Issue 135 out now
The November-December issue of frieze tackles religion and spirituality.Dan Fox’s ‘State of the Art’ editorial asks if the art world’s wariness of religion is a contradiction: ‘Religious conviction is taken to be a sign of intellectual weakness, and yet meaning in art is often a question of belief.’
Philosopher Simon Critchley, in a feature interview, suggests that art, faith and politics have long been intertwined. ‘Artistically and politically, the avant-garde has always been concerned with ideas of the group based around a kind of faith’. He argues that religion allows us to think about forms of community. ‘What I want is religion without God, where religion is understood as a form of association.’
Following her celebrated 13-hour performance The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from the House of FAME, artist and musician Linder looks back at the beliefs that have structured her life and work, from growing up in 1960s Liverpool and attending the local Methodist church to feminist politics and punk in the 1970s and recent forays into the worlds of Sikhism and the sculptures of Barbara Hepworth.
Also in the middle section, Ronald Jones and Liv Stoltz explore the spiritual side of artistic practice through the life and work of early 20th century occultist, mystic and painter Hilma af Klint; Jan Verwoert considers the hermetic and the profane in the work of Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, and French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy talks to Erik Morse: ‘Everything has a soul: ours.’
Plus features on: Kai Althoff, Aura Satz, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda and Matthew Day Jackson.
In our regular columns: Robert Storr looks at Manhattan’s changing skyline, Sean O’Toole reveals the power of language in art-world narratives and Jennifer Allen finds new approaches to evoking the idea of death.
Also: Marcus Coates selects the books that have influenced his practice; Paul Teasdale considers philosophy’s unlikely recent appeals to Christian theology; Mark Pilkington looks at how the soul has been represented from Egyptians to the present day; and Pádraig Belton surveys the changing architectural conventions of mosques in Britain.
This month, Joachim Koester answers the frieze ‘Questionnaire’.
Reviews include Hari Kunzru on Brion Gysin at the New Museum, New York. Plus: the 6th Liverpool Biennial; Sunless at Thomas Dane, London; Nick Relph at Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles; Etienne Chambaud at LABOR, Mexico City; Manuela Leinhoss at RaberbonSteglin, Zurich; and Media City Seoul.
Exclusively on frieze.com
On the Editors’ Blog: Paul Teasdale visits the Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (Mac/Val) near Paris for its fifth anniversary exhibition ‘Let’s Dance’; whilst Jörg Heiser attends the secret agent’s press conference, announcing the curatorial and advisory board of dOCUMENTA (13); and Jennifer Higgie is thrilled that Clio Barnard has won the award for best newcomer at the London Film Festival, what do you think? Read more and comment now.
Plus exclusive video and audio from issue 135, including Music from DJ Screw, jj, oOoOO and Salem; the trailer from Powell & Pressburger’s Black Narcissus; excerpts from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant; and footage of Aura Satz’ Turntable Tableau at the ICA, London.
