Issue 138 out now
The April issue of frieze asks, what can design accomplish right now?In a roundtable on the largely unresolved relationship between design and social responsibility, frieze‘s design editor Eugenia Bell talks to six designers and critics about the politics and pitfalls of designing with a sense of cultural, ecological or economic responsibility. As designer John Emerson argues, ‘Social responsible design is not a fringe, hippie idea any more but something established institutions are grappling with.’
However, Steven Stern finds historical antecedents for the current pragmatism by tracing the recent rise of ‘post-industrial dining’ and urban agriculture back to the artist-led initiatives of 1970s downtown New York. ‘Much of the activity around urban farming seems to exist in that borderland between art and social activism.’ Emily King traces the intertwined legacies of two legendary Milanese magazines, Domus and Abitare; and Nick Sowers outlines the challenge posed by the preservation of former battlefields and fortresses.
Plus, special artist projects from Barbara Bloom and Nick Relph.
In our regular columns Jennifer Allen suggests that the history of the relationship between art and design is not an easy one; George Pendle looks at M.C. Escher and the enduring influence of Roger Penrose; and in his final column, before becoming a contributing editor, Robert Storr reflects on what it takes to be an art writer.
Also, Erik Morse welcomes two new translations of the work of design prophets Raymond Roussel and Paul Scheerbart; Christopher Bedford looks at how car advertising borrows from contemporary art; Owen Hatherley tracks the highs and lows of mass housing; as well as a round-up of recent design publications, from a history of the pioneering design shop Design Research to the fashioning of the first space suit.
On the back page, Susan Hiller answers the frieze Questionnaire.
The newly expanded 30-page reviews section features 39 exhibitions from 22 cities, including ‘Modern British Sculpture’ at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Bill Bollinger at Kunstmuseum Liechteinstein, Vaduz; ‘All of This and Nothing’ at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and ‘Monanism’, the inaugural show at the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, as well as reviews from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt am Main, The Hague, Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, Nottingham, Rome, Stockholm, Toronto and Vienna.
Read more or subscribe now at frieze.com
Plus, exclusively online
Kate Bush, Daniel Birnbaum and Michael Bracewell are the latest to contribute to the frieze anniversary blog. To celebrate 20 years of frieze magazine, throughout 2011 the editors will be inviting a range of writers, artists and curators to pick ten articles from the magazine archive as well as their favourite frieze cover: frieze.com/20
Kristin M. Jones watches pioneering new-media artist Lynn Hershman Leeson’s film !Women Art Revolution (2010) and Alice Rawsthorne makes a plea Le Corbusier’s threatened masterpiece Chandigarh.
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