’art contemporain Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Sérignan (English)
David Bussel on Ghislaine Leung at Chisenhale Gallery, London (English)
Gürsoy Doğtaş on Nil Yalter at the Museum Ludwig, Köln (German)
Gunter Reski on Norbert Schwontkowski at Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (German)
Eli Diner on Allen Ruppersberg at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (English)
Alexandra Symons Sutcliffe on A Fatal Attraction at Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin (English)
Obituary:
Okwui Enwezor (1963–2019) in the words of Ulrich Wilmes, Ute Meta Bauer and Markus Müller, with an introduction by Isabelle Graw
Carolee Schneemann (1939–2019) in the words of Pamela M. Lee
Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) in the words of Barbara Vinken
Plus artists’ editions by:
Jana Euler
Helen Marten
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